Michigan

[Stacykins]

Haha, that is great to hear that geese make good lawn mowers, since I have five brown chinese eggs in the incubator! I hear they grow ever FASTER than ducklings, which is mind boggling! The all pekins I hatched are now three weeks old and enormous! I gave a broody two chicks and a duckling, and boy, that one duckling is massive compared to the little olive egger chicks. As I type the brooder ducklings are splashing around in some water in the bathtub (an activity they adore!).

 

[NovaAman]

I don't think I could handle geese even tho I really want a Sebastopol... But I only want cuz they are so dang pretty!

 

[Olive Hill]

Haha, that is great to hear that geese make good lawn mowers, since I have five brown chinese eggs in the incubator! I hear they grow ever FASTER than ducklings, which is mind boggling! The all pekins I hatched are now three weeks old and enormous! I gave a broody two chicks and a duckling, and boy, that one duckling is massive compared to the little olive egger chicks. As I type the brooder ducklings are splashing around in some water in the bathtub (an activity they adore!).

They do grow very fast, but Chinese are small as geese go and Pekins are big as ducks go, so it may not be such a big deal for you as for others.

 

[theron]

I raise geese including americans, sebastopols, and dewlap toulouse and love them all. The sebastopols are very nice and have never had a problem with them.

 

[chickflick]

chicken grandma, your daughter is beautiful! Glad she makes you so proud.
Raz, sorry you lost another duckling.
Warmer out, but cloudy. Suppose to get rain/thunderstorns later.
Had the chickens out free ranging out and keeping a sharp eye out for the hawks. Luckily I was out cuz while the chickens were hanging out around the maiden grass, I hawk was sitting in the spruce 6 ft away. Herded them back to the run. Not happy.
Had to give my two bantams, a polish and a favorelle baths. All of a sudden they get mites and can't seem to get rid of them. This is their third bath. I cleaned out their coop and dusted poultry dust all over, and dusted them also. So, why do they keep coming back?? My poor babies! Even put the drops on them... what's it called? lol, to kill them. I don't know what else to do.

 

[NovaAman]

I just don't think I have enough room to put them... The pond we will have built is only about 2.5 feet deep and 5x10... Can you imagine them all in that small a space?

 

[Chickmate]

You need geese! Fantastic lawn mowers, they are.

You know what Olive, I would love to have some geese. I had them years ago and loved them. I had a toulouse and and African and they had a baby I called a touloufrican. The toulouse I rescued from some people who had her in a tiny crate in their garage. She could not even stand up in the crate. They fed it nothing but bread and it had never been in water. Her breast bone stuck out like a knife. When I brought her home and opened the crate she could not stand up to get out. I fed her and gave her water, then when I brought her over to the pool and helped her in she almost drowned because she had no oil on her feathers. Once that was resolved she just couldn't get enough of the water. Lots of love and coddling later she turned into a beautiful girl who was very happy. Followed me everywhere! I also rescued the African, but from much better circumstances. When I found out I was being transferred and had to move I found a nice place with two huge ponds and a few other geese for them to move to. Now I have a 1/4 acre pond with nothing to swim on it but the wild ducks. My only problem with geese is the mess they leave all over. The chickens are bad enough, with poop all over the deck and steps. I'm at the point in my life where I'm beginning to having a hard time keeping up with keeping up!

 

[Olive Hill]

I just don't think I have enough room to put them... The pond we will have built is only about 2.5 feet deep and 5x10... Can you imagine them all in that small a space?

How many do you want? Mine happily swim in stock tanks. They're not supposed to. But they do.

They also use a kiddy pool and play in whatever mud puddles they can find. They don't need a big pond.

You know what Olive, I would love to have some geese. I had them years ago and loved them. I had a toulouse and and African and they had a baby I called a touloufrican. The toulouse I rescued from some people who had her in a tiny crate in their garage. She could not even stand up in the crate. They fed it nothing but bread and it had never been in water. Her breast bone stuck out like a knife. When I brought her home and opened the crate she could not stand up to get out. I fed her and gave her water, then when I brought her over to the pool and helped her in she almost drowned because she had no oil on her feathers. Once that was resolved she just couldn't get enough of the water. Lots of love and coddling later she turned into a beautiful girl who was very happy. Followed me everywhere! I also rescued the African, but from much better circumstances. When I found out I was being transferred and had to move I found a nice place with two huge ponds and a few other geese for them to move to. Now I have a 1/4 acre pond with nothing to swim on it but the wild ducks. My only problem with geese is the mess they leave all over. The chickens are bad enough, with poop all over the deck and steps. I'm at the point in my life where I'm beginning to having a hard time keeping up with keeping up!

I can totally understand that. The goose poop is a ball game all its own.

 

[RaZ]

Yes, and I'm seeing robins all over the place. The other day when I got in my car I noticed "stuff" all over my hood and windsheild. What is this? OMG, it's the little bud coverings from one of my trees! Pretty soon I'll be complaining about how hot it is and having to mow the lawn.

The robins have been around for the past couple of days doing their mating dance out front. The cardinal is singing his song out back. My big maple has serious bud swell so I better get busy and prune the buddelias and willows pronto. Also need to cut the ornamental grasses back to their crowns. And a sure sign of Spring was all the road kill I saw on the way to TSC.

I'm pretty sure that TSC stands for Those Stinkin' Chick-days. Don't ask! It was less than a dozen.

 

[kimmie6067]

Spring has not sprung here in the middle of nowhere, we have snow to my knees still