2005apr09. Doc asks the question:
This a reference to an earlier discussion we had – I was under the impression that hatcheries don’t ship eggs. I just found out that they do. There are a few problems with that, at least with the average Joe who just wants a few geese/ducks.why is it that they don’t ship eggs? isn’t it best to have them imprint on the owner?
1) It depends on the hatchery, but they usually won’t send less than about 12 eggs.
2) While the eggs are mailed, the temperature needs to be in the right range. So there’s an opportunity for failure.
3) You have to buy a incubator, monitor it, adjust it, etc, for an entire month.
4) Even if you’ve done all this, you’re not guaranteed that if you have n eggs, you'll get n waterfowl – you may end up with zero hatched eggs, you may end up with twelve. Probably not the numerical range Joe is looking for – if you wanted three and got two, you get to do it all again with ~12 more eggs.
If you really want your waterfowl to imprint on you, you can arrange to visit a local hatchery and be there when your eggs hatch. Although imprinting means you get “human” waterfowl that think they’re also humans, it also means you’re the parents. If you’re raising them alone, and you have a job, you'll have to take your geese/ducks with you to Krispy Kreme or wherever you work – not seeing “mom” is very stressful, and stress alone can kill waterfowl. And a goose sitting on top of your “in” box pecking at your “CRT” keyboard probably isn’t an option.
We didn’t do the imprint thing. They are comfortable with being held, once you get them up to your face/neck (they’re all about faces and voices at this point), but they still don’t get “hands.” Hands swooping down, hands trying to grab ’em, or even pet/touch them. There’s a difference – they will nibble on your ear (~1/5th chomping power), but they will peck at the fingers (full chomping power). I’ve noticed that every day they’re getting stronger, and maybe within two weeks the pecks will go from being amusing to hurting. They’ll be okay with hands as they get bigger and start understanding our verbalizing (“no,” “ouch!,” “call an ambulance”).
In other developments, the ole’ mirror trick has them looking around the back of the mirror for the other goose – in time, they’ll learn that that is actually them, which apparently most other animals (other than the dolphin ... and maybe chimps? ... and us, especially in the Hollywood, California area) don’t get. They will also use it to peer around corners and such. Nancy Townsend’s theory on that is that since they’re on water they need to know the difference between a reflected hawk and an actual hawk. (see Doc’s hilarious interview with Nancy Townsend here: Duck Diapers).