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I knew very little about what geese did, why they did it, and what they enjoy doing. One of the things they love most is to get up onto higher objects such as hay bales, cinder blocks, etc. I would assume they like these higher places because it means they are sort of in the sky. Like they are flying. The instincts of flying are still somewhat there in these domesticated geese but they cannot go anywhere. Apart from the instincts of being up in the sky, they also just like to have some fun. Most of their fun involves pecking at things and swimming around in the water. They may just stand there on the hay bale or whatever the thing is or they might also be grabbing pieces of hay or pecking at the thing.
I had originally decided on four types of eye-colors: Sassafras, Cherry, Ash, and Wide Eyes. This proved incredibly complicated because the Sassafras and Cherry eye-colors proved to be very similar except for one gander with the Cherry eye-color. But that was one goose. I decided to merge Sassafras and Cherry and simply go with Brown. Sassafras was named after one of my geese who passed this eye-color on to three of her offspring. I used Cherry because this color I considered to have a reddish look to it. I kept Ash and Wide Eyes although they may prove to be complicated sometimes as well.
Dandelion has grown to have a fascinating trait. He has a big gray spot above each eye that makes him look like he has eyebrows. I cannot call by name any previous gosling from the past who may have had this same trait. It is quite possible none of them ever had it as Dandelion is from a different bloodline. I will be watching to see if this will completely disappear or if it will make his coloring slightly or obviously different from the other geese when he is fully feathered out.
Before we knew anything about geese we ordered two Chinese geese. We did not know what Willow was. We did not know whether Willow was a boy or a girl. So we decided to get two female geese so that even if Willow turned out to be a female it would not matter because there would be no fighting. Our plans were ruined when Willow unexpectedly died. We got a lot of goslings and that was not the plan. We were going for only a few geese. We still planned to get the Chinese geese as well.
When I first mentioned my goslings I did not know which ones were boys and which ones were girls. I am excited now that I know. I did not have much hope that I would have a bunch of females in a batch of five goslings. I was thinking I would only have one. Fortunately, I got two females. One of them I had guessed was a female from the very beginning while the other I realized was a female before I checked for certainty. I do not like to vent-sex goslings that are small especially ones under a week of age because I cannot find a proper way to hold them and I do not want to hurt them. Apart from that, I want it to be as non-scary as I can make it. Over time, I have found out what I am looking for. It was not what I expected and I totally messed up a few times. When I had my first bunch grow out for this laying season I had most of them switched up.
Tupelo is from Batch #005 along with other geese I love such as Stansbury Cliffrose and Gingko. She was originally called Sleepy because of her slow movements, tired looking eyes, and she liked to sleep a lot when she was a gosling. She had angel wing on one of her wings which we mended and there is no longer a sign of her having it. She sounds like her mother and looks somewhat like her. She inherited the wide-appearing eyes, beautiful feathers, and bright orange feet from her mother. She also has lighter feathers on the underpart of her wings compared to other geese. I believe this has to do with the fact that her mother has a white band on her.
Both male and female geese are great fun. The females love to eat the grass, lay in in the grass, and walk on the grass. The ganders stand alert while the ones they care for carry out these procedures. What makes a female different from a male? It is definitely easy to tell when your female lays her egg but there are other ways to tell. The females are usually smaller and shaped differently. They tend to be lower to the ground. They also have a pouch in between their legs when they are mature.
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my name is EmilyI have twenty-eight geese. I hatch a bunch of goslings because I want a lot of people to have geese. I do not see them everywhere but I want to! The goslings are the sweetest baby birds I know! The adult males are proud and can be cranky but have their sweet moments while the females are shy and sweet all at the same time. Categories
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July 2021
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