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Post by september on Feb 19, 2021 0:00:45 GMT -5
Heh, I suppose they thought you were honking at them, and hurried to join in the excitement!
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Feb 20, 2021 17:47:56 GMT -5
They definitely sound entertaining!
How do goose eggs taste compared to chicken eggs? (I assume you're going to eat most of the eggs, so as to not be completely overrun by goslings.)
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2021 19:47:05 GMT -5
September; Wife will stand on her treadmill in front of a back window and make what I consider ridiculous noises at them and they come running---except for the cough I always use the same voice I used when I called them to feed as goslings. Who knows what they think?
Laura: I am told that goose and duck eggs contain more fat than chicken eggs, but so far I can detect no difference in taste. A Viet lady in Tulsa always wanted me to bring her duck eggs, saying they were much better for baking. But then I sold a Chinese lady black-meated (silky) chickens, too. She said "this chicken and a little ginseng make you like young man again". Never asked her to explain.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2021 10:24:25 GMT -5
Intrigue, Jealousy, Wild, quacking Romance!
The "replacement" female, the African goose I bought, has made a nest in the back corner of their night pen--smart girl. She wallowed out a hole in the hay as big as a dishpan. This morning I saw two females trying for the attention of the dominant gander--- poor old Outlaw, the second male, being outweighed by five pounds or more had no chance in the fight. They are still teen-agers trying to figure this sex thing out, but I have high hopes for goslings by Summer.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2021 8:21:06 GMT -5
LOL, an update: The "Replacement" goose,an African, has been sitting on her eggs for two weeks---due April 14 as I figure it.
The other female, a Chinese my wife calls Mei Ling, is a bit later. I call her DULCINEA THE CLUELESS because she has been laying eggs since before the big frost, but has only yesterday began sitting on the nest. Since she covers her eggs with straw when she leaves, and since I will not disturb her, I have no idea how many eggs are in there. I do not expect a big hatch. I know that she has thrown out at least three eggs that froze, but when and if she will throw out infertile eggs I do not know.
I had geese in OK, but they were civilized geese, Toulouse, and behaved somewhat predictably. Here I have two Chinese, an African and an Embden. The Embden gander has appropriated both females and the Chinese gander is now a bad-tempered outlaw. Bless his heart, he attacked me this morning and I slapped him silly. He started to come back for more, studied me for a bit and decided against it. They are not complete idiots---If I remember to carry a small switch they keep their distance. The Embden gander is sneaky--He always attacks from behind and only if you are not paying attention. I suspect they will be seriously hostile when goslings arrive.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2021 9:00:34 GMT -5
Well, the goose saga goes on. Six goslings appeared four or five days before I expected them and are now surrounded by four adults who become violently protective if I get too close.
I cannot have geese in the garden, so I have purchased a new electric fence charger and am in the fencing business now. A hot wire at 8 inches and another at 18 inches should do the job. The old Zareba charger I had gave up the ghost weeks ago and I have to find Fedex to ship it back for repairs---about half the cost of a new one. Small wonder it died---My deceased brother used it, his widow gave it to me maybe 14 years ago. I used it on the farm and hooked it up here until it just died.
Fiber glass posts, plastic insulators and a bit of effort make an easy fence. The only problems are ends and corners. I prefer battery power, but this one will have to be AC---in the end a lot more powerful and trouble free.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2021 8:16:15 GMT -5
Weather is lousy---cool to cold and WET. I have decided to stay indoors and take the week end off. I have all the materials needed for my fence but lack the get-up-and-go to put it up in this weather.
?he garden will just have to wait. Could find only five of the six goslings this morning. Finally saw a bump on the old goose's back---when the bump wiggled I saw that it was one of the goslings. It had hitched a ride out into the yard, riding buried up to its neck in the old goose's feathers right between her wings. I had seen goslings in her feathers before, but never in the catbird's seat.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2021 19:14:17 GMT -5
Little storm last night, drizzle this morning. Turned the geese out early and about eleven found one of the goslings soaking wet, fallen behind the flock and about to give up. Took him into my jacket, dried him off, put a heating pad in a box, wrapped him in an old T shirt and let him cook for a couple of hours. Put some crumbles down his throat, gave him water. By 4 PM he was ready to go back to Mama. I put him down on the pond dam and three adults came running to meet him while Mama was still hovering over her remaining five. Last I saw of him was his rear end going under Mama's feathers.
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Post by september on Apr 24, 2021 22:43:02 GMT -5
Aw, nice of you to take good care of the youngster!
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Apr 25, 2021 13:35:20 GMT -5
Awww....I am so glad that this story had a happy ending. Maybe the geese will trust you more around the goslings now?
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Apr 26, 2021 10:47:02 GMT -5
Nah, she probably thinks that he goslingnapped her offspring and it later escaped.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2021 7:05:46 GMT -5
LOL, Gulfcoastguy is right. However, the little devil apparently liked the taste of the egg crumbles I fed him. I see now that two of the goslings jump into a shallow feed pan I set out by their water. I feed the older geese egg pellets in a metal tray about four inches high, too high for the goslings and the pellets are too large.
So, I run the pellets thru the food mill, then put them in the shallow pan out by the water---the little ones will learn. Each day now the "crumbles" are being eaten, some by the old folks, some by the goslings.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Apr 29, 2021 8:59:21 GMT -5
Those aren't goose egg crumbles, right? Just wondering if you're training the geese to be cannibals.
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Post by mgulfcoastguy on Apr 30, 2021 23:30:45 GMT -5
Laura_in_FL, well geese are modern day descendants of the dinosaurs and dinosaurs weren't picky about their prey. Just think of them as miniature Raptors from that movie.
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2021 8:26:09 GMT -5
The "crumbles" are laying pellets that have been run thru a food mill. Now I am giving them the full size pellets. The goslings can no longer squeeze thu the fence wire, but have learned to jump over the threshold when entering the cage at night.
Me Lei, aka Gooseberry, the Maiden Aunt, continues to lay, up to some 40-odd eggs now without going broody. There is a strain of Chinese bred for egg production---I wonder if I have one of those.
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