Geese: my ‘epic fail’ and a happy ending!

June 20, 201112 Comments

I am a neophyte when it comes to chickens and geese. I have only been at raising poultry for three years, and while I can feel pretty successful at raising chickens (just keep those dogs at bay thank you!) well, I’ve got to admit I certainly stink at goose husbandry. What is more regrettable is the fact that I love the geese so much more than I do the chickens…

Shhhh! Now don’t you dare breathe a word of this to them, because it would certainly hurt their feelings!

Without going into heartbreaking detail I have lost, one way and another, all of Polly’s baby goslings. Yup, I lost the last one. I had just come to naming little Helena and POOF! She was out of the picture. However as heartbreaking it was for me you have to know that it was a crushing blow to Polly! She spent her whole day calling and looking for that little gosling girl to no avail and that was killing me…

I have learned that geese need companionship. They will die without it. I had to act fast for both our sakes! I quickly contacted my favorite goose lady Connie of Sassafras Valley Farm, and asked if she had a spare goose/gosling I could buy. She wrote back saying that she did! Awesome! Then I found that she lived all the way up in Missouri. That surely was not going to work (You may recall the distress that driving that far caused me when I went up to visit Jayme.). This meant I had to look local and what a surprise! Seems raising geese is on the rise here in Alabama!

And so it is I found Kim in Moulton via Craig’s List, and she had three Embden goslings for sale! Moulton was only an hour away. Hmm… Moulton vs. Missouri? No contest there! 😉 Though I am certain I would have very much enjoyed visiting with Connie on her goose farm, and who knows? I may have the opportunity someday.

And so it is that I drove to Moulton and OH-MY-GOODNESS! These goslings are positively of Baby Huey fame and proportions, and although I was told they were just over a month old, they are already half the size of Polly!

We caught the triplets, I put them into the dog crate, Kim field dressed the scratches on my arm, I paid her, and I was off. Unfortunately for me I had the dog crate in the back of the cab and not in the truck’s bed. With the temperatures in the mid to high nineties the truck bed was simply not an option, so crate and all, into the cab they went. Hopping into the cab I suddenly realized, that by the time I got home, I would certainly be suffering from the deleterious effects of the off gassing from that much goose poop! I rolled down the windows and turned the air conditioner down to arctic blast!

Do I spoil my critters?

Now I wondered what would happen when I got home… Would Polly reject the three Hueys? Would there be honking and pinching all around? I, being a world class worry wart, began to worry in earnest.

Turns out I needn’t have. Bob helped me to set the crate down and Polly came running over to see what was going on. Right away she was interested in the goslings, and they, though hot and frightened from the ride home, were definitely interested in her too. I opened the crate door. No one came out. Then Polly stuck her head inside and started a low soothing honking, almost like a whisper, and slowly the Hueys came out of the crate.

Polly was amazing! She began honking loudly and walked over to get a drink. They followed! Later at dusk I heard her honking in earnest and, worried (did I mention I am a worrier?) I ran to the window to see what was happening…

Surprisingly, she was honking ‘command’ and the three Hueys were walking in file right behind her into the barn and to bed!

Crisis averted!

And to think I was worried.

~*~

OK, this one begs for a caption! Feeling witty? Post one in the comments section and then we’ll take a vote. Now don’t be shy!

~*~

Ollie-Ollie-Alls-for-Free (or oxen free)

June 7, 20116 Comments

So this morning I go to let the geese out of the barn and there are only two in the nest! Polly and the little girl. Where’s that little boy gotten off too? I search the barn calling out for him and I hear a weak little peep, peep, peep – peep, peep, peep…

I look everywhere and I can hear him faintly, but cannot see him!

Finally, I find him. He had escaped his corral and gotten himself wedged UP-SIDE-DOWN between the wall and a pallet laying on the ground. His little flappy feet are kicking back and forth uselessly in time to his little peeping sounds. I scoop him up, turn him right side up, and carry him out to fresh grass and water.

When I put him down he tries to stand, totters and falls back down. I think he must have been upside-down for a very long while. Poor Baby! Those flappy feet “went to sleep without him!” Later that day all is well and he is happily following along with Polly and the baby girl again.

“:<>

“My feet went to sleep without me!” What I used to say when very young and suffering from that nasty pins and needles feeling.

A long awaited event

April 25, 2011April 26, 201121 Comments

Saturday, the day before Easter, an event I had long been waiting for finally took place! Polly’s eggs began hatching!

I had noticed her standing over her nest when I went to close the barn door on Friday. I thought it odd, but didn’t understand what was going on… Later I would realize that her eggs were talking to her and she was listening! Little minute piping sounds were coming from inside and just audible to only her!

Next morning I came out to open the barn door and there she was standing over the nest again. Reaching down with her bill, she kept adjusting the eggs vigorously. So vigorously, in fact, that I thought she would shatter each and every one! I needn’t have worried as it turns out.

Here with few words are Saturday and Sunday’s main event on the Farmlet… NOTE: All pictures are clickable for a closer look if you like. 🙂

It began as a small hole

A tiny bill is just visible through the top of the opening… It’s a GIRL! (I will explain how I know this at the end of the post.)

I would visit many times throughout the day. The process was painstakingly slow!

It’s a BOY!

Aww… It’s a Boy, a Boy, a Boy, and a Girl!

“Here, drink this, this is good!”

When you are only less than 24 hours old then everything must be taught. What to drink and what to eat are important lessons!

Polly’s bath made puddles for the goslings to explore.

Hatching and learning all about your world is hard work! Time for a nap.

Polly brings the babies out about once an hour to eat and drink. While out of the nest she calls to them constantly. Interesting to watch, and when they get too far away (for her comfort) she calls more loudly and the flaps her wings quite hard! The gust of wind she creates sends all four hustling back to be right underneath her.

As Promised

I mentioned that there was a way to distinguish between the boys and girls, and with the Pilgrim Goose it is quite easily done! This heritage breed is sex-linked meaning that the males and females are different colors from birth. Pilgrim goslings with dark bills and darker gray down are the girls, while the goslings with lighter coloring on their bills, and more yellow in their down are the boys. EASY!

I chose the Pilgrim Goose breed for this as well as the following reasons: