My Africans (A close call! 1/05)

[Soccer Mom]

Quote:
Too bad you can't train him to feed all the birds! I hope he isn't going to start the cranky pants routine.

 

[catnip]

My American Buffs, Bob & Alice, love to perch on logs too. They have no problems climbing over logs, the raised garden beds, piles of lumber, etc.

For awhile there, I was beginning to wonder if they were part goat. I learned quickly that if I wanted to keep lumber for future building projects clean, it couldn't be where Bob & Alice could climb up on top of the pile and poop on it all day long.

 

[AilsVonHelson]

Yet ANOTHER fantastic update!

 

[Wifezilla]

Just sneak one in and tell the Dh it's a really big duck!

Hubby is a bit of a city boy and can be oblivious at times, but I think even he would notice a great big African goose in the duck pen...LOL​

 

[kcardella]

This is a great thread, and makes we want geese even more!

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
My embden was hatched with spraddle leg, then at about a month old it reinjured that leg. It now walks with a limp. If we didn't have a ramp on our porch, the goose wouldn't be able to get up here. I know it can't do the stairs, my dad once had a 4x4 post laying in the yard, the poor goose would stand on the other side of it honking at me. I had to go and show it how to go around

I told dad that if I ever wanted to pen it up, all I would need was some 4x4s since it won't go over them

 

[chseeads]

Quote:
My buffs would rather eat wood than climb on it. So I think mine are beavers.

Tonight at bedtime one of them had a piece of a weed stem that'd been cut down (I think that's what it was in the dark....at first I couldn't tell what in the world it was....lol) that is really hard and woody, and she was chewing on it. And she dipped it in a water pan, and then chewed on it some more. And then she dipped it in a water bucket (two different pans/buckets that she tried it out in each one), and then chewed on it some more. And as I herded them into the house for the night, she carried it in with her. LOL

 

[Soccer Mom]

Carrying a goosey chew toy.

I love it.

I'm still laughing about not going over the 4X4. If only that would contain my hooligans. BTW: mine have learned how to fly from the guineas. Bratty Girl, being so small, is especially good at flying. She accidentally flew over the fence to greet me this week and then freaked because she couldn't figure out how to get back. I had to open the gate and let her follow me into the pen.

Silly goose!

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Quote:
That is a great house. Do your big ol' geese fit through that little door? Do they go up the ramp?
They are smart aren't they? They know the routine. I still have to bribe mine with some corn to go in. Once in awhile they will just go in and I will close it up. When they realize I didn't put the corn down, there is a honking like you wouldn't believe. Yelling at me until I do! Spoiled brats. But I love them.

That is so funny about bratty girl. I bet the look on her face made you laugh.

Do any of yours have a dewlap and are they supposed to or are the dewlap African a slightly different breed. My one male has quite a big one, the other male has a smaller one. Neither of the girls have one, but it looks like it may try. My young boy doesn't yet and he has some yellow on his bill.
Do they grow out of the yellow or is that just a flaw? Also one female (not Lucy) has a much longer skinnier neck. I am wondering if she is a mix or a chinese?
The people I bought them from got them from the hatchery as babies. I will try to post pictures and see what you think.

 

[Soccer Mom]

Everyone fits through the door. It's bigger than it looks from that angle. They don't love the ramp and we've tried ways to make it easier, but so far, they just have to deal with it.

I feed them inside at night, so they are always pleased to be put up. I just go inside and start scooping food and they all come in. Then I go around and close the door and fill their waterer--they drain it every single night.

Most of the males have small dewlaps. I hope they grow. I need new pics. Their knobs are finally starting to grow a bit. Mine are about fourth 1/2 months old now.