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Tuesday 29 May 2012
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Saturday 5 May 2012
Saving Tweety
On April 24th we brought home a goose egg.
For a week, I tended to the egg making sure to keep it warm, and rotate it 3 times a day. Humidity had to be kept at 60% and the egg needed to be kept at 37.5*C (99*F).
I candled the egg everyday until I noticed a change, initially the egg had a dark mass at one end, and a space of clarity at the other. When we tried candling the egg on the 3rd day, this dark mass had taken up the entire shell and we could no longer see inside.
It was a waiting game. Would our gosling hatch or die?
On April 28th, we got an answer that brought hope. Our little gosling had pipped (made the first break in the shell). A gosling can take 24-48 hours after making the first pip to hatch, this is because the stomach of the gosling is still forming around the yolk. Only when it has finished, will it fully hatch.
We checked every few hours and watched for changes in the cracks, but nothing more happend.
This is where things got interesting. Our gosling was taking a long time to hatch, so we had to keep the area moist so the inner membranes didn't shrink wrap our bird. In the wild, the length of time this gosling was taking would have resulted in the mother goose leaving him behind.
April 30th. It was go time. Our gosling had started working really hard. Progress was slow, and assistance was needed but it had become a race against time. The gosling was now facing the very real possibility of dying of exhaustion, but if assistance was too early, the risk was just as lethal. I followed his cues, watched, and did what I could to keep the membranes from drying out. Hours went by and progress continued. 
Finally we were ready to make the final push. I watched as our gosling struggled to push out of the shell, but it was important he do it himself.
At 4:55pm, on Monday April 30th 2012, "Tweety" was born. He was cold and exhausted. I bundled him up in a warm towel and held him for a little to warm him up. Then placed him back inside his house. The first 24 hours after Tweetys hatch, he ate nothing and drank very little. I was a little bit nervous but not alarmed as the yolk would serve him well for the next 3 days and then he would have his full appetite. We went to the local farming store and bought a bag of starter chick feed. Then brought it home to make what I call "birdie oatmeal". He got the hang of eating on his own after the first 24 hours, and now at 5 days old, he's a pro.
Tweety swims daily in our bathtub, and eats lettuce as well as his starter food.
It will be sad to see him go, but today we are taking Tweety to his new "forever" home on a friend of the family's farm. There he will have a bunch of other goslings to play with as they are getting a bunch next week. I am very proud and happy to say this was a successful rescue!
Tuesday 24 April 2012
Finally! Something interesting!
This month has been rather dull. Deven and I have been taking Miles to Springbank park to feed the geese lately, but other then that, we really haven't been doing much else.
On Friday we decided to go feed the geese again. So we all piled into the car at just after 5 and headed off to Springbank park. It was cold out, and nobody else was in the park. It was kind of nice to have it all to ourselves like that. We parked in front of some benches, and began to rip up the 4 pieces of bread we had brought with us. We fed those silly geese until we had none left and then decided to take a walk.
At the foot of the parking lot there is a roundabout. We noticed a goose sitting in the garden in the center of the roundabout. We headed over and discovered she was sitting upon a nest. Miles wanted to say hello to her, so off he went. Shortly after saying hello, we left her alone and headed to the park. We played for a while, Deven hopped after Miles, and Miles would run to me and we'd both run yelling "Monster!!". When we were good and tired, we headed back to the car. Miles wanted to say goodbye to Mommy Goose and so we let him go over and say bye. We were lucky enough that she stood up and revealed 1 egg sitting in her warm nest. I shooed Miles away when she hissed, we didn't want to accidently disturb her any further.
We got in the car and drove away.
On Monday, we were planning to go to the Childrens Museum, unfortunately for us, it was closed. We decided we'd pick up a loaf of bread and feed the geese again, this time we'd make sure we had enough to leave some at Mommy Gooses nest for her. Again, it was cold and very windy. We had the park to ourselves. We parked in front of the benches and once again, began ripping up bread for our goose-friends.
We gave the hoard of geese about 4 pieces of bread before deciding that it really was pretty cold and we should just rip up a piece for Mommy Goose and leave it for her and then head out. But when we arrived at the nest.. Mommy Goose was gone. And so was her egg. There was nothing but a pile of dirt and feathers left where she once sat on her precious egg. I felt so bad for her.. Assuming some punk-ass kids thought it'd be fun to completely disturb her and take her egg. She was no where in sight.
Deven tried to make me feel better by suggesting that maybe the egg had hatched. But with no evidence of shells, I knew this couldn't be true... I decided to look around a little and found it at the base of the hill. I turned it over thinking the worst had happend.. but it was fine. No cracks. I picked it up and we brought it home.
