Gaggle of Geese Lovers

[AGeese]

I'll have to catch the tribal games on camera.

 

[fowltemptress]

Cold again today, and everyone except the geese have opted to stay in their coops.

 

[fowltemptress]

For my money, there are few cuter things than goose tracks in snow. They tell a story of the daily habits of geese, too; I enjoy following them at the end of the day to see where they went. They clearly stopped here to yell at the dog through the fence, there someone got fixated on something in the snow before realizing they'd been left behind and booking a sstraight line to the others who'd left a meandering, winding trail back up the hill, etc. I also enjoy watching them bathe in the snow. A few of the girls often decide there's no difference between standing in snow and standing in water, so they do their whole bathing routine wherever they stop, throwing snow over their backs and doing the whole bird in water shtick that all feathered beings seem to share. And I am fully jealous of their ability to pull both their legs up into their feathers and rest solely on their bellies. Turtles may carry a house on their back, but I prefer the goose's way of carrying a mattress on their front.

All that said, I will be so happy when all this melts and I don't have to trudge through it anymore! Everyone who says they love snow must not have to go out in it very often.

 

[Amer]

Turns out what I thought was a goose egg was just an extremely large Crested duck egg (eww ducks, having these on the farm was not my choice.)
It's just it was the first one so I didn't have any others to compare with (it's in the back there)

 

[fowltemptress]

Turns out what I thought was a goose egg was just an extremely large Crested duck egg (eww ducks, having these on the farm was not my choice.)
It's just it was the first one so I didn't have any others to compare with (it's in the back there)

I'll bet it's a double yolker!

 

[Amer]

I'll bet it's a double yolker!

Double at least! I wonder what the world record is for yolks in an egg.
Wow

Also the largest chicken egg was 9 INCHES diameter? that sounds painful

 

[fowltemptress]

I'd like to know how the hens were after passing that. I had a muscovy hen who regularly laid double yolkers, and unsurprisingly she wound up dying of a prolapse. As neat as it is to crack open an egg to find multiple yolks, it's not something I'd want propagated in my flocks.

I've never seen, or even heard of, a double yolker goose egg. I wonder how large that would be?

 

[Amer]

I'd like to know how the hens were after passing that. I had a muscovy hen who regularly laid double yolkers, and unsurprisingly she wound up dying of a prolapse. As neat as it is to crack open an egg to find multiple yolks, it's not something I'd want propagated in my flocks.

I've never seen, or even heard of, a double yolker goose egg. I wonder how large that would be?

Yeah, it does not sound healthy.

 

[fowltemptress]

Anyone else experience something like this?

Other people: "How on earth can you tell them apart?"
Me: . . . . "Because they look nothing alike? Is this a serious question?"

I get it though; if they're not yours, you're not really noticing and paying attention to all the differences. What really gets me, though, is so many of my friends; no matter how many times they've seen my geese, they always say, "You have such pretty ducks!"

There was the first serious scuffle of the year today. It was a three way ring-around-a-rosy with Tex, Hans, and Picard. Tex dropped out early to watch - I think he initially joined in just for solidarity - leaving Hans and Picard latched onto eachother's shoulders and pummeling eachother with their wings. Picard is the largest gander, but Hans believes every woman is his own and has more fight in him. I try never to break up their fights so long as it doesn't look overly rough (I definitely intervened a handful of times last year!), or so long as Tex has the upper hand (yes, I am shamelessly biased and don't even try to hide the fact that Tex is my favorite). Picard eventually turned tail and ran, but not without a few white feathers in his beak as a souvenir. I always think the victory honking is hilarious, and Hans gives it with gusto.

 

[AGeese]

Double at least! I wonder what the world record is for yolks in an egg.
WowView attachment 4028325
Also the largest chicken egg was 9 INCHES diameter? that sounds painful

I wonder how they verified that.