Goslings of 2015 Hatch-a-Long

[Miss Lydia]

Well Bill was the dominent Gander, even though he was smaller than Daddy Tufted & the white chinese. Tucker is timid so Bill was able to boss him as well without any fighting. I never had any fighting between the 4 ganders. It was always some of the girls pushing and shoving. Bill would stand in the kiddie pool, he was king of the pool, and wait for a girl to get in none of the other ganders would go near the pool.
All of them had "their" girls, the females that were loyal to them, Bill had mildred, Daddy Tufted was with maggie, tucker had tori & now ethel and the white chinese had Martha. The other girls were loosey goosey and would breed with any gander, mainly Bill, but only at the barn in the kiddie pool. When it came to the pond it was a free for all with the "easy" girls lol
I think having enough girls helped with the lack of fighting, a long with well behaved ganders, which i got by pure luck.

Having four different ganders made it easier for me to tell which gosling belonged to which gander, plus marking the eggs with the names of the girls helped with knowing who the mother was. Thats why i didnt do seperation after the first year. I just waited for hatch time then matched the gosling to its father going by its color & looks.
This year will be different. Tucker is my only gander, i think, not sure yet about his & Ethel's gosling. It will be interesting to see if Tucker will become the new leader & be a normal gander now that the other ganders are gone.

I bet Tucker will step up now that there's no competition . i am worried if Sam and Babe begin I'll be with out any place to separate them at night since my houses are full.

 

[8GeeseALaying]

You said houses. Do they have a house of their own? If so could you put up a temporary divider, if the house is big enough? Just through breeding season.

 

[Miss Lydia]

You said houses. Do they have a house of their own? If so could you put up a temporary divider, if the house is big enough? Just through breeding season.

We may have to or move the chickens out of their house and give it to the geese it's big and I only have 14 chickens we'll take it a day at a time for now, they have their own house I would never trust them to sleep with the ducks or chickens.

 

[flockman]

I sure hope you don't have to separate them. Hopefully they will be able to work things out.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I sure hope you don't have to separate them. Hopefully they will be able to work things out.

I hope so too, they went in last night with out any problems we shall see.

 

[bekkanblue]

Not goslings, but the future parents of goslings I hope! I love that snow doesn't phase them at all.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Not goslings, but the future parents of goslings I hope! I love that snow doesn't phase them at all.

Beautiful geese.

 

[bekkanblue]

Thank you. : ) I think they're pretty nice, and they think they're awesome of course. I only have them, and about 6 others I saw at a show in Nov to use as live reference tho'. The show geese were bigger, but mine weigh in at 'correct' weight. <shrug> Still learning. Coming from stock dogs, moderate/medium means something completely different in the show dog world a lot of time. I have a pair who are chunkier than the rest (different source) and not as smooth moving which doesn't do them any favors on my hilly place. The rest are a bit rangier, but just march right along. Or do their dramatic 'exit stage right' performance that is a current favorite activity.

Does anyone else have geese who like to climb piles of things. And teeter totters (dog agility obstacle)? The teeter is little, and I have it set so it doesn't move right now but boy it's a popular place to be. Walk up, look around, pose, jump down. Walk up, look around, keep looking around, hop down. Makes me think I need to add lots of 'stuff' to their new paddock for mental enrichment!

 

[blueraven]

Got my first egg this morning of the new season my birds are a year and 10 months old. goona put a few in the incubator and see if its fertile.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thank you. : ) I think they're pretty nice, and they think they're awesome of course. I only have them, and about 6 others I saw at a show in Nov to use as live reference tho'. The show geese were bigger, but mine weigh in at 'correct' weight. <shrug> Still learning. Coming from stock dogs, moderate/medium means something completely different in the show dog world a lot of time. I have a pair who are chunkier than the rest (different source) and not as smooth moving which doesn't do them any favors on my hilly place. The rest are a bit rangier, but just march right along. Or do their dramatic 'exit stage right' performance that is a current favorite activity.

Does anyone else have geese who like to climb piles of things. And teeter totters (dog agility obstacle)? The teeter is little, and I have it set so it doesn't move right now but boy it's a popular place to be. Walk up, look around, pose, jump down. Walk up, look around, keep looking around, hop down. Makes me think I need to add lots of 'stuff' to their new paddock for mental enrichment!

Funny how they find things to entertain themselves with, my oldest goose Missy [Toulouse] has always loved getting up on things roof of feeder house inside duck house on top of the stall lids poop hard to get off too, my other 3 usually just watch her. lol but they are forever finding something to mess with or chew on. some kind of stimuli would be good especially in winter in summer they have a lot more to do besides chase off the ducks and chickens.