House Goose Thread

[EvenLater]

An edit: Here's pictures that should help because it might be awhile til i can do a video Lol


A good shot of new (pin or blood) feathers coming in. You can see the casings covering the new feather inside. For feathers at this stage, i would only preen the tips open.


Here's a good shot of the casings on feathers a bit more ready for help. The casings are fairly clear so you can see where the blood flow stops. You can safely help them preen away anything ABOVE that line with no issues at all. They actually enjoy the extra cuddling and bonding. And just like clipping a dogs nails, I usually stop a bit away from the blood line just to be safe. As long as you don't remove casing below that line, you won't hurt them.

IF a feather should get preened too low (either by you or sometimes they over preen themselves) and it's bleeding and won't stop, take a pinch of corn starch or flour (basically the same thing as the pet store product Quik Stop) and apply pressure to that feather. If it bled a little but then stopped, it should be fine. Young birds often get over excited when preening themselves (because it's itchy!) and this can happen. Wing feathers are ones that will pulse blood right out of them and that bleeding would need to be stopped.

 

[Skyfire]

Hubby took photo this morning. Snuggle time with exhausted momma. All that hard work for a moment like this, yep our babies are worth it and then some

 

[EvenLater]

Hubby took photo this morning. Snuggle time with exhausted momma. All that hard work for a moment like this, yep our babies are worth it and then some

OMGosh! Look at Juppie! WOW she's getting soooo big! And I notice that tired Mama has the biggest smile I've ever seen on her face!

 

[EvenLater]

Well, it's official. At not even 2 weeks old, Cas already rules the roost here! He spends all day now out and about with me and now delights in showing my well mannered dog who's boss!


(Disclaimer: Yes, I am literally RIGHT there closely watching in case of any issues, but this is also Chevy, our lab who has been a therapy dog since he was a puppy and is VERY well trained and tolerant. I would NOT allow Cas to play with my Border Collie in the same manner, because dogs are dogs.)

And when I'm here on the forums reading, this is now what's at my feet, watching my every move and chatting away with me, almost like a child saying "Hey! Hey Mom! Mom! Are you watching me?! Look what I can do! Did you see?! MOM!!!"

 

[Miss Lydia]

Well, it's official. At not even 2 weeks old, Cas already rules the roost here! He spends all day now out and about with me and now delights in showing my well mannered dog who's boss!


(Disclaimer: Yes, I am literally RIGHT there closely watching in case of any issues, but this is also Chevy, our lab who has been a therapy dog since he was a puppy and is VERY well trained and tolerant. I would NOT allow Cas to play with my Border Collie in the same manner, because dogs are dogs.)

And when I'm here on the forums reading, this is now what's at my feet, watching my every move and chatting away with me, almost like a child saying "Hey! Hey Mom! Mom! Are you watching me?! Look what I can do! Did you see?! MOM!!!"

 

[Skyfire]

I love these pics. Happy siblings!

 

[Skyfire]

Here is part 1 of the review I promised. I have to edit part 2 so you guys are spared from the 2 minute in depth philosophical debate my hubby and I had about the exact location of her exit door, lol. I'll add it to this post when I can.

 

[EvenLater]

What a great vid Sky! I can't wait to see part 2 where you get Jup to wear it. I just got Cas's on Thursday, but it's still a bit too big for him (I'm not worried tho with how darn fast he's growing!) so I'm just getting him used to it by slipping the neck part on and tucking the bottom under him (so like he feels it on his tummy) and I reward him with treats for leaving it be. I plan to keep doing this until he actually fits it and my hope is that by then (I'm thinking it'll be about a week) he'll be somewhat used to the idea so actually clipping it won't be much different. Right now I've been having him sit with a basket of yard clippings while I mess around with it on and around him, and that's working great. He'll stop on occasion and try to nip or pull at it, but I just redirect him to his greens and he munches happily and forgets all about the 'thing'. LOL

 

[GiddyGoose]

Oh awesome, a house goose thread! I'll have to read all of this at work and share my pics! Just the other day I tried to maybe find a house goose group on Facebook and was upset that there is only one, it seems, and it's not active.