The immediate thought was that it was probably dead. But being the animal lover I am, I had to try. The egg was cold, but we managed to warm it up again. I have been reading a lot online about caring for goose eggs, and found out that an egg can survive 5 days with no warmth. Since we had seen Mommy Goose just 2 days ago, we know the egg has only been out in the cold for 2 days at most. A sign that it's dead would be based on how well it holds it's warmth. A clear sign would be if it gets cold really quickly - we managed to keep it warm the entire evening since we'd come home, and the warmth lasted all night. So this little egg is holding it's warmth - Great sign!
We've tried candling the egg (where you hold it against a flashlight to see inside) but we don't have a flashlight and the light we did use, covered too much surface area. So unfortunately we couldn't see inside. However we'll probably try again when we have a better flashlight!
So that's our interesting story, and our current "project". I've let Miles know that there is a chance it won't hatch. But if everything goes well, we should have a gosling around May 16th.
On Friday we decided to go feed the geese again. So we all piled into the car at just after 5 and headed off to Springbank park. It was cold out, and nobody else was in the park. It was kind of nice to have it all to ourselves like that. We parked in front of some benches, and began to rip up the 4 pieces of bread we had brought with us. We fed those silly geese until we had none left and then decided to take a walk.
At the foot of the parking lot there is a roundabout. We noticed a goose sitting in the garden in the center of the roundabout. We headed over and discovered she was sitting upon a nest. Miles wanted to say hello to her, so off he went. Shortly after saying hello, we left her alone and headed to the park. We played for a while, Deven hopped after Miles, and Miles would run to me and we'd both run yelling "Monster!!". When we were good and tired, we headed back to the car. Miles wanted to say goodbye to Mommy Goose and so we let him go over and say bye. We were lucky enough that she stood up and revealed 1 egg sitting in her warm nest. I shooed Miles away when she hissed, we didn't want to accidently disturb her any further.
We got in the car and drove away.
On Monday, we were planning to go to the Childrens Museum, unfortunately for us, it was closed. We decided we'd pick up a loaf of bread and feed the geese again, this time we'd make sure we had enough to leave some at Mommy Gooses nest for her. Again, it was cold and very windy. We had the park to ourselves. We parked in front of the benches and once again, began ripping up bread for our goose-friends.
We gave the hoard of geese about 4 pieces of bread before deciding that it really was pretty cold and we should just rip up a piece for Mommy Goose and leave it for her and then head out. But when we arrived at the nest.. Mommy Goose was gone. And so was her egg. There was nothing but a pile of dirt and feathers left where she once sat on her precious egg. I felt so bad for her.. Assuming some punk-ass kids thought it'd be fun to completely disturb her and take her egg. She was no where in sight.
Deven tried to make me feel better by suggesting that maybe the egg had hatched. But with no evidence of shells, I knew this couldn't be true... I decided to look around a little and found it at the base of the hill. I turned it over thinking the worst had happend.. but it was fine. No cracks. I picked it up and we brought it home.
The immediate thought was that it was probably dead. But being the animal lover I am, I had to try. The egg was cold, but we managed to warm it up again. I have been reading a lot online about caring for goose eggs, and found out that an egg can survive 5 days with no warmth. Since we had seen Mommy Goose just 2 days ago, we know the egg has only been out in the cold for 2 days at most. A sign that it's dead would be based on how well it holds it's warmth. A clear sign would be if it gets cold really quickly - we managed to keep it warm the entire evening since we'd come home, and the warmth lasted all night. So this little egg is holding it's warmth - Great sign!
We've tried candling the egg (where you hold it against a flashlight to see inside) but we don't have a flashlight and the light we did use, covered too much surface area. So unfortunately we couldn't see inside. However we'll probably try again when we have a better flashlight!
So that's our interesting story, and our current "project". I've let Miles know that there is a chance it won't hatch. But if everything goes well, we should have a gosling around May 16th.
Monday 2 April 2012
*NEW* on Just Us Moms!
I created Just Us Moms in the hope of bringing Mothers together to give eachother advice, share in the little things, and offer a shoulder to lean on for those tougher moments.
During our public viewing, Guests of the forum were able to see all that Just Us Moms has to offer, and a suggestion was made to have a space on the forum dedicated to all those Dads out there. So I created "Just Us Dads" as it's own category and included sections which were suggested by the men on the site so they could have a space of their own.
We've held giveaways and hung signs up around the city.
I recently asked various people, what in their opinion would make a good forum for parents, even better. 1 particular suggestion stood out to me the most. A section for caregivers. Often times, caregivers go under-appreciated. Babysitters, daycare workers, and other workers in the field of child care don't always have children, but DO have experience with them, and therefore can share some advice here and there about things they've experienced.
