The African and Chinese goose thread!!

[atmaclean]

Great timing, LOL! I just came on to see if it was the normal time to molt, and how heavy they usually molt, because both Thunder (started first) and Lightning (several days behind) are dropping primary wing feathers everywhere - sometimes in clumps! I don't thing Thunder has a single primary left on either wing, poor thing. Lightning has gotten really grumpy again, and extra-protective of Thunder again (like during early spring), so they've been in the "time out" pen regularly lately. I've even had to put Lightning to the ground to get him to submit twice this week! Seriously grumpy, he is! *rolls eyes*

On the other hand, they HAVE been helping me keep watch overnight over the past nearly two weeks - we got hit HARD by a HUGE pack of raccoons, and the chickens were decimated by them! I lost half my flock from them before we got them all gone! I was heartbroken over losing my very favorite hen, a darling and sweet little Blue Frizzled Banty Cochin girl, a great mama, loved pettings and sitting on my lap... she died in my arms.   Well, once I stopped crying, I got MAD!   I literally stayed up all night, every night, with every tool at my disposal, to get rid of them! There were at least 10 different ones, and one was HUGE! We truly didn't expect it to fit into ANY size livetrap, it was so big! They were frighteningly smart, too - when I'd be on one side, patrolling or setting traps, they'd sneak in on the other side! They even took advantage of a ladder that we'd left to repair a roof leak on one of the coops! GAH! That's when everyone had to be relocated!

Aaaaanyway, Thunder and Lightning caught on very quickly that Mom had a "noisy stick" (.22 rifle) that they wanted no part of being in front of, and they started parking right near me (a plus was the extra lights we strung up that brought tasty bugs to eat!), they KNEW when it was time for Mom to be rounding up all the chickens to get them locked up securely (we had to relocate the survivors into more secure quarters, and all birds on one side of the house, nearby), and any time Mom had to go on break to answer the call of nature, they would park right where they could watch the corridor where the *bleeping bleeps* came in from until Mom got back to take over again. It was fascinating watching how quickly they picked up on what was going on!

So, I came to ask about molting, and ended up venting instead. *shrug*  My apologies... I didn't really mean to write such a long, emotional rant. I did need it, though. Thanks for listening. 

So sorry to read about your sweet hens being attacked by the raccoons. What an awful thing. So glad you were able to get rid of them! I feel so fortunate to have a maremma and Aussie who keep them away from our flock. We have a lot of skunks around due to a neighbor down the road he feeds 30 or so cats....ugh. The skunks love the cat food. So every few days or weeks the 2 dogs show up just wreaking of skunk spray. We shot several of them before the dogs took over. They are just the nastiest smelling varmits! At my other farm I came home one day to 8 headless chicken bodies and saw the coon sneaking off into the woods. He was massive. I didn't have a gun on me to get him so I tried for weeks after to trap him with no luck. I used every trick I'd ever heard of. We got a Pyrenees just after that incident. I was just heart broken over my chickens... Here's to hoping you got them all!

Can geese get attacked by raccoons and skunks?? Or would they run them away?? Just curious...

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Great timing, LOL! I just came on to see if it was the normal time to molt, and how heavy they usually molt, because both Thunder (started first) and Lightning (several days behind) are dropping primary wing feathers everywhere - sometimes in clumps! I don't thing Thunder has a single primary left on either wing, poor thing. Lightning has gotten really grumpy again, and extra-protective of Thunder again (like during early spring), so they've been in the "time out" pen regularly lately. I've even had to put Lightning to the ground to get him to submit twice this week! Seriously grumpy, he is! *rolls eyes*

On the other hand, they HAVE been helping me keep watch overnight over the past nearly two weeks - we got hit HARD by a HUGE pack of raccoons, and the chickens were decimated by them! I lost half my flock from them before we got them all gone! I was heartbroken over losing my very favorite hen, a darling and sweet little Blue Frizzled Banty Cochin girl, a great mama, loved pettings and sitting on my lap... she died in my arms.

Well, once I stopped crying, I got MAD!

I literally stayed up all night, every night, with every tool at my disposal, to get rid of them! There were at least 10 different ones, and one was HUGE! We truly didn't expect it to fit into ANY size livetrap, it was so big! They were frighteningly smart, too - when I'd be on one side, patrolling or setting traps, they'd sneak in on the other side! They even took advantage of a ladder that we'd left to repair a roof leak on one of the coops! GAH! That's when everyone had to be relocated!

