A Tale of Four Geese and Eight Ducks

Way last winter we ordered some Pilgrim geese goslings from a breeder in southern Minnesota.  The goslings were to be shipped as day old hatchlings to us in April.  The month of April came and went but we never received notification of the goslings being shipping nor did they show up.

A call to the water fowl breeder produced apologies from him along with the explanation of difficulties he'd been having with the Pilgrim geese not hatching out eggs.  He assured us he would get our goslings on their way to us as soon as he possibly could.

Spring turned into summer, more calls to southern Minnesota were made and we learned of more problems that had befallen the breeder.

I was losing faith and suggested we ask for our money back, but my dear husband said he still had a good feeling about this guy and felt he would stay true to his word and deliver when he could.

Lots more back and forthing ensued until about a month ago when the breeder asked if we would accept full-grown geese rather than goslings.  He even offered to drive more than halfway to meet us and deliver the geese.  Plus, because he was grateful that we had been so patient, he would bring some ducks along, too, since we had expressed an interest in getting some Muscovy and Cayuga ducks.

So a week ago last Saturday, Papa Pea loaded three cages in the back of the Suburban (after first lining the floor with a big tarp) and drove to meet the breeder and receive our geese and ducks.

Their meeting was a very pleasant one and they took time to visit for a while.  Papa Pea's intuition that this was a good man was reinforced.

We now have two adult pairs of Pilgrim geese, one young pair and one a few years old, plus two pairs of Muscovy and two pairs of Cayuga ducks.  All the birds seem to be very healthy and hardy.  And what eager eaters!  They see us coming with the green chop we made this past summer and a little whole grain and they start jumping up and down and clapping.  (Well, almost.)

After keeping them penned up for a week to get used to us and their new home, we let them out today in a small enclosed space so they could explore a bit more of their area.

First we had to do some judicious wing clipping of the Muscovy ducks as they are definitely "flyers" and we didn't want to chance them taking off into the woods or other parts unknown.  Although we've never clipped wings before, it was an easy job and neither ducks nor humans suffered.

We haven't come up with names for our new livestock yet; it's easy to tell the pairs of geese apart, but until we have time to scrutinize the ducks more . . . well, they all look pretty much the same to me.

No pictures yet either but I hope to be able to get some soon to post.  I can hardly wait for spring time to see them all splashing and swimming in the pond.