Toulouse Geese Thread

[jtn42248]

Babe at 6 weeks

Missy his adoptive momma

Babe.

They are beautiful. Wish my yard was that green, we are rapidly going to the West Texas dry and yellow right now. Hoping for some rain next week.

 

[jtn42248]

awww, I find peace with my flock as well. I do feel like their shepherd since we have some resident hawks harassing the flock daily.

I understand. We have recently had a problem with what around here they call chicken hawks. They look like buzzards to me, not vultures, we have those too but the vultures just clean up the dead things. The buzzards have been circling our poultry pens and diving down close lately. That is why my birds never go our to free range without one of us out with them.

 

[Miss Lydia]

They are beautiful. Wish my yard was that green, we are rapidly going to the West Texas dry and yellow right now. Hoping for some rain next week.

That's actually along our driveway not any grass though just green weeds and boy are my geese picky about the weeds they like.

Babe has the Dennis Rodman look right now some yellow fuzz on top still.

Hope you get some much needed rain jtn

 

[jtn42248]

That's actually along our driveway not any grass though just green weeds and boy are my geese picky about the weeds they like.

Babe has the Dennis Rodman look right now some yellow fuzz on top still.

Hope you get some much needed rain jtn

I know. We have some of the most beautiful weeds you can imagine but my three are too good for them..they only want the grass and pretty much anything with a flower on it. They are predicting rain mid week with this "polar vortex" that is coming down if it gets this far south. We pray and hope and cross everything that can be crossed for luck. The rain greens up everything for a few days to a week then back to the drought. We work hard to keep the birds cool and they reward us with equally hard work laying eggs. The chickens are producing on average a dozen eggs a day now. Still waiting for the adult ducks to do something. The geese probably won't do anything except be pretty and funny until next year. Then Sting will probably try to keep me out of their pen.

 

[jtn42248]

When I was trying to decide on what breed of geese to get I kept coming across statements that said that they could not fly. That they were too large and too domesticated to do more than just lift off for short distances at a low height. Things like..."can geese fly, mine do, they fly like a brick"...and particularly that Toulouse geese were just to fat to fly...well, guess what:





Sting, my gander, was on his way to the cattle tank across the highway but he stopped and came back when his ladies, Lydia and Pauline decided that the pickin's did not rank with the corn and feed and grass that we have here at home. That is Sting in the lead in the second picture and, in the third picture he cleared my head by an easy 3-4 feet and I am 6 feet tall. Lydia is the goose in the middle of the group with the white primary feathers. Let me tell you...it was a real traffic stopper.

So, if anyone asks you...can geese fly...the answer is a resounding yes.

 

[Miss Lydia]

When I was trying to decide on what breed of geese to get I kept coming across statements that said that they could not fly. That they were too large and too domesticated to do more than just lift off for short distances at a low height. Things like..."can geese fly, mine do, they fly like a brick"...and particularly that Toulouse geese were just to fat to fly...well, guess what:





Sting, my gander, was on his way to the cattle tank across the highway but he stopped and came back when his ladies, Lydia and Pauline decided that the pickin's did not rank with the corn and feed and grass that we have here at home. That is Sting in the lead in the second picture and, in the third picture he cleared my head by an easy 3-4 feet and I am 6 feet tall. Lydia is the goose in the middle of the group with the white primary feathers. Let me tell you...it was a real traffic stopper.

So, if anyone asks you...can geese fly...the answer is a resounding yes.

Don't you worry about them being hit by a car, we see Canada geese sometimes along the road and also wild turkeys who will fly out in front of you with out warning. They are beautiful when in flight though. Mine are now practicing their flapping for take off.

 

[jtn42248]

Don't you worry about them being hit by a car, we see Canada geese sometimes along the road and also wild turkeys who will fly out in front of you with out warning. They are beautiful when in flight though. Mine are now practicing their flapping for take off.

I do worry about that but they don't get out to fly that often and I am always with them. Actually, the highway is 2 to 2 1/5 acres away from us in the pictures and, though they could make it all the way, I think they just like to show off. The girls will land and walk back to me when I call them and Sting then lands and comes back to see over his ladies. I say all that and still have the dread of them actually flying out into the highway and, not getting hit, but causing someone to have an accident by swerving and loosing control. But, not a lot that can be done beyond the wing clipping thing. We raised the fence between them and the house-yard where the dogs are to make sure they could not get there but this is another matter entirely.

 

[livininbrazil]

When I was trying to decide on what breed of geese to get I kept coming across statements that said that they could not fly. That they were too large and too domesticated to do more than just lift off for short distances at a low height. Things like..."can geese fly, mine do, they fly like a brick"...and particularly that Toulouse geese were just to fat to fly...well, guess what:





Sting, my gander, was on his way to the cattle tank across the highway but he stopped and came back when his ladies, Lydia and Pauline decided that the pickin's did not rank with the corn and feed and grass that we have here at home. That is Sting in the lead in the second picture and, in the third picture he cleared my head by an easy 3-4 feet and I am 6 feet tall. Lydia is the goose in the middle of the group with the white primary feathers. Let me tell you...it was a real traffic stopper.

So, if anyone asks you...can geese fly...the answer is a resounding yes.

Gorgeous. I love to see mine flying, too. And give them some space with a run-up, and it´s hard for them to resist! Your geese aren´t big, that´s why they can fly...normal toulouse, even Embdens at times can fly, moreso the production meat-birds, and the smaller breeds like cottonpatch, pilgrim, shetland, etc, well...no probs! I have some toulouse-sized birds here that love to fly. Thrilling, isn´t it? I can imagine it stopped the traffic! Great pics, too.

 

[jtn42248]

We had about 3 inches of rain over the last two days and yesterday the temps were in the 70's all day. Quite a change from our 90-100 degree temps this time of year...and which will return today. So my three had their morning flight, foraged for a couple of hours and now are back in their pen chillin' by the pool. What a life.



I know we need a bigger pool but believe it or not all three fit in this little pool, head to tail, and float around in a circle.

 

[livininbrazil]

We had about 3 inches of rain over the last two days and yesterday the temps were in the 70's all day. Quite a change from our 90-100 degree temps this time of year...and which will return today. So my three had their morning flight, foraged for a couple of hours and now are back in their pen chillin' by the pool. What a life.



I know we need a bigger pool but believe it or not all three fit in this little pool, head to tail, and float around in a circle.

The geese were happy with the rain, then! Is that Sting by the fence? He´s thinking the grass looks a bit greener over there!
I can imagine them all in that pool...like a merry-go-round!