 

[GiddyGoose]

Now that I've caught up on this thread, I have a handful of responses, but my connection at work isn't good enough to permit multiquotes, so here goes!

To the person that said geese seem intelligent with the talk they do at us, but are probably more instinctual due to brain size, I'd like to educate you a little and say that I think you are grossly underestimating avians. As someone that has spent years studying avians, particularly parrots, and reading books on avian social structure and behavior, I would not underestimate the intelligence of any avian specie. Brain size is not always an indicator of intelligence, worth, or capabilities. Parrots, for example, have a much smaller brain than our own, yet studies show that they understand the concept of item permeance, possess complex puzzle solving skills, and can even form sentences and create their own vocabulary by mishmashing present words(mostly African Grey species). They are on par with small children. To suggest they are not smart based on brain size is ludicrous. Even some have observed individual personalities and quirks in avians such as sparrows or finches.

Also, to the more recent posts about itchy feathers growing in, I have another suggestion. We adopted a plucker macaw some time ago, and have found that, when he has pin feathers coming in, yes, it DOES cause irritation that can result in them being plucked back out. To ease his skin irritation, we mist him with an aloe vera solution called 'Avivera'(I think). He's not as tempted to pluck them when his skin is soothed by the aloe.

-------------------------------------------

On to myself(kind of response to other comments), I decided to delve into goosey parenting after being driven mad by the hundreds of residential canadian geese at a call center I used to work at. I have always found them elegant, and have always been fascinated by birds. After enduring hours of honking, on a daily basis, I went goose crazy and started researching. At first, I wanted a Canadian(and still do), but found it would be very expensive to legally obtain one and it seemed most farm suppliers(like Metzer) demanded you order 6 minimum.. and I wanted one.

I eventually fell for the beauty of the Africans and ordered two girls from McMurray. I wanted one, but two was the minimum and wasn't such a stretch. Unfortunately, the sister sustained a head injury during shipping and later succumbed to it. We were left with Matilda, and promptly spoiled her rotten. She was the best goose we could have asked for, so loving, so well behaved, rode amazingly in the car...

She was 1 or 2 when she passed. There seemed to have been an A/C malfunction in her bathroom(we have two and didn't use the other, so it was hers), and it became scorching hot while we were away for work. We firmly believe she died of heat stroke... We were SO distraught... and not only us, but our two macaws, too. At the time we had two bonded male macaws(I adopted Scruff, a Military, for my B&G, Rosco). See, we talked to 'Tilda. Ever since she was a couple days old, we just called to her with 'Matilda' or 'What what?'. She knew her name, even honked three times when we said her name, or twice for 'what what'. Even the macaws loved talking to her. When she stopped responding, they knew. For the next several weeks they squalled,"What what?... What what?!... WHAT WHAT! WHAT WHAT! WHAT WHAAAAAT?!" Poor Rosco took it the worst... Many of my parrot friends said that, sometimes, showing the body consoles them... I tried, but Rosco seemed to blame me, and acted very angrily towards me for a while. Scruff seemed to be at a loss for a reaction and just stared at her. They're over it, now, and, while it still hurts, that we dearly miss her, and she can never be replaced, we've moved on, but she will never be forgotten. We buried her with her favorite toys and blanket, and we have a dated goose doll in her memory.

Shortly after her passing, we felt an emptiness in our home. We decided to have another house goose, and preordered for an Embden. We felt it would be too heart breaking to have another African. April came around and in came our baby and a duckling companion! Oh the joys of gosling rearing began again! I have to admit, a duck is nothing like a goose. Gotta say, I'm goose HOOKED.

This time around, we decided to forego Avian Fashions and went with Party Fowl. We LOOOVE Nessy's work! Avian Fashion has no liner, and it was so not fun to be cuddling and suddenly have a wet spot on your chest because of a soggy diaper.

Angel, the Embden, is a little bossier, and full of sass, but that's ok. He's about a year old now(thought he was a she). I'd post pics and videos, but not a good enough connection here.