The weather has been crazy. Rain for days on end and then glaring sunshine for a few brief moments, followed by more rain and yet more rain. Ugh. Am I in TX or Washington?
The pond is overflowing, but the geese still only go into the shallows. This is as deep as the go.
A few updates: Bratty Girl met the farrier.
I forgot to close the geese up before the farrier got there and they all came running to inspect him. He was a bit taken aback, but I assured him that I would close them out of the donkey pen and that they weren't aggressive. Fortunately he trusts me and my animals. He knows I'll tell him if someone is a problem.
He's in a very vulnerable position when trimming the mini donkeys, he has to kneel down on the ground to get under their feet. All the geese were fascinated (and a little put out at being excluded) so they lined the fence exclaiming and discussing what they were seeing. Then Bratty Girl discovered that she is small enough to fit thru the fence. Good grief. I have a couple of girls small enough to fit thru the welded wire around the donkey pen, but only Brat was nutty enough to squeeze thru.
The farrier wasn't thrilled, and kept a careful eye on her (so did I!). But she just came over and inspected his work, then settled on the ground next to us to watch and tchoo tchooed at him. He had to laugh and afterwards he told me that farm was a pleasure to come to because the animals were always so nice.
Let's see if he feels the same way in February.
The recent excitement is the release of the guineas. I've had a large number of youngsters penned for 8 weeks. I released them at 10 weeks old (they spent the first 2 weeks in the brooder). The geese weren't sure what to make of it.
Note the empty pen in the background.
The geese were well aware of the guineas existence. The followed me over there and stood outside the pen staring in each day as I fed and watered the buineas, but I don't know that they ever realized that they wouldn't be the lone free rangers forever.
Neither group was sure what to do with one another at first. I was afraid it would be the Sharks and the Jets, but they played it cool.
Surprisingly, the one who had the biggest problem with it was Panini. She would hiss at them and run the guineas off if they infringed on her favorite areas or just made her feel crowded. I didn't know she had it in her.
But now they are one big happy extended family.
I can count on the donkeys to break things up if there is too much fighting. They don't like it.
The one area that was the most zealously guarded at first is a clump of chopped down trees that never got burned. We now leave them as a favorite play spot for the critters. Everyone likes to perch on them and hunt bugs or vegetation.
Think that geese don't perch?
They love their logs!
I hope I didn't explode your browers with an overdose of pictures.
Feel free to add updates for your own flocks.
I hope your girl is okay. I haven't had any experience yet with the laying and attendant issues. I'll go look at the thread in emergencies though. Keep us posted on how she is.
