My Africans (A close call! 1/05)

[Soccer Mom]

I've been nattering on about falling into gosling-love and promising pics, so here they are.

I've always had ducks (and usually guineas) but recently decided to try geese. Oh, how happy I am! They are the sweetest--even if mine are big scaredy-pants.

Here they are at a week or so:

Ready to get out of the pool now, Mom!

Little wet babies drying in the front yard:

Oh what a difference a few weeks make! Now they are in the back pasture with my donkeys and starting to get some feathers. They're in that fugly stage, not quite fuzzy babies and not feathered out tweens.

This is the very same pool they were all crowded in just two weeks ago!

I can't believe how big they are! Most of them have learned how to walk up the ramp into their house at night, but some still sit at the bottom and cry for me to pick them up and put them in.

Here is home:

 

[kcardella]

They are adorable!! I have been thinking of geese, but have not made the plunge.

 

[Puddle Foot Farm]

They're so cute! I'm so excited for next week..

kcardella - Make the plunge! Make the plunge! They're the best.

 

[chikmagnet_09]

nice pics...they look great!!

 

[Soccer Mom]

Take the plunge! They are so much fun to raise. I can't believe it took me so long. They really have become my favorite babies.

GEGChicks, you have to post pics when you get them. Where are yours coming from?

 

[Puddle Foot Farm]

Quote:
A breeder for Ideal (I think). I dunno where they're actually shipping from, though.. The guy we're ordering them with has serious connections, apparently, so I'm not questioning. Just waiting for the cuties to arrive.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

My DH wanted geese so we hatched out two Africans and they are just the most fun. And sweet. Our babies. We quack at them and they stick out their necks and quack back. And they follow us everywhere.
One morning they were getting a little too close to the dog pen and my standard poodle still worries me with them. I was across the lawn and so I started to quack loud (LOL) and they came running back over to me. They knew I was calling them.
Take the plunge.

 

[Wifezilla]

Aren't you going to need to enlarge that door on their house???

I saw one up close and personal recently. The gander was FREAKING HUGE!!! He was a DINOSAUR! Handsome as all get out, curious and talkative. I love Africans.

 

[Soccer Mom]

Yeah, I was mentioning that to DH just the other day. This was originally the ducks' house. That door is gonna have to get a whoooooooooole lot bigger. Either that or they'll have to walk in the man door with me. Lol! At a month old, some of them are as big as my adult ducks.

 

[Soccer Mom]

A week in the life...

So this was a red letter week because my babies, now a month old, went from a few hours of free range in the evenings to free range all day long. Whew! The first day I was so nervous that I checked on them every hour, but they've done great.

They seem to be bonding with the three donkeys who share the pasture with them. My hope is that in the future, any predators that slink into a pasture with three guard donkeys and 10 African geese will feel like they've descended into the bowels of hell.

I've also got 30 guinea keets in the brooder and they will move down to their new coop as soon as DH finishes it. Hopefully within the next week. The guineas had a jail break from the brooder this week and eldest son and I spent 20 minutes gathering up the little outlaws. One has earned the name Kimball (as in The Fugitive. He was a rare treat to corner!)


Mom! These wings are getting heavy!

Temps continued to top 100 all week, but the goslings did just great. I refilled water three times a day: first thing in the morning, when I get home from work (around four) and again in the evening. I also sprayed everyone down with the hose. They loved it and ran around like little kids in the sprinkler, flapping their newly feathered wings and chattering.

Everyone is really pinning out and they are growing like crazy. Personalities are beginning to emerge. Puddles is tiny, but feisty and if it involves water, count her in. She likes to be wet! Pookie is a sweetie and likes to be quiet. She will lay down and watch the rowdy bunch going wild. Weezie likes to lay and talk to herself. She just burbles away. It's too cute. Schnitzel is still my big boy and leader of the pack. He comes racing to see me and follows me about when I'm down there. He loves to be petted.

It's been a fun week for us here!

ETA: Yay! Now the pics have loaded.