Recent content by rainplace

I started out with a goose and a few ducks. My goose stayed bonded with the ducks her entire life, but when I got her a companion, it became apparent that they are totally different creatures. They feed differently, range differently and their social structure is more complex than ducks. I'd...

She was an amazing goose! Thank you for spotlighting her photo as it gave me the chance to talk about her. (sorry so late with replies, I'm not here often, and the email associated with this account is monitored only rarely)

@sumi That photo was of my wonderful Ranaya. She was part of my original flock that I started in 2009. She had an untimely death last year, and I miss her greatly. Ranaya was the only Chinese goose I owned, and she was loud, obnoxious and a brat. When she was a gosling she liked to ride...

I appreciate that you updated us! Did the vet talk with you about any preventative care?

Goodness gracious that's expensive. I wonder if you called the person from the craigslist ad you could get not only information about the wheat he's selling, but also he may know where you can acquire wheat closer to home. I called the farm my grains come from and this is what he told me: I...

Those tubs are awesome! I use them for everything. They last a lot longer than I thought a two dollar item would last, which makes them even better.

When I can't keep their swimming water unfrozen, I don't worry too much about it, I just make sure to keep their drinking water unfrozen. During extended frozen periods, I will make the effort to get the pool filled occasionally. When they've had about an hour of swimming, I'll dump the pool so...

Have you tried feeding her treats? I was having a problem with a duck recently and Amiga suggested that to me. My duck, who hadn't been eating properly, could not get enough peas. I took frozen peas, added them to hot water to defrost, then put the peas just covered with water into her pen...

Ducks are susceptible to aerial predators. The first year I had ducks at the farm we lost a few to hawks and eagles. I made the choice that I preferred our waterfowl free ranging than penning them for their protection (though I did lock all ducks up at night). Afterwards I put things in the...

Are you saying your duck's feathers are not repelling water and look wet? If so, I would be concerned about letting them be in the rain when it is so cold out. There's a thread over in the geese section about "wet feather."

@servpolice One place I visited called it "Sooty Mould Exposure," but when I used the search criteria "sooty mould exposure" + geese, the only hits were back to the website that gave me that name to begin with. When I removed the quotation marks and + sign, I got hits for fungi that infect...

Can you explain this more? We use to get the Ross 308, I thought they were made by Aviagen. Though we don't do cornishX anymore, I have been thinking about getting a few and putting some of the ladies out with the free range flock. Is there a a strain of broiler that would be better for this?

In my experience, the problem with Delawares (we've done them) and other types of supposedly DP birds are where you get them from. Around here, the most I have seen are just layers, nothing of note in the meat department. Buying from hatcheries has yielded the same results for me. Unless you...

There isn't any GMO wheat in commerce in the US at this time. We're huge wheat producers out here and there was a scandal a couple of years ago where a test plot of GMO wheat might have escaped. So far it hasn't made it into production. Not sure where in NC you are, but because I am still...

It does remove the coating, that's why they need to be refrigerated.