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Post by heavyhitterokra on Mar 22, 2020 1:28:15 GMT -6
I went out this morning to check on the progress of my two mamas to be, in the goose run and found that they have laid 11 eggs in their shared nesting box already. Who knows why they do things like that? They have three open nesting boxes, but they both chose the same one to lay their eggs in.
Hopefully, they'll tag team the responsibility of keeping the eggs warm, but I'll not be holding my breath on that one. They are only 11 months old. I don't figure they will have this Mama thing down pat, right from the get-go.
I imagine that's going to take some practice. Especially, since all four of these geese were hatched by an incubator and sent to me, same-day shipping, all the way from Georgia.
When I got them, they were day-old goslings, all huddled in a tiny cardboard box, clutching their Gro-gel-pack for nourishment. They were happy to see me, to say the least! I imagine they would have been plenty happy to see anyone who would let them out of that box!
Ever since then, we've been best friends, but I wasn't much of a mama figure for them to take notes from. It will be interesting to see how they do with this new challenge.Petunia, in her nesting box of straw and lots of warm, goose down. Sweat Pea, checking to see how Petunia is doing. He won't leave her side. He's going to be a great daddy! Look how tightly she has this straw wrapped around. Those are gonna be some nice, warm, cozy, eggs. My two, Proud, Fathers to be. All they need is a black tie and a cigar.
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Post by macmex on Mar 22, 2020 5:34:16 GMT -6
This is exciting! Can't wait to see a whole passel of goslings taking "goose lessons" from Sweet Pea!
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Post by rdback on Mar 25, 2020 8:01:57 GMT -6
Oh boy! This is gonna be fun to watch lol.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Apr 1, 2020 15:31:44 GMT -6
Buddy, our little black stock dog, saved the day once more!
I heard a terrible ruckus outside this afternoon and ran outside to witness two stray dogs running away from where they had chased Sweet Pea and Clarence behind our 12' foot mint drying rack!
If Buddy hadn't been out there doing his best to run them off, I'd be without my ganders today.
Thanks, Buddy!
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Post by macmex on Apr 1, 2020 17:36:23 GMT -6
Yikes! Hope you have your gun close at hand!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Apr 3, 2020 11:38:02 GMT -6
Always! I keep three or four firearms at each door.
We live too far out in the woods not to be prepared at a moment's notice. you wouldn't believe the predator load around here. I live behind a guy who raises 1,500 fighting chickens. He throws all his dead birds over the back fence, where an infinite number of coyotes, foxes, bobcats, and stray dogs reside, laying in wait for their next free meal. Every night at sunset, it sounds like a Marty Stouffer- Wild America special, out behind our house. That's why my goose run and my hen house are built like Fort Knox. I have to build everything around here to be coon proof and coyote proof or none of my poultry would be able to survive.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Apr 20, 2020 0:26:10 GMT -6
My two ganders; Sweet Pea, and Clarence, have been beside themselves with disappointment lately; ever since the two females began to lay their eggs. It has been about 28 days now, that they have been in this sort of 'goose despair.' They seem to be pondering what dark reason there might be, for the girls no longer having the time of day for them. They follow me around wherever I go, hands in their pockets, heads hung low, shuffling along with their little flat feet, suffering through another day in the life of a jilted gander.
Today, Sweet Pea has been unusually doting. I didn't even realize he had been following me, when he spotted me out in the back pasture, down on my knees, looking through the carnage of another honeybee battlefield; dead bees were laying everywhere, from one hive robbing another. It was a disappointing setback.
He came up beside me, as if he could sense my disappointment, putting his head around behind my neck while gently nibbling at the back of my ears, as if to say, "Hey! I'm here for ya."
Sweet Pea has a gentle spirit. He's every bit as affectionate as any dog I've ever seen.
Afterward; he came around in front of me and stood there with his head hung toward the ground, making a hushed, "Hur, hur, hur" sound; and shuffling his weight from one foot to the other, as he reached out to touch my bended knee with his fully extended foot. (This is Sweet Pea's way of getting me to pay attention), so he could ease forward to give me an open winged goose hug.
No matter what I'm up to outside; he's always there, ready with a big hug, or gleefully wanting to ride on my shoulder. He has been that way all of his life.
Sweet Pea is just different from the other geese, for example: if ever I forget to close the goose pen door before I come inside at night, I'll hear him at the back door, after dark, pecking at the threshold and making a chortling sound until I come out to see what it is.
The rest of the geese could not care less, but Sweet Pea will walk all the way back to the house, in the dark, to tell me, "Good night."
He's pretty special, for a goose.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2020 14:12:39 GMT -6
Fabulous!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Apr 20, 2020 19:27:54 GMT -6
Last evening, my two ganders came honking and flapping their wings, carrying on like crazy, all the way up to the house. Once there, they darted across the yard and chased both of our stock dogs away for no good reason. After a couple of rounds through the yard, they returned to the goose pen, frantically honking, and flapping their wings, every step of the way.
All the unprovoked commotion made me wonder what was going on down there, so I took off after them to see what they were up to.
