Mar21
In the Brooder
Hi all!
Wow, it's been quite a while since I posted an update on Merlin, my "mystery goose"! I decided today that, while I'm at home on Easter break, I'd post something about him.
Last year, around May, we were given a "duck" by a woman who found him abandoned in the middle of the road. We don't have any geese or ducks around this area, and the only place we've seen with waterfowl is a farm down the road; the woman had asked around and no one had lost a duckling in the area. We decided we were just going to keep him for a week so my mom could get him checked out by the avian-savvy vet tech at her work, and then we'd find him a new home. That, naturally, didn't happen and now we have a beautiful, wonderful, slightly illegal honky boy!
Merlin is a Canada goose, and we've been given permission to keep him in our area(thankfully). He's almost 1 year old and is very adamant that yes, in fact, he is a human. He imprinted on me when he was just a few days old and I'm very thankful for his companionship! His wings are not clipped and lives outside with the two companions we adopted for him, Malachi and Mabel, in their goose house. It's nice to see how much he's grown up; from his "Uh-Oh, He's Honking???" stage to his "Merlin Don't You Dare Fly on Top of The Barn!!!" stage, he's been my wonderful little goose-goose.
We're going to be getting two more female geese or ducks to widen our flock out to five waterfowl. A new expansion on their pen and house, and free range of their acre of our yard of course, will hopefully lead to even happier, healthier geese. Would anyone have any breeds they would suggest for this flock? We have a Canada goose, female Toulouse, and female saddelback Pomeranian, all very mild-tempered and friendly with people and animals. Would it be easier to introduce ducks or geese into the mix? I'd appreciate any help! I'll be moving soon and my geese will be staying here with my parents (living in the city probably won't go over well with them), so any help would be appreciated. We've become a waterfowl family, haha!
I'll post some pictures below of what Merlin and his friends look like now:
Wow, it's been quite a while since I posted an update on Merlin, my "mystery goose"! I decided today that, while I'm at home on Easter break, I'd post something about him.
Last year, around May, we were given a "duck" by a woman who found him abandoned in the middle of the road. We don't have any geese or ducks around this area, and the only place we've seen with waterfowl is a farm down the road; the woman had asked around and no one had lost a duckling in the area. We decided we were just going to keep him for a week so my mom could get him checked out by the avian-savvy vet tech at her work, and then we'd find him a new home. That, naturally, didn't happen and now we have a beautiful, wonderful, slightly illegal honky boy!
Merlin is a Canada goose, and we've been given permission to keep him in our area(thankfully). He's almost 1 year old and is very adamant that yes, in fact, he is a human. He imprinted on me when he was just a few days old and I'm very thankful for his companionship! His wings are not clipped and lives outside with the two companions we adopted for him, Malachi and Mabel, in their goose house. It's nice to see how much he's grown up; from his "Uh-Oh, He's Honking???" stage to his "Merlin Don't You Dare Fly on Top of The Barn!!!" stage, he's been my wonderful little goose-goose.
We're going to be getting two more female geese or ducks to widen our flock out to five waterfowl. A new expansion on their pen and house, and free range of their acre of our yard of course, will hopefully lead to even happier, healthier geese. Would anyone have any breeds they would suggest for this flock? We have a Canada goose, female Toulouse, and female saddelback Pomeranian, all very mild-tempered and friendly with people and animals. Would it be easier to introduce ducks or geese into the mix? I'd appreciate any help! I'll be moving soon and my geese will be staying here with my parents (living in the city probably won't go over well with them), so any help would be appreciated. We've become a waterfowl family, haha!
I'll post some pictures below of what Merlin and his friends look like now:
He's not of breeding age yet though; we've had a few eggs but none of them were viable when we candled them! 
I would have loved to have lots of little Merlins/Mabels/Malachis running around! Sticking with geese is probably a good idea, lol!
