Geese and Gardening

It's hard even for me to keep straight this waterfowl explosion we currently have on our little homestead.

The goose population alone is made up of the youngest brood of five which we're calling the toddlers, and the four teenagers, and the three adults.

The smallest goslings and ducklings (more about the ducklings later) were both in separate brooders in the garage until yesterday when the toddler goslings got moved outside.

Although confined for the time being to their own small enclosure, they are in the orchard pasture with the four teenagers.  Although the littlest ones seem slightly curious, they may be more frightened of the bigger goslings than anything else.  The bigger teenagers, on the other hand, are extremely curious about the small ones.  I'm not sure if they want to make friends or eat them.

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I was out in the garden early on before breakfast this morning hoping to get a jump start on a full day of progress out there, but the black flies were very much in evidence and drove me in.  I'm hoping for some kind of a weather change so I can get back out into the garden yet today.  Much to do, ever and always, when it comes to a large garden!

I hope to post a garden report soon.  (Black flies permitting.)

Two Brooders Still in Garage

But all is well.  (Sure am glad to report that!)

These are the five goslings we got two weeks ago.  Six were shipped but one didn't make it.  The "Lone Ranger" Muscovy duckling, who is about half the size of the goslings, has been living them for company up until today when Papa Pea decided he/she should go be with "his/her own people."

The Lone Ranger is about twice the size of the fifteen ducklings that arrived this week, and I admit I was a little apprehensive as to how the switch would go.

See that big guy in the back left hand of the pile of ducklings?  That's the Lone Ranger who instantly melded in with the group and has never looked back.  The youngest little quackers don't seem the least bit fazed by the addition of their big cousin either. 

Yes, all is well.  And we're busily working on yet another chicken/gosling/duckling tractor because the five goslings are growing like weeds and say they're just about ready to be out on green grass.  Enough of this time being pampered in a brooder.  Rest assured they will not be roaming outside of the very securely fenced and sided shelter though.  No way, no how, no chances taken!

A Success!

If you've been reading my posts, you'll remember the disaster we experienced ordering the 15 assorted Muscovy ducklings from the hatchery in Oklahoma.

When the shipping box was opened, there were 10 dead ducklings, and then four more died in the next couple of days leaving one duckling (The Lone Ranger), who is happily growing with his five gosling companions in their brooder.

The Oklahoma breeder told us he didn't want to chance sending another box of replacements because ours wasn't the first problem he'd had shipping to Minnesota.  He said he'd issue us a full refund instead.  It had been his experience there was some kind of a bottle neck along the way (perhaps in Minneapolis?) where the shipments were held over too long.

Disappointed in not getting the Muscovy ducklings which were to (hopefully) be the nucleus of our breeding stock, we waited to receive the refund.

Then last week, the hatchery owner called and said he had been thinking about us and feeling badly about what had happened.  He said he would send us another shipment offering to pay for the 3-day shipping (again), and suggested we add to that and make it a 2-day express shipment, if that would be agreeable to us.  Papa Pea and I talked it over and decided to cross our fingers and go with it.

The hatchery man did some checking with the postal service on his end, and we did the same from our end.  He found the best possible time to get the ducklings to the post office for the beginning of their journey was late this past Monday night, and our very helpful post office staff (thank you, thank you!) contacted people in our state.  Everyone really bent over backwards for us in this endeavor.

The good news?  The very good news?  We picked up 15 energetic, healthy-looking ducklings early this morning at our local post office.  (Such a difference than the last unfortunate shipment.)  The little yellow guy on the left of the picture above had just hooked his right foot on the top of the shipping box and darned near launched himself over the side and onto the concrete floor of the garage!

They scooted around the brooder like busy little bees checking out their new home.

After finding their water and food, it was nap time under the heat lamp.

One big hurdle overcome . . . getting them here.  Now we'll do all we can to make sure they stay happy and healthy . . . and out of harm's way!

A Hard Lesson Learned

We lost the second and last little Cayuga duckling yesterday.  To the same predator (or a relative) as the first one.

Yes, we've been trying to remedy the crow situation.  No, our efforts haven't been adequate.  Obviously.

We now realize if we are going to be successful in raising homestead- hatched waterfowl we will have to keep the mamas and offspring in a secure pen until they reach a certain size.

What will that size be?  Several years ago our daughter had a crow take a half-grown chicken.

In the past we've raised hatched goslings with no trouble.  Also chicks.  Were the mama geese big enough to protect their young from the marauding crows?  Why didn't we lose any of the tiny bantam chicks the bantam hen last hatched out and raised in the same pasture?  Were the little Cayuga ducklings just too small?  Too easy to pick up and carry away?  Was the first-time Cayuga mama not experienced enough to protect her young?

Right now we're feeling quite the failures at adequately protecting our birds and being able to establish our own homestead breeding stock of ducks and geese.

Live and learn, as they say.  We've been learning.

And Then There Was One

A crow swooped down this morning and took one of the two little Cayuga ducklings.  Mama Cayuga chased after the crow but, of course, it was futile.

I felt especially bad about this loss; I think because the duckling was so small and helpless.

Homestead Happenings

On last Thursday, June 2nd, our female Cayuga duck presented us with two brand new little ducklings.

They are about as big as (fuzzy) field mice.

Yesterday, when they were one day old, she brought them out of the shelter into the big green world.  The temperature didn't get above the mid-50s all day, and the grass was saturated with dew nearly all morning, but the tiny little things stayed out all day even taking a couple of short swims in the pond.

We were working in and around the garden all day, which is next to the poultry pasture, and we rarely saw the little ducklings stop to rest.  They were like little wind-up toys and Mama Cayuga never gathered them to her to warm them up or seem to be too concerned.

It was moving day yesterday for the teen-aged goslings also.  We put them in a new area which has a common fence with the poultry pasture.  The adult geese and the teenagers all spent some time getting to know each other in an up-close and personal way.

Those are two of the adult geese on the right with Annie, Skidmore, Will and Curly on the left.  The next move for the fast growing goslings will be into the big area with all the other fowl so this is a good way for everyone to get acquainted . . . with the fence in between.