When I got to the goose pen, I could hear something peeping but couldn't tell where the sound was coming from. I checked the nest, but there were no babies inside ... Just a nest full of eggs ... Still, somehow, I could hear peeping, so I went back to the house to get my wife to help me listen. (The sound was so faint I wasn't sure that I hadn't imagined it.)
When Margaret came back with me, she could hear the peeping too. So, we started taking the eggs out one by one and turning them to see if any were broken. We found four of the eggs had cracked shells. If you held them to your ear, you could hear them peeping. Then, they'd stop making noise, but if you tapped the shell, they would start peeping again.
This went on for hours, with no visible sign that any more progress was being made. Finally, we just left the cracked and peeping eggs there with their mamas and went back home for the night.
Early this morning, as soon as it was beginning to get light, I went back out to check on them. There were still four cracked eggs, but one had been crushed by its mama and was already gone. By now, the other three eggs were beginning to move slightly when I touched them.
For some reason, the two mama geese were not hissing and biting at me like they usually do when I look in on the nest. They clearly knew something was going on, but I don't think they knew just what it was. I think they wanted someone to help them.
They didn't make a move as I took the three cracked eggs inside to put them on a heating pad, so my wife and I could begin carefully removing bits of shell to turn the babies' heads loose.
Once we had the gosling's airways cleared, we took them back to their mamas, where the two of them set to peeling the rest of the shells loose. We spent the next several hours watching the little goslings pry themselves loose from their shells and begin the task of drying off. By noon, we had three new additions to the family.
By this evening, there was another egg with a cracked shell. We could hear it peeping too. By dark, we had the three goslings tucked in with their mamas and the next egg to hatch is laying upfront, so maybe it won't get squished.This is Clarence, and Sweet Pea, telling me something was amiss! Two confused, first time, mama geese. They can hear the peeping but no eggs are hatched yet. You can tell by their stance on the nest that they are very anxious about what that noise is that they keep hearing. The source of the peeping noises. This photo was taken last evening, before I came inside for the night. This photo was taken this morning, as I reached in to take the cracked eggs inside to help the babies' get their heads out. It was very strange that the mama geese were not hissing or biting me at this point. (I think they knew I was there to help). The two of them tending to the eggs after I got the babies' heads loose from their shells. They were being very content with me handling their eggs. This is not normal. This is as close as I could get the camera, to witness this little one breaking free from the last part of its shell. I took it back out at this point, so the new mamas would not accidentally crush it during its struggle. Re-introducing the first gosling, after I got it free from the rest of its shell. Re-introducing another freed gosling. Still no resistance from the mothers. They were very polite. One very tired mama. After all the babies were hatched, she went to sleep with her head in my hand. Totally out of character for a mama goose with a nest full of eggs to protect ... She was probably awake all night long with little peeping eggs under her wings. Maybe, tomorrow, I'll have pictures of the babies, after they have rested up from all the work of being hatched.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2020 21:57:42 GMT -6
Looking forward to the pics!! As my daughter would say, "This is just adorb!"
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Post by macmex on Apr 21, 2020 7:46:44 GMT -6
Aww! That is so wonderful!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Apr 21, 2020 21:13:14 GMT -6
Baby Pictures! Our geese have hatched five goslings so far, with six more eggs in the nest. Tonight, there are two of more of them with cracked shells, so it won't be much longer. I built a gangway for them today, so the goslings could get in and out of the semi-truck tire that their mamas nested in. It didn't take them long at all to learn to jump up on the brick I laid inside the nest as a step-up to the top edge of the tire.
I built side rails on the gangway, so they wouldn't fall off the edge. I took all the babies out and set them at the bottom of the ramp, so they would walk back to mama and learn the way back in before they learned the way out ... They kept their mamas busy all day long chasing them around in the goose pen as they fed on chick starter and learned to drink water.
I had some bees to re-hive today, so I was over at George's house to pick up my wooden bee nuc., pretty late in the day. I was worried the goslings might not find their way back up the ramp at dusk, so I hurried home to check on them before dark. When I got home, all five of them were safe inside the nest with their two mamas.
Baby geese are so cute! It's amazing how quickly they learn a new routine.These two mamas are working very well together. So far, they have not left the nest at the same time, meaning the eggs stay plenty warm while one mama is sitting on the nest and the other one is busy baby-sitting. This semi truck tire looks like a huge obstacle for such small creatures, but they over came it with very little difficulty. I never could get all five babies in the picture at once. They kept darting in and out from between the two mamas, kind of like they were playing, 'Ring Around the Rosie.' To me, this gangway still looks pretty ominous, but all the babies made it up to the top and back down several times today. You can see Sweet Pea standing there in the background ... He and Clarence never left the the side of the nest box all day long. They both have been diligently standing guard all day long.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2020 0:34:16 GMT -6
Big smiles. So darn cute.
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Post by macmex on Apr 22, 2020 4:56:05 GMT -6
Obviously, geese are smarter than chickens. I once did a ramp for chicks to get back into a box with their mother. I went to bed without seeing them use it, and in the morning I found they had all died of hypothermia. Momma didn't have the brains to go out to them, and they didn't understand how to go up the ramp. They huddled next to it.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Apr 22, 2020 11:21:53 GMT -6
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