The Old Folks Home

[superchemicalgirl]

Jeez Louise, I said where I was. Overworked, underpaid, and going grayer and crazier all at the same time. I'm going to need a rubber plane to get me out of here in 3 weeks. You guys thought I was nuts before, wait til you see SCG version 2.0.

Did I mention my furnace died 3 times in the past few weeks? It was really lovely to turn the shower on, brush my teeth while the water got "hot" and then hop in the shower at 0500. Had to unscrew myself from the ceiling after that one. That was a few days after drawing myself a nice deep bath that had to of been 32.5 degrees F. I have now learned the fine art that is dipping my toes into the water in the bath/shower prior to entering. I paid the furnace guy well plus he left with some chicken and turkey eggs to try. And since that moment my furnace juju has been significantly improved. I'm probably tempting fate just thinking about it right now.

I swear if I didn't have bad luck sometimes I'd have no luck at all.

But you gotta keep your humor up about the whole thing otherwise you're going to need a straitjacket and quite frankly, one doesn't have the time to be fashioning that item from scratch right about now. And one simply cannot go on in a non-personalized straitjacket.

 

[ozexpat]

hey scg

where have you been?

 

[superchemicalgirl]

hey scg

where have you been?

Jamaica. Jamaica, man. Sipping red stripe on the beach. I was so sad to come back to reality just a few hours ago.

 

[gryeyes]

Missed ya bunches, SCG! And no, you simply cannot be carted away in a non-personalized, Extra Secure Long-sleeved Jacket. (I am so very proud of mine.... Even though you just made me realize I am at least one step closer to being ready for a short trip to a secure facility, escorted by men in white coats.)

 

[ozexpat]

Jamaica. Jamaica, man. Sipping red stripe on the beach. I was so sad to come back to reality just a few hours ago.

Last time i was in Jamaica I smoked a spliff at Bob Marley's house

when in Rome.........


Well at least you were not over-extended ar work or anything

 

[Pozees]

to SCG and Wisher.

SCG, those are some AMAZING quilts - must have carted your sewing machine to Jamaica with you, eh?

 

[getaclue]

Wisher, very sorry to hear of the bad weather damages. That just broke my heart.

 

[CanuckBock]

I can always count on you, CanuckBock, to make me both smile and laugh with your posts! I just love the baby geese! That is too adorable that the tiny gosling was mimicking dad!

YAH...do the wave...ha ha ha...


(very hilarious eagle gosling?)

Do the wee wings wave!



Everybody WAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



​

Tara, your posts are so uplifting! Yesterday's CC wishes and today's gosling pictures just made my days!

As an experienced goose keeper, do you consider them difficult to keep? Someone elsewhere said they are a pain in the yard - to me it appears they would save a lot of fuel and energy mowing ...

I want all to be happy, content and joyful. As much as we are able...sometimes we do have to be serious and yes, time for sadness to...sure...but never enough HAPPY in the world. Always in pursuit of happiness...the creatures bring us all much happiness!

I have not always lived happy, don't need to discuss the details but I call Rick my Hero for a lot of reasons! I have worked some jobs where we had to deal with some really bad bad situations...put it this way, we were all scheduled to take job stress counselling--mandatory, not optional...work place with personal alarms, secure private entrances/exits, no contact with the clients, security and such. We go to the stress course and the one giving the course listens to what our jobs entail and she up and says, "I'd quit my job if I had to work under your conditions!" Yeh, thanks Lady, not really an option and you are NOT helping us deal with our jobs. I love life but it has not always been summed up that way. Now every day is a blessing to be enjoyed to the fullest, not endured.

See...all you gotta do to make waterfowl happy is add....WATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Simple things in life make joy.​

​

This is some of the fun we had today...Oz Black Swans and Ruddy Shels.
Rick could sit in his chair in the living room after a long day of work and just watch the scene unfold.​

How are geese to keep...I know our strain of American Geese, can't say all geese are like this. Ours are not for the faint of heart and timid...probably not a good option for small children as they would harass and worry kids. They are a handful and I love them as a challenge. Been pinched savagely once when clipping toenails...my fault for not being on best guard.