SO.....
Now, on Just Us Moms, we have a section dedicated to all those wonderful people out there who give us the opportunity to take a break, go to work, or just get the shopping done! A section where we can say a big THANK YOU.
We have also added a Guest Chat section where Guests viewing the forum can Join The Discussion - a section where specific threads are chosen to be shared, or they can create their own threads and just chit chat, get to know the other members and more or less just dip their toes in the water before jumping in.
If anyone has any further suggestions to make Just Us Moms an even better escape, go to;
http://www.justusmoms.forumotion.ca/ - Good to know - Suggestion box
or
click here to go directly to the Suggestion Box. http://justusmoms.forumotion.ca/f2-suggestions
During our public viewing, Guests of the forum were able to see all that Just Us Moms has to offer, and a suggestion was made to have a space on the forum dedicated to all those Dads out there. So I created "Just Us Dads" as it's own category and included sections which were suggested by the men on the site so they could have a space of their own.
We've held giveaways and hung signs up around the city.
I recently asked various people, what in their opinion would make a good forum for parents, even better. 1 particular suggestion stood out to me the most. A section for caregivers. Often times, caregivers go under-appreciated. Babysitters, daycare workers, and other workers in the field of child care don't always have children, but DO have experience with them, and therefore can share some advice here and there about things they've experienced.
SO.....
Now, on Just Us Moms, we have a section dedicated to all those wonderful people out there who give us the opportunity to take a break, go to work, or just get the shopping done! A section where we can say a big THANK YOU.
We have also added a Guest Chat section where Guests viewing the forum can Join The Discussion - a section where specific threads are chosen to be shared, or they can create their own threads and just chit chat, get to know the other members and more or less just dip their toes in the water before jumping in.
If anyone has any further suggestions to make Just Us Moms an even better escape, go to;
http://www.justusmoms.forumotion.ca/ - Good to know - Suggestion box
or
click here to go directly to the Suggestion Box. http://justusmoms.forumotion.ca/f2-suggestions
Thursday 29 March 2012
Chocolate Child!
This morning for breakfast we had chocolate chip pancakes!
Miles really loves pancakes, he's eaten 3 and asked for more but I've cut him off because he's like a goldfish and will eat until he makes himself sick. Plus, only 3 hours ago he'd already eaten oatmeal and an apple.
Kiddo is covered in chocolate though!
Thought I'd share a picture.
Not the best picture in the world, but at least you can see what I mean!
Now I'm off to tidy the house!
Wednesday 28 March 2012
Whew!
Holy cow, am I ever excited to finally be off this computer!
I have now created a Twitter account (https://twitter.com/#!/IsisBaily) and will soon have an ad out on facebook for my forum. This is very time consuming!
Tomorrow... probably clean the house. It could use some tidying.
Now? Time to RELAX. Off to go lay on the couch, and play Oblivion for the next hour or 2 until my 'hubby' comes home, then bedtime.
Hope everyone had a great day!!
I have now created a Twitter account (https://twitter.com/#!/IsisBaily) and will soon have an ad out on facebook for my forum. This is very time consuming!
Tomorrow... probably clean the house. It could use some tidying.
Now? Time to RELAX. Off to go lay on the couch, and play Oblivion for the next hour or 2 until my 'hubby' comes home, then bedtime.
Hope everyone had a great day!!
Poor Little Man..
Miles was sick yesturday.
He seemed fine, and then suddenly.. there was vomit all over my couch. We spent the remainder of the day indoors and took it easy. I'd decided to put the little guy to bed early, and got him all tucked in. Of course this idea didn't go over well with him and he stood by the gate and cried for a little bit before going quiet.
I didn't want to risk waking him, so I didn't go check on him right away. But when I did... this is what I found;
He seemed fine, and then suddenly.. there was vomit all over my couch. We spent the remainder of the day indoors and took it easy. I'd decided to put the little guy to bed early, and got him all tucked in. Of course this idea didn't go over well with him and he stood by the gate and cried for a little bit before going quiet.
I didn't want to risk waking him, so I didn't go check on him right away. But when I did... this is what I found;
Tired pup.
He slept well the rest of the night, and was up this morning at his regular hours. We've been taking it easy today to just make sure he's feeling better, but now I've got a sore throat and I guess Deven nearly got sick a couple of times at work! Oh boy... looks like somethings going through the house...
Here's hoping for a well weekend!
*NEW* on Just Us Moms - We now have a section dedicated to Guests! Guests can post questions, and converse with members of the site. Members however have full access to what the site has to offer.
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