Goose lovers – please help!!

[Iain Utah]

Excellent news: Test results are back for the 10 random juveniles and all are negative. I have spoken with the Utah vet in charge of NPIP and he said with the faxed results, there is no additional NPIP fee, and I should be certified in less than 2 weeks.

Hoping to get all shipping cost information circulated asap so everyone can get their boxes paid for so I have them on hand. Then, all that is left is the waiting for the next cool weather front to ship everyone's precious geese to their new homes!!

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

 

[Iain Utah]

For those wonderful adopters, I have the following shipping information:

The Horizon brand swan shipping box is what I will require to ship the birds. I will also require the center divider if shipping 2 per box. All juveniles will be able to fit 2 per box. The grey adults should also fit 2 per box, if getting a smaller sized set. However, there are a few large grey ganders that would be best to ride solo. The buff adults and white African gander would also be best to be shipped as single riders. The white African females can be shipped together.

IF we get at least 12 box deposits, the rate is $24.95 per box, with free shipping to my place. If I can get everyone who has placed orders on my list to provide their deposit, I may even be able to get a better rate, which I can then discount off the shipping rate.

Of course, you have the option to purchase directly and ship to me. However, please note I will only ship with the Horizon brand swan box, with center divider, as it is the safest container for the birds. For more information, here is a link to the shipping box site. http://www.hm-e.net/index.html

Please contact me to advise when you will be able to prepay for the shipping box, so that we can get the group discount rate.

Once boxes are received (and I get my NPIP certificate, which I am told I should receive within the next two weeks), I will attempt to get best estimates at actual shipping costs so that those deposits may be placed into my account. I will then ship the next Mon-Wed time period in which weather in Salt Lake City and the receiving location (and any possible layover locations) are forecasting highs below 75 degrees.

 

[Marty1876]

 

[psue]

For those wonderful adopters, I have the following shipping information:

The Horizon brand swan shipping box is what I will require to ship the birds. I will also require the center divider if shipping 2 per box. All juveniles will be able to fit 2 per box. The grey adults should also fit 2 per box, if getting a smaller sized set. However, there are a few large grey ganders that would be best to ride solo. The buff adults and white African gander would also be best to be shipped as single riders. The white African females can be shipped together.

IF we get at least 12 box deposits, the rate is $24.95 per box, with free shipping to my place. If I can get everyone who has placed orders on my list to provide their deposit, I may even be able to get a better rate, which I can then discount off the shipping rate.

Of course, you have the option to purchase directly and ship to me. However, please note I will only ship with the Horizon brand swan box, with center divider, as it is the safest container for the birds. For more information, here is a link to the shipping box site. http://www.hm-e.net/index.html

Please contact me to advise when you will be able to prepay for the shipping box, so that we can get the group discount rate.

Once boxes are received (and I get my NPIP certificate, which I am told I should receive within the next two weeks), I will attempt to get best estimates at actual shipping costs so that those deposits may be placed into my account. I will then ship the next Mon-Wed time period in which weather in Salt Lake City and the receiving location (and any possible layover locations) are forecasting highs below 75 degrees.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Exciting!

 

[Iain Utah]

Today is another big day in the great goose rescue land. This morning, we are dropping off four juvenile grey boys with a wonderful volunteer, who is transporting them to their new home in Oklahoma. Then this afternoon, we are taking blind girl to her appointment with an eye specialist. I decided to not take the two grey adults I put into side yard today to the vet who offered to discount xrays for me... instead waiting to take them to my avian specialist. My vet is back in town tomorrow and we are trying to work something out so he can come to my place for a site visit next week.

And now for the latest round of pics from yesterday. Here are the juveniles & adults:







For fun, here are pics I took yesterday of a couple of my juveniles from this stock, hatched mid-April to mid-May:



Finally, here is a pic of the buff boy that I added to our group from the rescued juveniles:

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

have fun getting those 4 dropped off and on their way.

 

[NanaKat]

They look very happy, Iain. Yay!

I noticed today that my little dewlaps are starting to build their neck dewlaps!! I need to go get that address for shipping feathers to be sexed from Celtic again. I'm ready to know (but nervous about peeking).

Avian Bio-Tech is the company I use. They are great...will feather sex or blood sample. You can send for their free mailing kit.

have fun getting those 4 dropped off and on their way.

Iain, where in Oklahoma are the four greys going? That is so exciting to think some of them are coming to Okie land!!!

 

[Iain Utah]

The four grey boys are officially gone. I was sad to see them go, but happy that they are going to a great home. Not sure where in OK they are going. The adopter is the father of a local vet who is originally from there. I met the local vet today (we dropped the boys off at her clinic) and she seems very caring. I expect her dad will be the same. They will live on a 100 acre farm (they will be the only geese), free ranging by day, and locked in secure barn at night. The father/owner is an older guy who spends his day tooling around the property, hanging out with his animals. I couldn't ask for a better placement for these special guys!

As for my precious blind girl, she saw the eye specialist today. I was told she is 100% blind in both eyes and cataracts are in "mature stage" at this point. The surgery is more complicated than dogs/cats/human surgery in that they do not have a lens to implant in a goose. Therefore, surgery would give her mirror opposite reversed image at 4x magnification, which would be like what you would see in a house of mirrors. Additionally, it takes a good month to recover, with water restrictions. She will enter "hyper mature stage" very quickly, at which point surgery would no longer be an option.

We talked about the major improvement to her quality of life in the past two weeks. Vet said she is now experiencing a good life that she has never had before, and it was a long hard road to get there. If she was acting like she did two weeks ago, when she looked like she could die of depression, we would be scheduling surgery. However, as of today, she appears content (dare I say happy?) with her group of misfit companions in their "special needs pen", with a good appetite, a love for lounging in the kiddy pool and eating watermelon, and has even built confidence to approach her companions chattering. The vet believes she has adjusted extremely well to being blind.

Therefore, with the understanding that she is truly special needs for the rest of her long life, I do not believe surgery is in her best interest.

Here we are at the clinic. I carried/held her the whole time (everyone was sympathetic to all the messes they had to clean up). She was very calm and sweet... and quite the hit with the entire staff: