My Africans (A close call! 1/05)

[goosedragon]

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[Soccer Mom]

Thanks everyone! I'm enjoying the adventure so much with these guys. We'll see if I still feel the same during breeding season. DH and I are discussing how best to provide housing during that time.

They were so funny tonight. We feed the front pastures first and they heard me up there. As I headed to their pasture, they all came screaming up from the back, chattering and "goosegoosegoose"ing all the way, wings flapping like they were going to fly.

They instantly surrounded me, all talking at once. Lol. It had only been an hour since I'd been down there.

We have lots of crows--and I mean LOTS of crows--in this area and they often congregate around my place in the evening. Something made the crows kick up a ruckus and my geese snapped to attention. They've apparently learned that sound means something is up. Smart kids!

 

[AilsVonHelson]

Oh, your simply lucky! I've been DYING to get a hold of soem day old african goslings for a year now. :]

Yours are SO adorable.

 

[Soccer Mom]

Thanks AilsVonHelsen! Looooove the goose in a Viking helmet. Somehow that seems so appropriate. I was lucky to get mine late in the season. They were a July 5th hatch.

This is what I see every day when I head into the back pasture. The big guy in front is my lead donkey, a four year old named Quincy. For point of reference, Quincy is about 31 inches at the withers. That should tell you how tall my guys are getting!

Barbarians at the Gate:

The donkey in this picture is Brody. He's just slightly smaller than Quincy. You can see that one of the males in back is as tall as Brody. That's 29 inches at the withers. Oh yeah, they are getting huge.

We've had a shocking amount of rain in the last 10 days. After a summer of drought, we've had close to twenty inches. This is what my pastures look like:

Of course the geese think it is wonderful. They're having a grand time drilling and wading in the mud. They are gradually getting more independant, but if I'm in the pasture they still follow me everywhere and still follow me back out to the gate. They really enjoy following me to the guineas pen and stand there watching the guineas run around like maniacs. Wonder how they'll all act when the guineas are finally allowed to free range with them (which won't be until November.)

Since goose behavior--and specifically aggression--has been a hot topic in the forum this week, let me introduce my most aggressive boy, JR. Yes, he was named for JR Ewing (I live near Dallas) because he has the soul of a cattle baron.

Unfortunately, I don't know how he is with the ladies yet (protective or a bully) because JR is the goose who loved me. Yes, he needs a girlfriend with feathers, but for some reason he likes to plant himself near me and chase all the others off. My donkeys also follow me everywhere like big dogs and JR even took a half-hearted run at Quincy. He lowered his neck and stretched his wings and charged. Quincy just stood there looking at him like he was daft and JR veered off.

Friday I captured a typical JR moment that I call "The Rumble in the Pool." I dumped and filled their kiddie pool. Ironically, this is them same pool all 10 geese lived in as their brooder. Now they dwarf the thing.

Everyone was having a lovely time playing in the fresh water. There is JR standing just to the left of the pool.

JR climbed in and began playing a favorite game of his, called "kill the water hose"

He was having so much fun, that he decided no one else should be allowed to play. So he started warning them away from his pool.

For those who didn't heed the warnings...

He took no prisoners. Then he declared himself king of the pool.

After that, his threats were enough to defend the pool.

Any doubts as to who is gonna be hell on wheels during breeding season? Yeesh. My hope is that I'm tough enough to handle it. I'm used to be around big livestock, so I'm not really intimidated. A goose bite couldn't hurt worse than being kicked by a donkey. I've worked really hard to remind them that I am top goose. We'll just have to wait and see how things play out when the hormones kick in.

So far no one has really challenged me. They're all too busy sorting things out among themselves. The worst one with boundaries is still Bratty Girl. Brat is her usual bratty, chatty self. I'd know her voice with my eyes closed. She is better, but still tugs on clothes and nibbles at my boots.

Schnitzel still spends all his time posing or grooming. I think he's seriously vain.

So that's another week with my Africans. They are bigger and bolder than ever before, but let something scare them and they suddenly morph into big babies that hide behind me.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Oh my gosh! Those are wonderful. Thank you for the pictures. I still don't know if mine is a male or female. I only have the one baby left (I think a fox got the other one).
I did find 2 mated pairs on CL and got those. So now I have 5 (and 2 Pilgrim also off CL)
I love those geese. My favorite is Hammy, he is King of the Geese.
His brother Padfoot is a brat. Always challenging me and the DH.
I just look at him and shake my finger and tell him not to even THINK about it and then he goes submissive.
They are finally allowing me to bed them down for the night as long as I feed them cracked corn (yes, I know that they should not have too much) but I have to get them in there somehow.
Hammy's girl Lucy has laid 2 eggs in the past week and a half. I am setting them but I don't think they are fertile. Not for lack of trying though. They were getting frisky in the kiddie pool.
One of these days I will get pictures too and share. Thank you for sharing yours!

 

[shelleyd2008]

I just love this thread! It's so great that you are keeping up on the growth of your babies.

 

[rainplace]

I love your pictures and commentary. Thank you!

 

[Wifezilla]

Beautiful

 

[Goat_Walker]

I am DEF getting geese next year. Some from the glorious rainplace and I even think I might try cackling geese. My mom isnt totall loveing the getting geese part but she loves the canada geese, so once I get cackling geese I think she might bne alright with it and not complain. I LOVE your africans. I want some of those too

 

[Soccer Mom]

I'm glad people are enjoying it. I feel like a bit of a spaz spending so much time observing geese. I just find them fascinating. I can sit and watch them for an hour at a time.

I hope you get babies, Rustyswoman! I hope I'm able to get some fertilized eggs this spring. I've got friends with an incubator who want some of them. They run a petting zoo and lost their only goose last year and want some goslings to hand raise up as replacements.