Goose lovers – please help!!

[Triplell]

Ian, that much snow is no fun. It does get more frigged here for sure. Today for a high was 26 and tonite they are talking 20 so I pluged in the water tank heater for the geese. The ducks just could'nt wait to get into the barn . I got dinner in the oven then went to do chores early and thank goodness I did as it started to snow. A friend of ours is gonna drop off some of his old truck toppers for a better goose shelter and feeder so I wont have to crawl on my hands and knees just to feed them. I plan to put one on the south wall facing south with lots of straw for bedding. Then their water will be right next to it.

 

[Iain Utah]

Good morning, all. Nice to see blue skies and sunshine here, and hope the snows melts quickly. I discovered that dewlaps cannot trudge through the deep stuff and literally get stuck. I had to rescue a few birds that trekked off the beaten path and shovel out the special needs pen as blind girl was especially confused. My special needs adults were also having trouble in the snow, so I put them back into special needs pen with BG and Gimpy. They are all happier together.

Spirit is doing great, thanks! She makes daily progress with learning how to use her new leg, the swelling is almost gone, and I have cut her pain meds back. As much as I enjoy Tank's company, I felt it was best for Spirit to put Ember back inside. I am very glad I did as Spirit much prefers Ember's company and I can let them both out in room at the same time without worrying about Spirit stressing over trying to be alpha over Tank. Tomorrow is our big follow-up appointment. I believe the vet will be pleased at her recovery so far, but unless the snow melts and weather warms back up, I foresee Spirit being an indoor goose for at least another 1-2 months, with limited turnout in a small outdoor pen on nice days.

Iain, horses and dogs are great. My truck definitely took the worst of the impact. Now that the storm is over, I am going to salvage yard and parts store today for headlight, grille, bulbs and possible electrical connectors, as well as figure out whether I have to replace my radiator or just the connector lines to stop that leak. I will do my best to get truck running by Thursday so we can ship out the last of the dewlaps to you. Otherwise, I am sure I can get it fixed by the weekend and will ship them Monday.

Are you still on track to have two cars back again this week? Sorry about your twisted ankle... ouch! Look forward to seeing new pics!!!

 

[psue]

Let winter begin...

nothing serious happens to any of us and our critters.

 

[Marty1876]

Celtic, Sorry about your angke, thats a drag.

Iain, glad that Spirit is progressing so nicely! Hopefully you'll have enough nice breaks for her to be outdoors a bit too.

PSue, did you have to go break ice this morning? I did. Brr! Then, a 40 mile round trip to drop little DD off for a play day with a friend. In a VW that has NO heat and lots of airvents. It was a balmy 25 this morning. My toes are still cold.

Triplell, glad those geese are filling out good. Good thinking to get the warmers going. I need to go get another one. My appears to have broken.

 

[Iain Utah]

Marty, that sounds so cold!! I woke up to 3F temp.... was a whopping 10F when I went outside. Water was so frozen I brought out buckets and filled them, rather than try to undig & dump kiddy pools. It's warming up fast so I hope to get the pools dealt with this afternoon.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Janet, yep we are slated to drop the car off late Wednesday and get it back Friday AM. Hope your parts hunt today was successful, and you didnt need a new radiator. Sorry the truck took the impact, but better it than you or the horses who arent as easily fixed.

Ankle doesnt hurt too badly this morning, nice snug wrap and keep on with daily chores. Have 13 Ancona ducklings newly hatched, fun seeing the various colorations.

Thursday shipping works for us if it works for you. Will be fun to have the 4 adults arriving, although they will be in shock after all that snow you just had lol.


Ok picture time

First are the ones developing very well


Goose 1






Goose 2 - Brunhilde








Gander - Valkarie







Juvenile girls who are developing more slowly than those above









The girls who arent developing at all, so they will be garden birds and not used for breeding. Will re-evaluate these two fall 2013 for dewlap breeding in 2014

 

[Triplell]

Thanks Marty, I am so glad that I got the water heaters out last night. The geese's water was nice and not frozen. But the ducks water inside was frozen solid. Now I have gotten out the dog water dishes for them inside. I now have to look into something for the chickens. I am looking for something that I can make that wont be a fire hazard with thier shavings.

Iian I am so glad that the snow has stopped for you and trying to warm up. We are now looking for a high of 24 today. It got down to 15 last night. This morning when I went to the barn the geese were looking for something, me and corn. I couldn't beleive when the other geese came so close to me looking for corn. I felt so great that I have finally gotten so close to them. I now understand when you all talk about the goose chatter, they were just chatting away even while they were eatting the corn.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Tripell..search BYC for cookie tin heaters they are common and great posts on how to make them on here.

 

[Iain Utah]

Beautiful pics!!!!

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Thanks they werent happy being pushed out of the citrus and garden where the grass is knee high in spots. They got over it when they found the broccoli the baby brought out to them.

Here are the just for fun pictures.