Goose Shenanigans

[DiYMama540]

I want to hear your favorite mischief story! We all know our geese are just feathered toddlers, and here's why...

Duck mischief is always welcome too

 

[sourland]

Well, this was my shenanigans, but Gus the Goose helped. On the first visit home to visit my family I took my city girl fiancée out to meet my beagles. She was somewhat afraid of them so in order to encourage her that they were okay - I went up to Gus the Goose and his mate and grabbed one of their goslings. Ran back towards the dog pens with the geese in hot pursuit screaming their heads off. The Princess decided that dogs were a better choice than geese and jumped into the dog pen. She still married me and 55 + years later is still here. Must have done the right thing.

 

[cottontail farm]

When I was pregnant my husband and dad put a rain gutter on the big coop. It feeds into a huge rain barrel so I don't have to haul water every morning. The rain barrel has a brass spigot at the bottom so I could use it as a tap for the fresh water. It took the geese approximately 3 days to figure out how to unscrew the brass spigot handle and stomp it into the mud (probably after pooping on it for good measure). It's lost forever.
I still use the water barrel every day but have to bail water using a bucket.

 

[DiYMama540]

Today I was dragging out some Christmas decorations and made the mistake of leaving them out where the geese could get to them.

We had a really pretty "Letters to Santa" mailbox that we set out front. While I was in the front clearing leaves and cleaning up the garden to put out these decorations, my geese were busy with their own holiday decorating.
I go back to the backyard to get some of these decorations and find 2 geese standing around the mailbox decoration, and at least 20 bulbs scattered all over the place. They had spent their time plucking the tiny Christmas light bulbs out of my festive mailbox!!
No letters going out to Santa from my house....
Chance and BB say "Bah Humbug!"

 

[Goosebaby]

Once fine summer one of my ganders Leo, then a two year old “he’s about 8 now” was out and about with his little flock behaving himself while I was busy around the yard, I went inside for 10 minutes and when I emerged I was met with the horrifying sight of seeing him completly drenched in blood.
Thoughts of my neighbor’s marauding dogs and other predators or even my untrustworthy neighbors taking a shot at him immediately lept to mind as I rushed to him, scooped him up and ran him to the house screaming to my mom “SOMEBODY SHOT LEO!”
With tears in my eyes I combed through the blood stained feathers coating his entire breast trying to determine the full extent of the damage and if at all I could save my poor baby.
With Leo in my lap burbling in bewildered indignation, my mom and I couldn’t find any injury, no torn flesh, no scratches or scrapes, not even missing feathers. The blood coating his entire front as I searched him wasn’t blood on inspection, but was a mysterious smudgy muck.
Later on I discovered the remains of a large red crayon used for tree marking which my dad had left out, lying on the ground chewed up. Leo’s droppings confirmed that he’d definitely been the one gobbling at it.

I’m my mind I can put together the most likely possibilities of what and how it all went down.
Leo upon discovering the amazing red crayon decided to taste it, liking it’s chewy smoosh waxy texture he gobbled it away, mashing it into his beak.
Once bored with it he decided to have a nice preen, but seeing the red smudge on his feathers which he inadvertently placed there as his beak was still coated in crayon he began a futile attempt to remove the spot with more preening all at the same time spreading the red spot wider and wider until he’d completly coated himself.

 

[DiYMama540]

They are really good at teamwork!!

Caught BB and Chance bonding over mucking up their pool today Had just refilled it, beautiful clear water....then this-

She would loosen up the dirt, and Chance would put big mouthfuls in the water! Can't see it in the pic, but they have quite the hole dug right there.

 

[Goosebaby]

I’ve got a few more stories, I’ll share Isabel’s story tonight.

Isabel “Izzybee” was a femal Buff goose I had a a few years ago. She was an amazingly sweet and smart little girl. She, Lavender “a female French Toulouse,” and Lavender’s gosling Pear were out and about with me one morning when a person from PG&E came by to read the meter.

She seemed like a nice girl about my age, she waved and with a smile told me she was there to read the meter, I thought this was odd because most of the time the meter readers just ignore my presence if they see me around the yard and continue about their business, I don’t really blame them...I’m usually covered in water, dirt, feathers, and/or wood shavings and accompanied by a posee of the avian variety around or on me so in one way or another I’m probably a terrifying sight to behold.
It all made sense when she told me this was her first day on the job.
I thought this was pretty cool, I was looking for a first job myself at the time so I could really relate to the joy of not being reliant on your parents and having that naive feeling of elation when you’ve attained the empowerment and freedom that you assume you’ll get with finally having just any job.

But then she saw Izzy and Lavender and that’s when things went south.

Izzy and Lavender were standing about 5 yards away at the back corner of the house...staring.

Her face turning white, the girl stumbled back, “you have geese! I don’t like geese!” She gasped in sheer horror.
“Oh they’re fine” I blurted, “it’s just the girls and they’re nice.” I said trying to calm her.
I’d just banished my hormonal gander Leo to the back pen after an incident involving a water bucket and a massive nasty bruise rapidly forming on my thigh so honestly it was just the shy goosey girls and the baby out with me. I never have fear of Leo actually attacking strangers, he only intimidates, but the girls are guaranteed not to cause trouble in comparison so I wanted her to know that they’re girls, therefore she’s safe.

“I was attacked by geese once” she told me keeping her eyes firmly on Izzy and Lavender who were firmly keeping their eyes on her “I’ve had a phobia since” she said.
“It’s fine” I said smiling, “Izzy and Lavender are completly harmless!”

Wrong words.

Izzy threw her head up, one eye flashing with an enraged defiance that could only have meant “I’LL SHOW YOU HARMLESS!” as she spread both wings and ran/flew cackling all the way up the hill at her unfortunate goose paranoid victim.

With a scream the PG&E employee fled to her truck as I simultaneously half laughing half screaming in shock at Izzy’s unexpected aggression, yelled “IZZY NOO!” while trying to intercept my tiny irate buff goose.

The girl tore out of our driveway with Izzy in hot vengeful pursuit.
I never saw that employee again.

To this day I feel some guilt over laughing, I wasn’t laughing at her, she probably firmly believes I’m some diobolical goose whisperer that sicked my fiendish little golden dragon on her.

 

[Callender Girl]

Gussie and Golly are a two-goose wrecking crew, destroying everything from the solar lights that once marked the graves of my pet goats to chewing huge chunks out of the wood settee that used to decorate my deck.

Once, I had been out cleaning poultry coops and dishes, and decided to take a break. As I looked out the window, I realized Gussie had something yellow in her bill. I dashed outside because I am constantly having to grab things out of her mouth. Turns out, she had snagged one of my yellow rubber gloves and had taken a strong liking to it. I chased Gussie all over the yard before I managed to wrestle it away. Maybe she just wanted her house cleaned next?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Missy found some bird netting somewhere out there and had swallowed about 4" of it before I pulled it out. Thank fully there was still about 2" hanging out of her bill She is not near as bad as she use to be about gnawing on things but she still like to chew wood.

 

[cottontail farm]

I really hope my geese don't read these stories and get ideas....
Right now my ganders favorite pastime is charging the rooster (who is minding his own business), nipping his tail feathers and then honking and spreading his wings like he's won some great battle.