INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Finnie]

I got goose eggs!

Two on Wednesday, one yesterday and one (so far) today. I have 3 females, so I don’t know whether they all 3 decided to start laying at once, or more likely one (or two) of them have a “beginning laying” glitch going on. Because normally I don’t expect geese to lay every day. Every other day seems more normal to me.

I need to go back and check whether I’ve posted pictures of the new geese I have gotten.

 

[Finnie]

I did not.

I can’t believe it hasn’t even been two weeks yet. I found a pair of white Chinese down in Greensburg and went to get them on a lovely Sunday afternoon. They will be one year old this spring, and they originally came from Murray MacMurray.

I named them Salamander and Liz. (Short for Lizard)

In the next photo, Salamander and Liz are on the right. This was taken just after Günther had put the young upstart gander in his place. Then the new pair walked off to the right and gave Günther and his flock their space.

The skirmish:

They seem to have worked it out that Salamander is allowed to follow Günther and the ladies at a respectful distance. All 5 are usually in the same general area, but separated into 2 and 3. At dusk they all gather near the gate to their pen until I come open it. That of course makes them scatter. But then I start herding them and they all file in.

I assume I will have to separate them as breeding season progresses. But for now I’m just taking a wait and see attitude.

Shortly before I got the new pair, I did see Günther mating with Künigünde. That’s when I decided she must be a female after all. Plus she has been doing the female thing trying to get attention from me like Gisela has always done. Follows me around honking softly, curves her neck, and tries to get close. If I bend down and hold real still, she will get within touching distance. But rarely does she let me pet her.

It will be interesting to see how many are laying once the eggs settle into a proper pattern. I guess I need to get my incubator out of storage!!

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

I did not.

I can’t believe it hasn’t even been two weeks yet. I found a pair of white Chinese down in Greensburg and went to get them on a lovely Sunday afternoon. They will be one year old this spring, and they originally came from Murray MacMurray.

View attachment 3414659

I named them Salamander and Liz. (Short for Lizard)

In the next photo, Salamander and Liz are on the right. This was taken just after Günther had put the young upstart gander in his place. Then the new pair walked off to the right and gave Günther and his flock their space.

View attachment 3414658

The skirmish:
View attachment 3414691
View attachment 3414690
View attachment 3414688

They seem to have worked it out that Salamander is allowed to follow Günther and the ladies at a respectful distance. All 5 are usually in the same general area, but separated into 2 and 3. At dusk they all gather near the gate to their pen until I come open it. That of course makes them scatter. But then I start herding them and they all file in.

I assume I will have to separate them as breeding season progresses. But for now I’m just taking a wait and see attitude.

Shortly before I got the new pair, I did see Günther mating with Künigünde. That’s when I decided she must be a female after all. Plus she has been doing the female thing trying to get attention from me like Gisela has always done. Follows me around honking softly, curves her neck, and tries to get close. If I bend down and hold real still, she will get within touching distance. But rarely does she let me pet her.

View attachment 3414657

It will be interesting to see how many are laying once the eggs settle into a proper pattern. I guess I need to get my incubator out of storage!!

Beautiful birds. I've only ever had chickens so I don't know much about geese.

 

[jdfog2]

Nothing interesting about it currently. Here is a picture from my first chicks checking the temperature in the brooder.
View attachment 3413789

It appears you have some very smart chics. Budding scientists perhaps

 

[Faraday40]

It appears you have some very smart chics. Budding scientists perhaps

He loves his chickens - grew up with them. We have some very funny stories of times when others tried to feed him store bought eggs. I guess he has a sensitive palate.

His true passion is STEM. He loves computer programming. He just finished a grant proposal to the farm bureau to build a robotic automatic chicken treat dispenser. For his 4H project he wants to train his Spitzhauben to go through an agility course then peck a button at end to receive some mealworms.

 

[jdfog2]

He loves his chickens - grew up with them. We have some very funny stories of times when others tried to feed him store bought eggs. I guess he has a sensitive palate.

His true passion is STEM. He loves computer programming. He just finished a grant proposal to the farm bureau to build a robotic automatic chicken treat dispenser. For his 4H project he wants to train his Spitzhauben to go through an agility course then peck a button at end to receive some mealworms.

Wow! This sounds awesome !
I kinda like STEM too. I'm in STEM career and earlier in my career was a QA Engineer in Manufacturing Automation and Robotics for over 15 years.

I don't do that nowadays but am in a scientific organization that uses a lot of technology. I'm over 60 so I've been around a while and have seen a lot. But it still amazes me how fast technology improves and changes. Fortunately, from a mangement perspective the concepts remain (mostly) the same.

Best of luck to him!

JD

 

[judyc]

Is anyone in Indiana raising Penciled Runners? I lost my drake last week while I was on vacation.

 

[midwestchickenowner]

Does anyone know a place to buy chicks where it doesn't sell out in less than a day?

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

Does anyone know a place to buy chicks where it doesn't sell out in less than a day?

I guess it depends on what kind you want. TSC had plenty of Cornish X when I stopped in but I didn't see very many laying birds. You could always try a hatchery

 

[Isadora]

Is anyone in Indiana raising Penciled Runners? I lost my drake last week while I was on vacation.

I'm ordering some penciled runner ducklings from a lady in Ohio. She's going to ship them once hatched.