They can be the most ungrateful birds imaginable...hissing at me during chore time but screaming with delight like school girls when I bring GOOSE GOODIES! And my reward, to watch them hiss at me all over again to bugger off already while they snack on down their treaties.

You need the correct zoning for geese on your property...you can't hide geese...at 3 a.m. in the spring time...yeh, no hiding what I call "Rick's SONG birds!" Icrumba! Nothing louder or sillier than geese with minds set on romance.

They need some land...they need to be protected from predators (neighbour's dog, coyotes, etc.) AND they need to be protected from themselves (we house in pairs only, sometimes a trio gets along but watch for jealousy...geese will hurt each other in spring time...breeding nonsense).

I don't cuddle and coddle my birds...if I need kisses, that's my hero's department, not my birds. I don't want my geese to be "pets" and I find geese completely happy to be geese, not lap dogs...that's Fixins and Foamy's departments. Geese to me are more wild than most of the domestic waterfowl and they need to be intimidating...they have bills and wings to bite and slap with and need to be able to run away to the safety of their pen and houses if danger comes calling...domestic geese are not really meant to be fliers so not a lot of defences for them to protect themselves with.

I have known some geese to be bullies. We had new lambs run over to some geese that had a fence between them. The lambs were curious about the strange looking sheep and poked their noses thru the wire and promptly got a good bill biting for their efforts. The geese were quite pleased with themselves and loudly announced the war with the Jacobs for good pasture had been won.

Now some people do make pets out of geese. Usually a lone goose will buddy up as they are a "flock" creature and do not like to be alone. In a perfect world, geese want to be with other geese; that's my take but not everyone shares the same views. We did once have Rick make friends with a gander and they would have chats...but I kept saying to him...I don't think that gander is having a nice conversation with you and yeh, this one became more and more aggressive and confident about it as he neared maturing and he was not really as trustable as I find the other ganders that are not "talked to." I personally treat geese like a goose and don't try to make friends with them. I wait on them and they critize my efforts; seems to work fine.

If a goose makes a go at me, I usually know it's coming and do the zig and grab them by the neck and turn them so they don't wing slap me. I shout in a very mean voice and give them all heck. I don't back down and I certainly don't run away. Run and you are fair game to be chased. There are lots out there that are scared of geese and don't like them because they are intimidating. Any sign of weakness and the geese would be on it.

If a person was harassing a goose, I would fully expect that person to get a well deserved bill bite and wing slap...no fault to the goose for being a goose and setting things proper the only way they are able.

Just like ducks, geese need access to clean fluid water to eat...need that to be able to swallow their food or they will choke. We feed a waterfowl starter, never any medications, a waterfowl pellet and whole heavy oats, hard red wheat and cracked yellow corn for winter. They get lots of veg peelings, from celery to broccoli, turnip, carrots, romaine, and they love cauliflower...all cubed up.

Beef Stew veg peelings fer the Gooseys​

You do not need a lake or pond, kiddy pools are great because you can easily drain the water and fill up fresh. No worries about botulism because you cannot drain the lake! LOL

Geese will hatch and bring up their young very well. Geese are not too difficult to raise and grow the fastest of the most commonly kept domesticated birds. They are long lived averaging 15 to 20 years and are not suspectible to alot of diseases. Some people like eating their eggs, lots love to eat goose and the down and feathers are good for comforters, winter clothing and sleeping bags. Geese are great at foraging and some even are kept to weed orchards. They will however eat most kinds of fruits and vegetables that we humans like, so won't make for good growing garden weeders. Besides keeping their goose lawn nicely trimmed (you can mow it when it grows too fast for them to keep up with) their droppings do a great job fertilizing; the goose grass area is the first to green up each year but I would not have them mow the yard--they would leave far too many calling cards--way worse than any large dog. They do eat all kinds of aquatic vegetation if you have that kind of issue.

And one of their wonderful features is that nobody sneaks up on a gaggle of geese...great watch dogs...supreme WATCH DOGS! They get use to us coming and going so are all eyeballs and bills...but if you hear them stirring up a fuss...past a bit of spring breeding nonsense, I would not ignore their alarm cries as they truly are great busy bodies who have to know what is what going on.

