Home from college; the goose reunion. Geese hold grudges!

[Puddle Foot Farm]

Yesterday, I came home from college for fall break and saw my geese for the first time since August. When I left, Luna my toulouse was big but not completely feathered out. My four chinese were only about two weeks old, so they were yellow, small, and squeaky still. Yesterday, I walked into their pen.. And they're HUGE! While at college, I got no pictures of their growth, just descriptions from my mom. I was still thinking of them as the little yellow things that I left.. Not the giant white geese.

Want to know the amazing thing? They remember me! When I first walked in, they were wary.. But as I started to call "goosegoosegoose", they got excited and started running at me. When I picked up Luna, the goose that I raised from right out of the incubator, she immediately put her head on my shoulder and started chewing on my glasses like old times. The babies (or not-so-babies) all tried to get out to get to me. Let me tell you, I was amazed. I took Luna and the friendliest Chinese into our living room with me and we hung out.

Now this morning, it's obvious that Luna is mad at me. She refuses to come up to me now and just watches me from the corner. The chinese however are coming up to me still, loving on me, etc.. And now I took the friendliest little one out again, and she's sitting with me on the couch. I'm going to have to work on Luna later, but I'm loving having my geese back. Not looking forward to leaving them on Sunday.. But now that I know they'll remember, it won't be so bad.

Will post pictures later!

PS, one of the chinese has a dewlap..? Any comments on this?

 

[rainplace]

What a great story! I'm so happy they remembered you.

Dunno anything about a dewlap on a chinese... must be a mix?

 

[rainplace]

Oh! Post pics!

 

[sred98]

Awww! She was so happy to see you she forgot she was mad at you!

Now, she remembered!

Hopefully she'll forgive you before you have to leave again. You'll have to spend extra time with her and give her some special treats.

Now that my geese are older, they remember my boys and their friends.

The chasing when they were baby geese, putting them in the pool when they didn't want to go, things like that. Now, any young boys that come over, better watch out!

They have the best memories!

Shelly

 

[Soccer Mom]

So good to see you back! Luna is just punishing you, but she will get over it. It's only because she's missed you so. (I've kept updating my thread with new pics of my "babies". Some of them are almost 3 ft tall now!)

 

[Puddle Foot Farm]

Picture time!

Luna: We went on a walk just now. It was an interesting experience.. Some meltdowns and chasing happened, then she started going after the chickens. She's still angry at me, but follows me around. She hates getting picked up. Oh, and she FLIES! We were running back, and she just took off.

As a baby:

The day I left:

Now:

The babies (Neville, Cho, Ginny, and Gilderoy): They're actually not-so babies now. It's almost impossible to tell which is which now; but that's my goal for this break. One of them (Neville) has a dewlap. Weird? It's had it since it was little.. It can't be a mix though, it's from a hatchery. Are there white dewlap african geese?

As babies (beginnings of a dewlap alert?!):

The day before I left (see the dewlap?!):

Now:

Neville (he's the one with the dewlap; you can kind of see it here)

Luna used to hate the babies. She tried to throttle them when we first got them. Now look..

 

[SunnyChic]

Your geese are beautiful - I know it must be so hard to leave them!

 

[rainplace]

Look at them all grown up! Luna really really shines among all those chinese geese.

I don't know if I've seen that many chinese together before. I just love how graceful they look.

 

[Puddle Foot Farm]

Thanks everyone! I love my geese so much, and it's nice to know that people agree that my geese are beautiful!

Next year, I'll be getting more geese.. I'm undecided what kind. Still trying to figure out the male/female ratio, but it's hard! I'm pretty sure Luna is a female (low voice), but the chinese baffle me. I'm waiting for their knobs to get big! I'm pretty sure I want more Toulouse for Luna next year, and we're going to let them hatch out their own babies, plus maybe some giant toulouse or african eggs. I want to add another breed! Before I know it, I'll have 40 geese..