Gaggle of Geese Lovers

[Amer]

I’ve had a few chickens drown in buckets, so I know the dangers.

 

[Goosebaby]

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.

Poor baby!

 

[fangedknight]

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

Awww!!! Silly goose! Poor thing, I'm glad you were able to save him from the horrible bucket. Today Max, Bruni, Elsa, and Helga we're showing off how "tough" they were by constantly hissing at my mom and I as we were taking straw and feed through their pen to the others.

The way I have the pens set up there's an exterior door at their pen, and then one on the other end of the run, everything's interconnected. (I probably should draw up a layout).


Speaking of, viola! This is totally not to scale, I'm not the best at making diagrams. But you kinda get the picture. Normally once breeding season starts up, I'll divy them up between the Goose run with the shed coop and the Fallout Coop and its attached run. (Which is what I've done now).

So you can see where the doors are, now because we took the car down, the way we had to get back there put us right next to the Goose Run. So we had to bring all the feed and the straw in through their pen. And were they thankful when we put an entire new bale of straw into their coop? Nooooo of course not. They continued to hiss at us and then went inside and stood on top of the straw and honked loudly!

 

[fangedknight]

I’ve had a few chickens drown in buckets, so I know the dangers.

I made the mistake once. Once! Of leaving a five-gallon bucket with water in the run with my meat chickens at the time. I swear I lost so many to that stupid bucket...

 

[Goosebaby]

Awww!!! Silly goose! Poor thing, I'm glad you were able to save him from the horrible bucket. Today Max, Bruni, Elsa, and Helga we're showing off how "tough" they were by constantly hissing at my mom and I as we were taking straw and feed through their pen to the others.

The way I have the pens set up there's an exterior door at their pen, and then one on the other end of the run, everything's interconnected. (I probably should draw up a layout).

View attachment 3410512
Speaking of, viola! This is totally not to scale, I'm not the best at making diagrams. But you kinda get the picture. Normally once breeding season starts up, I'll divy them up between the Goose run with the shed coop and the Fallout Coop and its attached run. (Which is what I've done now).

So you can see where the doors are, now because we took the car down, the way we had to get back there put us right next to the Goose Run. So we had to bring all the feed and the straw in through their pen. And were they thankful when we put an entire new bale of straw into their coop? Nooooo of course not. They continued to hiss at us and then went inside and stood on top of the straw and honked loudly!

They conquered the straw!

 

[fangedknight]

They conquered the straw!

They did indeed! I do need to go down and see how they've made out with said straw. I'm hoping they've spread it around a bit and made their coop a bit more homey.

 

[Aunt Angus]

Conundrum:

I am getting my Cotton Patch trio in April. I had hoped to breed them and sell goslings. But I'm a "snowflake" and shudder at the thought of hatching babies only for folks to eat them later. Forgive my "snowflake" question, but is it possible just to sell them as pets - even though they will be high quality birds? If people decide to lie to me and eat the geese later, I'd al least be spared the thought.

 

[fangedknight]

Conundrum:

I am getting my Cotton Patch trio in April. I had hoped to breed them and sell goslings. But I'm a "snowflake" and shudder at the thought of hatching babies only for folks to eat them later. Forgive my "snowflake" question, but is it possible just to sell them as pets - even though they will be high quality birds? If people decide to lie to me and eat the geese later, I'd al least be spared the thought.

Absolutely! Just like how dog breeders can specify whether their puppies are show or pet quality and sell them as such, you can as well. It's not exactly the same since unlike dog breeding, we don't do contracts when someone just comes to pick up a bird. But you can absolutely say "These goslings are being sold as pets or guard geese only."

 

[Aunt Angus]

Absolutely! Just like how dog breeders can specify whether their puppies are show or pet quality and sell them as such, you can as well. It's not exactly the same since unlike dog breeding, we don't do contracts when someone just comes to pick up a bird. But you can absolutely say "These goslings are being sold as pets or guard geese only."

I know it's kind of unrealistic, but I figure it'll help me sleep at night.

I am seriously picturing my property overrun with geese.

 

[Goosebaby]

I know it's kind of unrealistic, but I figure it'll help me sleep at night.

I am seriously picturing my property overrun with geese.

I feel you! My geese are my babies too.
I don’t judge other people who raise their livestock for food purposes, I’m not naive to the real world and people’s livelihoods, but my goose babies are mine and I can choose who they go to if at all.
As it is I’ve only ever given away two goslings that turned out to be a bad expierience. They didn’t specify what would become of them but they live in the same town and every time I bumped into them after that they made a point to tell me that they were going to eat them. Like I said other people’s birds are their business so long as they aren’t abused, but constantly choosing to rub it in like that was a shitty thing to do. They wouldn’t give them back either, I guess they just wanted to taunt me. I’ve always worried about those two little ones and what their lives were like with people like that.
Never doing that again.


You can also pre-screen buyers prior to breeding season, limit the number of your hatchlings by monitoring the eggs and only incubating the number of eggs/hatchlings you want.