We provide NO extra heat to our geese in our cold winters and often find them sunning themselves pen side in -40 below weather. I don't want the gaggles out in snow and ice because that just seems mean and I don't want them to have free access to grassy land...small amount of moisture = mud pies and if there is a wick too much rain, watch them destroy their grass, all the while doing it gleeful...then sad sacks sitting in the mucky wasteland because you let them ruin their home place.

Expensive for us to set up...I just did a quick panel count. Forty panels to house a dozen or so geese, two pairs of swans in the summer and a pair of Ruddy Shels. When we bought the 16 foot combo wire panels, they were about $65 each...math means 40 X $65 = $2,600 just for the panels, add in the wire to secure the panels, the T-posts of 50 or so, it adds up quickly for a decent fence to contain them.

I will not have any geese out and about in the yard, stripping the electrical wiring off vehicles...which they can and WILL happily do. I don't want to be slip sliding in goose feces. Animals and birds on the farm belong in their own designated areas...not free range to make my spaces stinky and miserable and dangerous to move vehicles around in.

Two goose houses with runs on the left (Pear a Dice) and the Swan house (Eden) with run.
​

It does not need to be this elaborate and certainly not like this for milder climates though predator protection and a place to confine each pair for breeding and when it is less than favourable to be out on the lawns...still has to be accommodated.

Love my geese but like turkeys, a big bird (more liked by men I think if we did a survey)...sadly not a lot of people keeping them nowadays. I think the land, the zoning, their goosey ways can be annoying (noise and real attitudes); but for those of us who love our geese, we just know it takes special circumstances to have them and keep them well...even with all their hissy comments about how much we disappoint their lofty expectations...we love them dearly for being their obnoxious selves.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[RedPulletMama]

I am alive. Not snowed in, not frostbitten, although it did snow here overnight Saturday.

I'm overextended. Work stinks, or whatever is beyond that. Finished a quilt. Got stuck making period costumes for my mom's Hearth Cooking group and I have one half an apron left before I'm done. Have 9 chicken eggs in lockdown. Somehow turkey eggs managed to get shoved under my perpetually broody banty hen. Fox attacked my ducks and ate a (free range) Cornish hen, so I'm down to two ducks and trying to decide if I want to let this flock die out and stop having ducks or hatch some more ducks and keep trudging water buckets through the 6+ months of winter we have had. Started cold weather seeds but it's been so cold that even in the grow box they didn't start well so I had to retry. Not that it matters, we still have snow on the ground so they won't be going in any time soon. My bees are still alive despite a 20% survival rate for the northeast this year. They've eaten almost all of their extra food that I added in November though, so probably Thursday I'll have to get out there and add some more food so they continue to make it through. Would you believe I'm hoping for dandelions? Managed to pass a firearms hunter safety course and the companion bow hunting course.

Beautiful quilt! We lost 7 out of 12 hives this year due to the extreme cold we had here :/

 

[gryeyes]

I have five Toulouse in my flock of chickens, ducks, and turkeys: two ganders and four geese. One of the ganders is chicken-centric, so the other took all three geese as wives. One of them is setting for the first time.

The noise around here has certainly increased a million-fold!

There has always been the I Won THAT "Battle" Celebratory Honking Session (even over the silliest things) but now the Warn The World Against Visiting This Side of The Yard Honking
Is amazing. No, ma'am, I will not come over to admire your Most Beautiful Nest Ever or look at you ON your nest. You can shut up now!

I love my geese. I wasn't gonna let her keep any eggs, but she made a third nest after I kept her first two empty. It's in a fairly unprotected area, but has an excellent view of most of the yard, as it is in a hollow at the top of a high spot. Her head and neck rise into view and the Goose Klaxon barrage begins.

I feel bad that Angus didn't "get" a wife of his own, but he's very protective of the chicken flock and doesn't seem to want to fight for any of the geese. Luckily, his attachment to chickens is platonic.

Geese are easy to keep, as long as you don't want anything to grow outside of a fenced garden, don't mind reassembling anything left where they can get to it, and you know you can wrestle one if it gets uppity. Luckily, Toulouse are pretty mild-natured. Mine know I am the Flock Boss, even of THEM, their goosey highnesses. They still honk at me about it, though.