Gaggle of Geese Lovers

[fangedknight]

My geese have now encountered chickens for the first time.

Technically they had a few years before when my neighbor’s favorite silkie somehow made her way through the woods and into our yard. My geese kept their distance from that one, the sentient moving ball of fuzz was a terrifying sight to behold and they hovered around stalking, watching the little alien from a distance until I captured it.
Being that it looked like a pom pom with fluffy slippers I don’t really consider it their first chicken expierience though.

But now the last few days my other neighbor’s chickens have slowly been encroaching onto our property and only today did my geese finally realize this when they saw the mob creeping through the woods foraging.
Delphi immediately started squawking an alarm, Parsnip and Leo rushed over, froze in shock staring at the invaders before they started huffing in horror themselves, then the three of them bolted to the backyard and refused to leave the rest of the day in fear of encountering the roving band of raptors again.

So now my geese have are probably convinced that they’ve expierienced both extraterrestrial life and Jurassic Park.

 

[Goosebaby]

Hey all! I am so glad we have this thread, especially now that I've caught up and read the entire thing.

Firstly, hello I'm Jack, and I'm out in Southeastern PA! I'm so glad to have found a cool group of crazy goose people! Also it's nice to know I'm not the only Buff Pomeranian Saddleback breeder around here. I swear it feels like I'm the only one anywhere or even online that has them sometimes. It's nice to know I'm not alone.

Buff Pom Saddlebacks are the only geese I currently work with, I might get into Toulouse at some point (maybe). But I fell in love the minute I picked up my very first gander when he was a couple days old from the feed mill and well... the rest is history. That was back in 2017 and I still have him, so Klaus (my original gander) is going on 6 years old this year!

I'll grab pictures here in a minute, but currently I have 9 geese. All of them are Poms, only one is a Grey Saddleback (I was desperate for an adult female back when I only had Klaus and couldn't find any buffs anywhere). And my younger geese hatched out 8 babies, 4 of which survived, all of them girls! These are the first goslings I've ever had hatch ever!

I just had to expand my second goose pen, and separate everyone out since my males haven't stopped fighting since last spring. That was loads of fun with the amount of mud I have in my run... my mother and I looked like Jackson Pollock had teamed up with Nickelodeon by the time we were done.

Currently I have Klaus, Sophie, Greta, and the 2 unnamed younger girls together in gen pop with my chickens (Need to fix up their coop and separate run soon, it's on the to-do list).

And then Max, Brunhilde (Bruni for short), Elsa, and Helga are together. (Helga and Elsa are 2 of Max and Bruni's daughters from last spring). Helga has not shut up one iota. I know this is the first time the kiddos have been separated from each other in their entire lives since they hatched! But for the love of all that is good and holy! You can still see each other!!

I have so many stories. Klaus got his name because he was so loud in the car ride on the way home I immediately started yelling at him in German and Klaus was the first name that came up. (There may also be a couple Wolfenstein references in my flock)

My most visible, non-surgery scars came from Klaus when I picked him up one day and he was trying to brace his feet on my forearm.

But the best one is this: After trying for six years to get goslings, when I walked around the corner to the run with a bag of feed on my shoulder the day I saw we had goslings for the first time. That feed bag nearly knocked me upside my head because I fell to my knees and started crying.

I'm hopeful that this year we'll have more goslings, though I know I'm gonna have to start selling them, and I have no clue what to price them at or how well that's going to go.

Anyways, I'm super happy to be here!

Glad to have you here fellow goose friend!

 

[Goosebaby]

Is it correct in thinking it would be best to add any new birds until after breeding season? Part of me wants to do the 'natural order' thing & acquire two female goslings, hand-raise them, & let them interact with my boys when they're ready. Another part of me has a growing anxiety about the possible necessity of more housing, the dietary needs, & maternity complications of having hens.
Would raising two young male goslings by hand, & gradually introducing them, provide adequate company for everyone? Even if they are lusty & loud a few months a year it may be better, for me for now, than two hens.
I have time to decide, but any additional insight would be appreciated.

I’d get two hens, lots of boys can get along, but it really depends on personality and sometimes it just doesn’t work out. Girls don’t necesarily get along with ganders but at least it usually isn’t a year round epic brawl if the relationships goes south. Of you don’t want goslings just take the eggs.
Some of my ganders get along all year, some get along most of the year but I have to split them up in breeding season, and then there are others who can never be around each other without them trying to murder each other.

 

[fangedknight]

Glad to have you here fellow goose friend!

Glad to be here and to be had! *happy honks*

 

[elenamia]

I've placed my name on a waitlist for two French Toulouse female goslings. Flippers crossed!

 

[Aunt Angus]

I've placed my name on a waitlist for two French Toulouse female goslings. Flippers crossed!

Yay!!! I'm waiting on goslings, too. Hopefully in a couple of months!

 

[Goosebaby]

I just walked outside and I heard this clunking sound, around the corner I see my oldest gander Leo waddle up touting around the bucket, the handle of which he’d somehow looped around his neck.
When Leo gets really upset he makes this soft sobbing sound, and he was heading right for me just now, dangling his bucket while softly wailing “wooohoooo huooouooo oooooo.”
I’m kicking myself that I didn’t record it but my poor Leo was so upset, just sobbing away quietly! I couldn’t stop and grab my iPad, I had to save him right then and there.
Poor Leo

 

[Aunt Angus]

I just walked outside and I heard this clunking sound, around the corner I see my oldest gander Leo waddle up touting around the bucket, the handle of which he’d somehow looped around his neck.
When Leo gets really upset he makes this soft sobbing sound, and he was heading right for me just now, dangling his bucket while softly wailing “wooohoooo huooouooo oooooo.”
I’m kicking myself that I didn’t record it but my poor Leo was so upset, just sobbing away quietly! I couldn’t stop and grab my iPad, I had to save him right then and there.
Poor Leo

Poor baby!

I once found poor Thelma stuck in her water bucket. Poor thing was miserable. Don't know how long she was in there, either.

I got her out, and she was SOAKED. I was so worried she'd hurt herself, but she just gave me a look like - hand to God - she was embarrassed and a little angry at me for having seen her so disgraced.

 

[Goosebaby]

Poor baby!

I once found poor Thelma stuck in her water bucket. Poor thing was miserable. Don't know how long she was in there, either.

I got her out, and she was SOAKED. I was so worried she'd hurt herself, but she just gave me a look like - hand to God - she was embarrassed and a little angry at me for having seen her so disgraced.

Poor Thelma!
Buckets can be dangerous sometimes! Leo once upended himself in a trough, it wasn’t big enough for him to turn around in but it happened in front of me so I pulled him out by the feet. My goose Friday had a similar incident to Thema’s, she somehow stuffed herself into a 5 gallon bucket upside down, she managed to snake her head around or she would have drowned, I had no idea how long she was in their either. I started using 2 gallon buckets after that. Scared the s*** our of me!

 

[Aunt Angus]

Poor Thelma!
Buckets can be dangerous sometimes! Leo once upended himself in a trough, it wasn’t big enough for him to turn around in but it happened in front of me so I pulled him out by the feet. My goose Friday had a similar incident to Thema’s, she somehow stuffed herself into a 5 gallon bucket upside down, she managed to snake her head around or she would have drowned, I had no idea how long she was in their either. I started using 2 gallon buckets after that. Scared the s*** our of me!

This was a 2 gallon bucket. I still have zero clue how she went chest first into it. I really had thought she was dead.