Trying to go South????????????????

[laughaha]

OK, this is getting really annoying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm pretty sure my geese are trying to go south for the winter. A bit early but multiple times a day they are walking due south off the property. They are trying to fly in the yard but can't get over 1-2 feet in the air. They are penned up (which they hate) but everytime I let them out they head south. You can set a compass by it. How long will I have to keep them penned up?

I've read that Toulouse can't fly but these are mainly ones just shy of a year old (estimate) so they are not really heavy yet (at least not as big as Archie). I'm gonna be trimming their flight feathers just to make sure they can't fly but has ANYONE ever had a toulouse fly south for the winter? Any other domestic geese try to fly south? I think mine are purebred but I'm a newbie and I just got them a few months ago.

 

[sillysister74]

Only goose I have heard of that needs the flight feathers trimmed were Canadians. They might get a little off the ground but I don't think they can fly like their cousins.

 

[Goosehaven]

My toulouse, who is a regular and not a dewlap, can fly well. Last fall he spent alot of time with the canadians and when they would take off at night he would take off when they did but he would circle back around over the lake and land in the back yard. He instinctively must know he cannot maintain flight like they can so he would return to the yard every night. I do not believe there is any way a true domestic could maintain their flight like a canadian for extended flight because their bodies aren't bred for that. He lost his flight feathers this summer with molting so he hasn't even attempted to fly again until just lately because they have grown back in. The only worry with them being able to fly is they certainly could injure themselves if they run into something or have a clumsy landing. Problem is my toulouse will not let you catch him to trim his flight feathers. It would be a real fight to hold him to get the job done. I trimmed my spring hatches flight feathers so they can't attempt to fly. My romans, sebbie and emden do not ever fly.

 

[Kim65]

OMG, I've been wondering what's going on out there!!

There's no hope for flight, but my geese have been flapping and squawking in the yard, trying to lift off. They are aren't heading south, though, mostly northeast, because the way the yard is set up, that direction has the best runway.

 

[laughaha]

Mine are flapping around in the yard trying to get liftoff but when they leave the yard- it is ALWAYS walking due south. It's very odd.

 

[Kim65]

Well . . . in their little instinctive goosey brains . . . the children are fully fledged, their own moult is finished, the secondary feathers are in . . . it's time to go

 

[laughaha]

Will I have to keep them penned up till spring? I would prefer that they freeranged during the day!