Toulouse Geese Thread

[Going Bhonkers]

Clementine is a cutie as well. I can't tell which is fluffier, Clem or the snow!!

And HEY!! Where are all the production toulouse hiding at? Would like to see some more of those too!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Clementine is a cutie as well. I can't tell which is fluffier, Clem or the snow!!

And HEY!! Where are all the production toulouse hiding at? Would like to see some more of those too!

Shhhh, mine is asleep I'll try to sneak out and get a pic.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Winston is continuing to fill in. Here he is at the watering hole with the calls.

Winston is such a handsome boy! Jealous over here. ; )

~ Aspen

 

[Alaskan Dragonfly]

Clementine is a cutie as well. I can't tell which is fluffier, Clem or the snow!!

And HEY!! Where are all the production toulouse hiding at? Would like to see some more of those too!

Here's a (bad) picture of me with my two, Herdie and Gerdie, last summer at my Mom's house. They will be officially moving to my house as soon as the snow melts and I get the fencing set up, in March or April.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

LOVE these pictures, but you can so keep that white stuff covering the ground! She looks like she was having a ton of fun though. Winston looks very nice too! Well worth the waiting.

Quote:

 

[Miss Lydia]

Here's a (bad) picture of me with my two, Herdie and Gerdie, last summer at my Mom's house. They will be officially moving to my house as soon as the snow melts and I get the fencing set up, in March or April.

They are so pretty!!

 

[Alaskan Dragonfly]

And they are so sweet also! Herdie (the gander) is very tolerant of me, and will take treats from my fingers. Gerdie (the goose) loves to taste my fingers. I can stroke her feathers and her beak, and she rubs her face on me like a dog would.

I'm very curious to see how Herdie will be once they start thinking about eggs...

 

[Miss Lydia]

And they are so sweet also! Herdie (the gander) is very tolerant of me, and will take treats from my fingers. Gerdie (the goose) loves to taste my fingers. I can stroke her feathers and her beak, and she rubs her face on me like a dog would.

I'm very curious to see how Herdie will be once they start thinking about eggs...

Well since i have a gander I can say for sure you'll see a change in him, but if you keepin mind that hormones are in charge and that this to will pass you'll get through it, just don't take it personal.
Also you might not want to hand feed during that time it will save your hands. Since this is my first yr with a goose i have no idea how she will act when she begins egg laying and mating. We shall see.

 

[aoxa]

LOVE these pictures, but you can so keep that white stuff covering the ground! She looks like she was having a ton of fun though. Winston looks very nice too! Well worth the waiting.

Thanks I just LOVE my new lens! Best Christmas gift ever!

Winston is filling in slowly but surely. He's as big as the girls now. His keel is a little less developed, but is otherwise really filling out. He's very good with the ducks too.

 

[ooptec]

hey,

going bhonkers alerted me to this thread so had to jump in w/pics of my babies too. 2 summers ago I got 3 pair Toulouse from Metzer's farms which said they were from imported french birdies. Lost one right away within a week but the rest, 3 geese and 2 ganders turned out beautifully.

Last spring they musta layed a hundred eggs but only one sat on a nest faithfully, the other hens would sit for a day or 2 then get distracted too long. After the hatchlings came was even worse as far as attention span went. This year will incubate. The setting goose would hiss when I approached but didn't instill any fear in me. The rest were pretty normal tho would chase the doggies away a little more, but hard to say if they woulda done it anyways as they still do to m.o.l. same extent. The hatch was 5 but one died within a couple of weeks. They would haul the new babies over hill and dale and for awhile a first thing in morning chore would be to chase them back to the yard from a couple of hundred yards down the road.





They were excellent parents, they collectively cared for the newbies. Not any more aggressive than they are now and worse ever got was a pant leg nibbled.



They grew like little weeds




They do like the sounds of their own voices.




While there is a dugout mere feet from the back yard and a pond behind the garden, they prefer to spend most their time on the yard, they cover a lot of territory in a day and have definitely helped keep the lawns trimmed. They leave a lot of manure behind but one small rain and it magically disappears



Coming into fall they were identical to the parents, but I banded the parents w/zip ties (buy the pricier ones w/metal locking tongues and UV proof)



The cayuga's kept the dug out corner open till the rest had 5 inches of ice on it. The cayuga's are penned outside for the winter and penned the Toulouse last year but not this. They coop w/the rest of the birdie herd and are there every nite.



Back from a trip to the local farmer who butchers on the side in his yard. The doggies are pretty well on a solid fresh meat diet from freeze to thaw and the geese have a go at the scraps too. As well as the maggies.

Have the 4 youngin's to butcher pretty soon, finally got around to clearing out the freezers so is room for them, mmmmmmmmm ....... goosies.

Been thru the worst of the weather I hope, did a few weeks of -22°F w/o any losses to chickens, turkeys, peafowl, ducks, guinea's and geese, tho they are a lot happier is now in the +14°F's. Tho this is Saskatchewan and wouldn't be the least surprising if have a few more weeks of -25°F before garden planting end o' may. Days are starting to lengthen too which all seem to like.

Already thinking of new babies, garden and shirtsleeve weather.




Already one new baby has arrived, baby angel, both parents were working maremma X pyreneese. She was born and raised outside in the sheep pen until got her at about 10 weeks She spent the first few weeks here locked in a pen in the coop to bond w/the flock. Her and the big boy guardian are joined at the hip now and she is all eyes and ears learning from him. Soon will have the guardian-angel lookin' after the place. Only thing there is out here as much as coyotes, foxes, skunks and weasels are deer, and the big boy keeps them all at bay. Now he'll have some help as the little doggies are good to warn only as are coyote food and I'll have some redundancy just in case.

Best in the new year to everyone and as always

cheers