Goose Palace...or is it Goose Jail?

I'll let the geese be the judge - I intended for it to be a palace of sorts, but I am sure they think they are in jail. Until today, I had been locking them up in a tractor at night (for safety's sake) and letting them roam about during the day.  Which is all fine and dandy except for a few minor issues...

The geese have to be put up when company comes over - they don't attack people, but they DO make stupid choices. Like walking in front of tires - ON MOVING VEHICLES! And my all time favorite is how they flap up into truck beds and poop - A LOT! Yeah, no, can't be having that happen to my company.

Then, last night, they decided they wanted to lead a merry round of chase through the property instead of be put up.  Yeah, once again, NO I said! That's it, enough with the niceness, they had to go on lock down!

So up I got bright and early and off to Home Depot I headed - I had almost everything I needed EXCEPT a little bit of cheapy plastic fencing....

Part of a tank of gas in the lawn mower (had to clear the way since I am over due for a date with Murray), 15 t-posts later, 2 50 foot rolls of cheap plastic fencing, 98 out of 100 zip ties, an old table and slightly holey tarp, one of my old step in posts for electric fencing, and 2 bungee cords scrounged up from the depths of the shed and VOILA! Goose Lockdown Facility is complete!

Of course, in the midst of my morning of outdoorsy fun, up wanders and stranger....apparently, my moat only stops vehicular traffic, but bold morons on foot will wander past it...bless his heart, he was lost looking for the neighbors house....and he found me. In all my glory, sweaty, nasty, smelling rank and ripe, fighting with a t-post....bet that's the last time he braves a driveway like mine on foot to ask for directions! Come on people, there is a REASON for the moat! All I need is an alligator or 2.....

Anyways, geese all got a wing clipped this afternoon - and tossed out into their new jail, with their pool freshly filled and everything. So far, they haven't figured out their little lean to shelter thing, but they HAVE figured out where the gate is....and they have spent most of the day standing there and waiting for me to open it...yeah, NO I said! There they are and there they shall stay! The goats were glad to see them on lock down I think - I bet they were tired of being harassed by them, and I KNOW the horses were glad to have their bossy goose antics locked up...

Let's hope they stay put - I love my geese, but they have to do geese things in goose territory and leave the other critters and visitors alone!

Cotton Patch Geese - a New Chapter :)

OH YES! We are now the proud parents of a pair of RARE Cotton Patch Geese! You may read more about them here: Cotton Patch Geese  They are basically a breed native to the south, well adapted to our climate, and they LOVE to eat weeds! PERFECT! Also, a fairly docile breed that is good at parenting - PERFECT again! The best part in so many ways is that they are easily sexed just by looking! Sure, I have learned and conquered how to vent sex ducks and geese (it's pretty easy actually) - but if you are gonna be letting mama's hatch their own eggs it's SO much easier to be able to tell boys from girls by looking then it is to have to catch them up and sex them individually!  And did I mention how well behaved they are??? Perfect birds!

Tonight, for now, they have no names yet - still trying to decide - but here they are on lockdown close to the house:

Tomorrow or the next day they will be shuffled to the "goose hut" and allowed to acclimate to it.  Expect babies next spring - geese aren't like chickens, they don't lay an egg everyday all year long and especially not these geese!

Thanks to our friends at Nonesuch Farm - the Parker family has some really beautiful stock on beautiful property and just a very few left right now!

This is a heritage breed - not hatchery stock, heck I don't even know a hatchery that has them yet - and being rare we would like to source one more unrelated pair to bring in so babies can be mixed from hatches to make pairs for other farms. So far, they have settled down, and are pretty friendly. The whole ride home, when we would talk and laugh THEY would make noises and chatter back! Pretty cool birds right there!

I expected them to be freaked out and hissy - but nope, none of that. REALLY calm for geese! These little babies are actually a few months old now (geese grow FAST) but they are still really just that - BABIES! So sweet and the best part, though it is hard to see, the male (or GANDER to be correct) has BLUE EYES! Yup, like I said, in pictures, not easy to spot - but pinkish feet and bill with blue eyes - just so good looking!

True highlite of my day right here....the most perfect geese ever :) But why do I call this a new chapter? Well, because I made a promise to myself back on the first of January that the ONLY breeds of birds I would be bringing in from here on out would be heritage birds! I will admit, that has been hard to do! Ideal Hatchery is ALWAYS advertising specials and those little fluffy brand new babies sure are cute! But I have won the battle NOT to buy them so far and I will continue to fight :P Yup, sure, I have THREE none heritage hens FOR EGGS ONLY....I won't be breeding or hatching anything from them, they are production for the household and nothing more. But from now on I will only keep heritage stock bought from other breeders with fine stock - sure hatcheries like Metzer can have some pretty nice fowl themselves - but I want birds that are true to the standards, birds that need a little help getting the population built back up.

The other promise I made to myself was to stick to JUST ONE breed for every type of bird. I had to REALLY think about it and narrow it down to just one breed of goose - they say most small farms drown in craziness and flop because they have way too much going on. Sure I would like to have a million of them roaming the property - but I can't, I am only one person and that kind of time keeping on eye on everything would drive me nuts! So I narrowed it down and stuck with one breed I could work with to keep, improve (not that these 2 really need it  LOL) and have to offer each spring. I picked these for so many reasons - they basically feed themselves when allowed to free range, they SHOULD basically brood and hatch their own eggs, and all I need to do is keep an eye on them to stay healthy and safe from predators - total can do. Geese really are low maintenance fowl compared to other things like chickens....a good place to start when you are really trying to get something nice and unique going with your poultry!

Now, we wait for spring to get here! It's going to be a LONG hard wait LOL! But worth it...I can't wait to see her first hatch following her around the property! AND NAMES! These two need names....so many good ones...hmmm....what shall we call them.....