Our Geese

I stopped by a new feed store one day, looking for better prices on feed and came across a cage and bins full of turkey's and geese.  I had already purchased 6 ducks and they were so much fun to watch, I just stood there watching the geese until a lady who worked there told me she would make me a deal if I would buy some...she needed to get rid of them before her surgery she was having soon.  They were cute, I decided to take two home with me.  If the turkey's had have been Bourbon Reds, I would have bought some of them too.

It was fun taking care of the ducks and geese...they are horribly messy though and I cleaned their brooder at least twice a day.  I enjoyed it a lot when I filled the bathtub a bit and let them swim around a bit.  I tried to let them have time in the water at least once a day.  Those little boogers grow incredibly fast!  They recommend keeping them in a brooder for 6 weeks, but they outgrew everything I had!  I ended up getting a large Rubbermade tank to keep them in, I had to add wire around the top to keep them in it...and at threes week old they went out to the covered and screened back porch.  My neighbor said they could go out in the yard by that age, but I thought it would be better if they were bigger still...we have a lot of hawks and I didn't want them to appear like an easy meal.

The ducks and geese have their own fenced area and in addition to the Rubbermade tank that they really have to take turns getting into...I bought a 265 gallon galvanized cattle tank for them to swim in.  The trouble was they had no way to get into it.  In the beginning we would run around and catch them and put them in the water one at a time. Then I remembered the dog ramp that I had gotten for our deceased dog Orion...I just had to find it.  Once I found it and put it on the side of the tank, I had to teach the ducks and geese how to walk up it and jump into the water.  That took a little while, every time I could catch one I would set it down in the middle of the ramp...they would run down it instead of up it every time.  Then I tried using food to get them to the ramp, and up the ramp...they would only go so far and then run back down the ramp.  It took me several days of trying to get them to walk up the ramp to the edge of the water...then I had to get them to jump in.  After we got them up the ramp, into the water, we had to teach them how to get out.  We ended up moving some lawn chair close to the tank and watching them while they swam, they really loved it.  But we had to catch them and put them on the ground for awhile because they just didn't have enough strength in their wings to get out on their own.  They did finally get the hang of it though...and now they jump up on the ramp and walk down it most of the time.

My husband wanted ducks for the pond, the first time we tried to take them down to the pond was just plain funny to us.  We each took a duck with us, just carried them...and when we got to the pond we thew our duck into the water...the ducks immediately turned around and got out of the water.  We tried again, and it looked like they were going to stay and swim awhile...they started swimming across the lake.  You could hear the other ducks quacking and they were answering and headed straight toward the sound...swam to the other bank, jumped out and started running toward the creek!  We ran after them.  I started calling the ducks and they came running to me...I always call them my babies...we have still not named them.  They ran behind me and followed me all the way back to the house.  We did not try again with the ducks.  We did try with the geese this past week.  It was the same thing...we threw them into the water and the immediately swam to the edge and got out.  We walked down to a shallow spot and they followed us...we tried to get them to get into the water on their own..we thought that if they saw the fish, they would go after them.  We had purchased minnows and put them in the water tank they swam in and they were scared of them.  We ended up scooping some out into a big bowl and it was only after we actually started throwing to minnows to them that they actually ate them...then they put two and two together and ran to the bowl and started eating them all.  They walked around in the shallow water and pulled up weeds and dug in the mud...but barely got their feet wet.

Then my sweet husband took his shoes and socks off and waded into the lake and tried to call them in...it didn't work either.  He asked me to try it...so, I took my shoes and socks off and walked into the shallow water...and tried calling them...very slowly they worked their way into the water a little bit until it looked like they were floating.  But still, they did not swim around.  We will have to try again...but, the geese did the same thing as the ducks...they followed us all the way back to the house.