Aaaaanyway, Thunder and Lightning caught on very quickly that Mom had a "noisy stick" (.22 rifle) that they wanted no part of being in front of, and they started parking right near me (a plus was the extra lights we strung up that brought tasty bugs to eat!), they KNEW when it was time for Mom to be rounding up all the chickens to get them locked up securely (we had to relocate the survivors into more secure quarters, and all birds on one side of the house, nearby), and any time Mom had to go on break to answer the call of nature, they would park right where they could watch the corridor where the *bleeping bleeps* came in from until Mom got back to take over again. It was fascinating watching how quickly they picked up on what was going on!

So, I came to ask about molting, and ended up venting instead. *shrug*

My apologies... I didn't really mean to write such a long, emotional rant. I did need it, though. Thanks for listening.

Goodness, I am so sorry for your losses. Our "neighborhood" is old, mostly large farms and a few family homes. Several of us have had this same issue the last month. 2 houses north, entire duck flock wiped out for example.

Feel free to vent, everyone needs to sometimes!

She started laying months ago, laid more than 50 eggs. We thought she might never set. But she finally did, and today we saw this little guy.

Precious! Congrats on the gosling!

Quote: Geese will sure run individuals off, but anything bigger or a large pack or raccoon is a big risk. Gander are fearless protecting the flock! But don't risk your fella's life. I have seen raccoon pull eggs right out from under a brooding goose before. (via a trail camera) Electric fence chargers for poultry are really cheap, and stop predators fast.

 

[atmaclean]

This is the little gosling I hatched back in May. She has turned out to be so pretty (IMHO). Any ideas on what breed she might be? She looks African or Chinese but with a much lighter color. Also, it looks like she is developing a dewlap!?

 

[atmaclean]

Another pic of her....

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

This is the little gosling I hatched back in May. She has turned out to be so pretty (IMHO). Any ideas on what breed she might be? She looks African or Chinese but with a much lighter color. Also, it looks like she is developing a dewlap!?

I know someone here on this thread keeps Africans has buff African, @servpolice was that you?

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Another pic of her....

She is a beautiful gosling! Love her face, looks so determined and sincere

 

[atmaclean]

She is a beautiful gosling! Love her face, looks so determined and sincere

She is so shy and always stays back. She doesn't go on all the little "trips" with the others. She doesn't venture off at all. Just stays near the chicken coop and waterers and pools here by the house. I'm not sure why she is so fearful of us when the others are so adventurous and outgoing. I have never done anything to harm her. Just talk to her from a distance and tell her how pretty she is. Is this normal? Just her goosenality?

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: Sometimes individual birds, just like people are less social. If you can figure out a favorite treat, thats a good way to help socialize her more. If she is the youngest, it may also be the pecking order of the flock. I can usually make friends out of just about any bird with a fresh handful of bread, and a lot of coaxing. Just take it slow and she should eventually bond more.

 

[nightowl223]

Quote: Are they different than regular electric fences? Because I can't see a couple of wires that they can wiggle underneath without even touching doing anything. Or am I missing something? Because we have fence chargers (even a solar-recharge one) and electric fence lines for the horse pasture, but that's the only kind I'm aware of. If there's a different type, I'd be interested in learning about it! I THINK we've gotten them all, because we haven't seen any, and have had no losses except a few quail that may have managed to get out on their own or through accident. BUT, an extra layer of defense would be a load of worry off my shoulders!

Edited to add:
I also worry about electric fences down low, as we once lost a young mouser (barn cat) who got entangled in and behind two low electric fence wires that were right outside a chain-link fence and died - gruesomely, we found his corpse biting the wire trying to escape. It was near a feed shed, so we expect he was trying to catch a mouse, and, well, I try not to think about how it ended. I was devastated, and immediately turned that particular fence off and never used it again.

 

[wamtazlady]

My electric poultry netting has 11 strands of wire and is 4 feet high. There are also non electric vertical wires holding the electrified strands together about every six inches. I have been using it for over a year now. Have not lost one chicken to a predator behind that wire. Have recently put my 2 month old goslings and ducklings inside that wire. They are doing well and nothing bothers them at night even though I have pictures of the fox going through the property at night on the game cam. The fox won't go near the wire and I don't have to lock everyone into a coop at night. Just bought another 200 feet of electric poultry netting to make my safe area even larger to be sure there is enough graze for the geese as they grow. That way I don't have to let them out during the day to free range if the fox or any predator starts to come during the daytime.

Best thing to do if you are curious about the electric poultry netting is to go to YouTube and watch some videos about it.