Help! Goose off her feet.

cvamoca said:

Thank you everyone!
The light weight ones are the growing Chinese/Embden crosses, they are all gangly legs and neck- but holy cow- the other 5 (4 all white, I assume Embden or Pom due to blue eyes and feet) to me they are huge- not "like a Toulouse" huge, but their belly's drag on the ground and they are so much chunkier than my little guys. Difference between an Arabian horse and a Draft horse.
3 are supposed to be this year's offspring so they are just young too. Mama Goose- I must give her a name now that I'm pretty sure she's going to survive- Mama's paunch or lobe is noticeably thinner than her sons and hubby- she has one offspring that has the same thinner lobe and her old owner thought it is a female- it's much more shy than hubby and the boys who are pretty outgoing with me, so I hope that means a female to balance things out better.
I'm feeding them corn on the cob, and the entire plant, too- basically any green they want, they can have, as winter's coming. Neighbours own a restaurant and are saving their greens and veggie offall which I give them at night- so far corn, apples, apple peels, carrots, lettuce, plantain (wild) burdock, Mesclun mix--are all hits. I hate that the new ones like bread, my babies don't. We do feed a bit of it to the chickens- just the good flax breads that the restaurant also makes, lots of seed in it

Mama was completely fine today- could boogie around the entire pastures without any sign of a problem. I'm thrilled, just so happy--she's a beautiful and striking bird. And her family are devoted to her- when she couldn't stand they would all come over and touch her all over and mumble little goose sounds...today- she's running the show.

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cvamoca said:

Thank you- I'm pretty sure they weren't getting fed much, or anything because the owner really couldn't do much and is pretty poor. They were turned out on grass though.
When I called him to ask what I should try feeding- he said scratch and bread. That doesn't work for me- well scratch is fine- the scratch we have here has molasses in it and is 4 grain, wheat, corn, barley and oats. I usually feed flight conditioner pellets (for waterfowl), lay mash, extra cracked corn and lay pellets and mix everything together because my chickens also live in the barn(s). (I have Araucanas--the correct, rumpless tufted kind) must say hi on the Araucana page.

The white husband is HUGE- biggest goose I've ever seen- he's far bigger than my Embden/Chinese crosses- well, all that family are much bigger and heavier. I guessed Pomeranian because she fits the standard well-- correct colour, eyes, feet, but they are pretty rare, although I did hear some were brought in to the Annapolis Valley (I'm in Nova Scotia Canada) a few years ago, so it's possible--I don't know of any other goose breed that's close to that and possible to be in NS. The male is well over 20 pounds,
the kids are very close to that, and Mom is about 17 or 18.

Here are my first three geese- my "Babies" --these three are from a Chinese mother and an Embden father- they were imprinted at hatch and think they are my dogs- which is fine with me. White one was Lucy- but I think Lucy is a Bruce. (Tried to breed the Saddleback goose, maybe just a dominance thing?)
Second is Frankie Blue eyes- who may be a Francine.
Bruce/Lucy again, and Mr. Hanky- who may be a Missus Hanky...they are just 3 months old, and the sweetest things. And the last 2 pictures are of the new flock with the "back on her feet" hen. (I can call a female goose a hen too, right?)
We have unlimited pasture here, apple trees, lots of grass till it snows, a good vegetable garden that needs weeding, so I have great hopes that they will all live a long and happy life. Many of my chickens are 10 years old, so I'm doing something right!

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cvamoca said:

Me too. I'm so sorry I didn't discover how awesome geese are years ago- now I'm in my 50s and they might outlive me!
I'm sorry for all the wasted time...we could have been having fun 15 years earlier...

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cvamoca said:

I was just offered two beautiful brown Chinese because the male picks on the lady's ducks- but I think I should probably stay with these ones- I love my babies, don't really want them being picked on under any circumstances, and winter is coming. My chickens aren't happy about geese in the chicken barns...

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