Spirit - the amazing grey dewlap toulouse gander!

[flockman]

Beautiful geese Triplell and Sundancenbare!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I am so glad that we are and able to be here to share everyone's story. We were able to round up my geese to get the metal NPIP bands off. They ar eso thin and it just gets way too cold here for the metal on the legs. At night it has been down to 5 degrees and so far up to 25 degrees during the day. My thought was that when it gets down to 10 during the day and 0 and below I will force them inside during the night. Then when it stay's in the below 0 for the day then they will stay inside all the time. What do anyone think about my plan. I do have straw outside for them to nestle into. Then in Febuary I plan on sperating the geese into pairs for breeding.

I have no idea about closing them up when temps drastically drop but will they be able to have sunshine while closed up? That would be my only concern is the lack of sunshine. They are very pretty geese too.

 

[Iain Utah]

Triplell, your birds are cute!!! Glad you got those bands off. I bet the metal would freeze on their legs, like our earrings do in our ears. Ouch!! I'm not a fan of bands anyway. If too loose, they can snag stuff, like a twig, etc. and hurt them. If too tight, it can rise up the leg and then dig into the skin. My temps are not quite as bad as you, but we do get our share of -10F lows in January. The ganders that came with my property have lived outside 24/7 for years, so I did not try to lock them up last winter. I did, however, make them a shelter area with bedding that they seemed to appreciate, but they did just fine in the cold temps. Make sure to always offer fresh water and extra whole kernel corn, though.

Hi Lydia, how are you this morning?

 

[Miss Lydia]

I'm great J, how is Spirit this morning, you mentioned he may have over done and then didn't post again I was hoping he is still doing good. Do your Africans hang out with the rest of your flock?

 

[Iain Utah]

Glad to hear things are well. Any progress on your pair eating the timothy hay?

I broke down and gave Spirit pain meds yesterday, which made a noticeable difference. But, he didn't protest getting put inside last night, so I guess he wasn't feeling too great. He seems to be doing well this morning in his room. I plan on giving him a half-dose of pain meds this morning before taking him outside (once it get above freezing). Hoping that is all he will need. It's been 3 weeks since his surgery and 10 days since they modified his brace... so I should be able to wean him off of pain meds this week.

My africans live on the horse property with my domestic ducks and muscovies (which is across the street from my house where the dewlaps live). While the africans are the boss of the waterfowl (the horses are the clear rulers of the property), they all hang together as one group and get along really well. Even our barn cats (the ones Iain trapped, spayed and tamed this summer) and my senior boxer dog who does chores with me mingle with them. Apparently my africans forgot to get the memo on how they are supposed to behave, because it is all peace and harmony at our place.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Glad to hear things are well. Any progress on your pair eating the timothy hay?

I broke down and gave Spirit pain meds yesterday, which made a noticeable difference. But, he didn't protest getting put inside last night, so I guess he wasn't feeling too great. He seems to be doing well this morning in his room. I plan on giving him a half-dose of pain meds this morning before taking him outside (once it get above freezing). Hoping that is all he will need. It's been 3 weeks since his surgery and 10 days since they modified his brace... so I should be able to wean him off of pain meds this week.

My africans live on the horse property with my domestic ducks and muscovies (which is across the street from my house where the dewlaps live). While the africans are the boss of the waterfowl (the horses are the clear rulers of the property), they all hang together as one group and get along really well. Even our barn cats (the ones Iain trapped, spayed and tamed this summer) and my senior boxer dog who does chores with me mingle with them. Apparently my africans forgot to get the memo on how they are supposed to behave, because it is all peace and harmony at our place.

Thats great news that they all get along so well. They are eating the hay, as are my ducks and chickens. now to see how long this small bales last, Aww poor Spirit he probably over did, just like I would, start feeling better then wamo do something to get a set back. I had knee surgery some years back and didn't listen and stay off when I should have, but we live and learn, hopefully he'll pace himself today with mamas watchful eye on him. I can't believe it's been 3 weeks already . I know you said but how long will he have the brace?

 

[Iain Utah]

Yes, ma'am. The surgery was done on Nov. 6th. Scott says he wants to remove the hardware in 3 phases, with a minimum 4 weeks to remove 1st set, 2nd set in 8 weeks, and last set in 12 weeks. In all, 12-14 weeks for full recovery. Doing the math, we are 25% there and it makes me very happy to see how far along we are at this point. I am also extremely grateful for the mild late fall weather so that he has a sunny, grassy pen to spend his days outside. I am sure that is helping a lot!

Excellent news about them all eating the hay! It's really good for them!! Do you have a southern states feed store in your area?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yes, ma'am. The surgery was done on Nov. 6th. Scott says he wants to remove the hardware in 3 phases, with a minimum 4 weeks to remove 1st set, 2nd set in 8 weeks, and last set in 12 weeks. In all, 12-14 weeks for full recovery. Doing the math, we are 25% there and it makes me very happy to see how far along we are at this point. I am also extremely grateful for the mild late fall weather so that he has a sunny, grassy pen to spend his days outside. I am sure that is helping a lot!

Excellent news about them all eating the hay! It's really good for them!! Do you have a southern states feed store in your area?

Southern states is close to Ashville which is about 40 miles from us we usually go to Asheville monthly to shop at Sams club. Do they carry Hay? I get my whole oats from Southern states but my feed store carries it, the only hay my feed store had was the kind that has molasses and veg oil added to keep it together, wasn't sure if I should buy that for them. It also had Alfalfa hay in it.

 

[Iain Utah]

By the way, I love your area. I've been there a couple of times to visit (summer/winter) and it is simply breathtaking. Southern States is a pretty big operation and is worth a phone call.

 

[Triplell]

Thank you Miss Lydia and Iian, The geese are getting big. I have been giving them whole oats,whole corn and FR each morning and night. They have 24/7 access to water with a heater in it. I just bought some scratch for the chickens and ducks, can I feed it to the geese too? The geese have lots of room to the west,south,east of the old barn. My thought was to put them in at night when it is the coldest and let back out during the day. I have not let my ducks outside since we got snow. I have my calls with the Rouens. We have 6 windows on the south side of the barn. I have been dreading having more waterfowl in the barn as I have two icey spots already. I also have made three spots with lots of straw outside, 1 on the west side and 1 next to the barn on the south side and 1 out in the open where they like to be.

I have noticed that two of the African X's have single lobs. The other two have nice double's. Do they need more corn?