Not a duck Daddy after all...

[Mikanik]

So ...yeah...Some of you may know about my excitement in getting my 3rd duckling last night. My precious little Pekin duckling....oh how long I've waited! Fast forward to this morning.....I get a call from the store I got it from.

Turns out I'm not a Duckling Daddy after all.....I have a GOSLING!! WTH???? They sold me a gosling ? They couldn't tell the difference?? I mean, I have an excuse..I'm *completely new to all of this and when I first started I couldn't tell a Rouen from a Mallard....and it's only been ...what?... 4 days??!

 

[The Duck ABC's]

Keep the goose. They are really good with ducks and will act as the protector of the flock.

 

[Mikanik]

Ya think? She couldn't even tell me what kind I got. She said "some kind of African". What does *that* mean?? It *is* the most docile and sweetest of the bunch...will hop right in my hand when the Cayuga runs away..and it even cries for me when I put it back. I'm really pretty torn. It would be nice to have something to protect the other two. We have some neighbors that have 8 cats and all are let outside and often come to our yard. So that would be a plus! I appreciate your reply! Do you know what kind of gosling I may have bought?

 

[The Duck ABC's]

Well here is a link for it: http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/waterfowl/africangoose.html
I have an Embden and he is lovely. He follows us around and is very sociable. He talks all day too. He has turned into a big body with our 2 dogs. The females dogs will need another week to be body with him. Geese really love attention, much more then ducks. They do get large and old. 30 years is not uncommon. Only one thing to consider is their honking and guard dog attitude. Give him plenty of greens. Grass clippings and salad greens is something they really love. The ducklings will love peas and you should take advantage of that and bribe them. Ducks do need a lot of work to make them your friends, and they still don't like to be handled. Then when you think they love you they get into the bloody murder phase running away and screaming their head off around 6 weeks of age. A goose is no work at all, because they do want the attention naturally. Our goose is the biggest lap sitting animal of them all. He loves to sit there and watch TV with us. Our ducks never cared for that at all.

 

[Mikanik]

Thank you!! We deliberated and have decided to keep Sunshine. We're just gonna play Duck Duck Goose everyday! I did a little looking around and it seems to me that it's not African after all! It's BRIGHT yellow, much like a Pekin..no dark spots at all. So I *think* I've narrowed it down to Embden or Chinese, but leaning more towards Embden because of the shape of it's head. and a little difference in the bill. I've also read they much smarter...rivaling that of dogs...and do like the attention. So with your advice and some research ....Sunshine is part of the family!

And I pretty happy with it...but I did get a promise of getting a couple Pekins next year.

Who knows though....I might just get stuck on this funny little gosling of mine! LOL

 

[Mikanik]

are they like domestic ducs in the way that they are usually too heavy to fly away?? Sorry if thats a dumb question.....newb here!

 

[Eroc1_1]

Quote:
You are correct. They will stay close by.

 

[Mikanik]

Here's a "head shot" of the little one. I'm a bit worried it's a male...when I really want a female as eggs are one of our main reason....besides giving love to some awesome pets!