It has been a long and difficult winter everywhere and we have sure felt it here at Kelly Farm. The geese had to be locked up in the horse barn aisle for a few months because of the temperature along with the sleet, wind and rain. WHAT A MESS!
In January I let the geese out on a warm day and they all went straight for the frozen pond. Since we have a fountain and a bubbler in the pond, it freezes around the edges but keeps a small circle around the bubbler and fountain that remains unfrozen. The problem is that the geese can get in but sometimes can't get out. Unfortunately, my new curly buff female went in and couldn't get out because of the ice. Then my three "Wool Farm Gang" ganders decided to all breed her at the same time. I was sick when we had to retrieve her body because they drowned her.
Back into the barn they all went, but into breeding pens. On another warm day, I turned out all five of my non breeding males. My dogs have been trained not to mess with my poultry, but the puppy had not seen the geese running around for a few months, and decided it would be fun to catch them. He got three of the males, two healed up just fine but my favorite goose, an African Brown gander named DT (Dawn Treader), could not bounce back. He died a week later. I was heart broken.
Then the day I was able to set up the pens outside, another of my non breeding males (my first Sebastopol that I had ever hatched), Waffles, started limping. He slowly got worse over two weeks. I tried deworming, antibiotics and my vet gave him a steroid shot, but to no avail. He lost weight and died.
I've never had this much loss ever with my geese and it's just so upsetting. I even lost a beautiful snowy call duck female, Sweet Pea, because of the cold, along with a few chickens.
Now on the bright side, I have fertile Sebastopol eggs in the incubator and should have my first hatch in a little over a week. My goal this year is to hatch a male buff saddleback. I have a 25% chance with the pair in one of my pens. Here's to having a good hatching season.
In January I let the geese out on a warm day and they all went straight for the frozen pond. Since we have a fountain and a bubbler in the pond, it freezes around the edges but keeps a small circle around the bubbler and fountain that remains unfrozen. The problem is that the geese can get in but sometimes can't get out. Unfortunately, my new curly buff female went in and couldn't get out because of the ice. Then my three "Wool Farm Gang" ganders decided to all breed her at the same time. I was sick when we had to retrieve her body because they drowned her.
Back into the barn they all went, but into breeding pens. On another warm day, I turned out all five of my non breeding males. My dogs have been trained not to mess with my poultry, but the puppy had not seen the geese running around for a few months, and decided it would be fun to catch them. He got three of the males, two healed up just fine but my favorite goose, an African Brown gander named DT (Dawn Treader), could not bounce back. He died a week later. I was heart broken.
Then the day I was able to set up the pens outside, another of my non breeding males (my first Sebastopol that I had ever hatched), Waffles, started limping. He slowly got worse over two weeks. I tried deworming, antibiotics and my vet gave him a steroid shot, but to no avail. He lost weight and died.
I've never had this much loss ever with my geese and it's just so upsetting. I even lost a beautiful snowy call duck female, Sweet Pea, because of the cold, along with a few chickens.
Now on the bright side, I have fertile Sebastopol eggs in the incubator and should have my first hatch in a little over a week. My goal this year is to hatch a male buff saddleback. I have a 25% chance with the pair in one of my pens. Here's to having a good hatching season.