Duck, duck, goose

Twice I've purchased 15 ducks for our farm. Initially we were going to use them for meat and eggs, but then I discovered that I wasn't a big fan of duck eggs, and Mike was not a big fan of butchering ducks. I found the eggs too yolk-y, and Mike found the feathers and down too challenging to pluck. So the ducks have mostly been pond ornaments and coyote food. Over the winter, we found ourselves with only two male ducks.

The bigger birds are the geese.

I really didn't want another 15 ducks, which is the minimum hatchery order, so when the feed store had ducklings available this spring, I bought five. The only down side to buying them at the feed store is that our only option was white Pekins, rather than some of the prettier ducks available through hatcheries.

Fast forward to last week.

A Cayuga drake splashing in the water

Mike butchered the last two male ducks, and the two female ducks were put out on the pond to join the two remaining boys from previous flocks. The boys immediately welcomed the girls by jumping on top of them to breed as soon as they met. The two drakes have been without females in their flock for more than a year, so I suppose I understand their enthusiasm.

The two new white Pekin ducks

The geese also seemed very happy to welcome the two new ladies to the pond. The geese are also boys, but they appear to understand they are not the right species for the new ladies. Why do we have so many males? Ever heard the term "sitting duck?" I think the original term was probably "setting duck" meaning that when a duck is setting, it is very easy for a predator to get them. That is definitely what happened to all of our geese.

The ducks, on the other hand, had a bad habit of leaving the secure fenced area around our house to visit the creek. Just as goats know that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, I suppose ducks think the water is bluer on the other side. They do have a nice pond for swimming, but that's apparently not good enough. I do hope these new ladies will stay put where it's safer.

And when we took them out of their little duck house to let them loose on the pond, we discovered that they had already laid their first three eggs. Jane used two of them to make a cake.

Our previous ducks just laid eggs around the pond, making it a real egg hunt every day. Because these were raised in a little house, I am hoping that they'll continue to go back there to lay eggs.

How many animals?

I get this question all the time, but for whatever reason, it never occurred to me to blog about it. So, here goes . . . As of today, this is how many animals we have, but remember, lots of babies are coming this spring!

Nigerian dwarf goats: 8 bucks, 21 does, and only 2 kids at the moment, but that will be changing in a couple weeks!

La mancha goats: 2 does who will be looking for a pet home this spring if they don't have kids.

Cheyenne, a Shetland ewe

Shetland sheep: 1 ram, 3 wethers, 9 ewes

Julia Child, our first guinea hog gilt

American guinea hogs: 1 gilt, 1 boar

Katy and Dolce

Llamas: 4 males, 2 females

Jaxon and the heifers play ring-around-the-roses

Irish dexter cattle: 2 heifers, 1 bull (two calves coming in early March!)

Chickens: They're hard to count, because they don't stop moving, but it's about 40 New Hampshire hens, 3 N.H. roosters, 25 Ameraucanas, and half a dozen mutts.

Turkeys: 2 gobblers (one slate, one black Spanish), 1 bourbon red hen, 4 slate hens.

Geese: 9

Ducks: 3

Horse: 1

Chicken house in winter

Photos were from the archives as our world is currently covered in snow. It sure is fun looking through all these photos when it's 6 degrees outside.

A gosling and poults

Wednesday, I was looking out the library window and saw a gosling scampering among the geese. Yes, Mama Goose's month-long vigil on her nest has had a somewhat happy conclusion. She had nearly a dozen eggs, and I have no idea what happened to the others, but only one hatched. Mama Goose certainly gave it enough time though, because the nest is stinky! We need to remove the eggs from the little coop and pitch them before one of the dogs decides they'll make a nice snack. Sorry I don't have a picture of the little downy wonder, but my camera was having problems again.


Yesterday, our turkey poults (above) arrived from Privett Hatchery in New Mexico. I finally decided to overcome my aversion to white turkeys, and I ordered 20 white Holland turkeys, which are a heritage breed. We've raised almost every heritage turkey out there except for the white Hollands, because I was always worried that people would think that they're the modern mutants as soon as they saw the white feathers. White Hollands are one of the rarer breeds of heritage turkeys. Maybe a lot of people have an aversion to white turkeys? Or they figure that if they can choose a heritage breed, why not choose one of the beautiful colors?

I have also been averse to having any kind of white poultry because they are a blinking beacon for predators when free ranging. One of my daughters insisted on getting white rock chickens one year, and few survived. However, for the past four years, when we raise turkeys for Thanksgiving, we have them in movable pens, so they're safe from predators. Not having to worry about predators, I decided it would be fun to try a new breed. Plus, I always like to encourage the hatcheries to hatch the less popular breeds.

These little birds are definitely nothing like the mutants. They're the spunkiest poults I remember receiving in many years. One almost jumped out of the box when I opened it! They're practically hyperactive. Every single one survived the trip from New Mexico. Privett is my favorite hatchery, because they have the healthiest turkeys. We originally ordered turkeys from McMurray and Cackle, but the Privett turkeys impressed us from the first order about five years ago because mortality was lower upon arrival and for the first couple weeks.

Privett is also one of the few hatcheries in the U.S. that actually hatches heritage turkeys. I know that sounds weird, but a lot of hatcheries are drop shipping birds that were hatched by someone else. Privett was even featured in a recent edition of my newsletter from the American Livestock Breed Conservancy. The only thing I don't like about them is that they've discontinued their online ordering. The catalog is not online either, which I'm afraid is going to negatively affect their business.

Hopefully we will also have some home-hatched turkey poults this year. One of the slate hens is setting in a brush pile behind the garden. I think she's been there for a couple of weeks, so only another couple weeks to go, since incubation is 28 days for turkeys. Mike informed me yesterday that it appears she has been joined by a bourbon red hen. Turkeys are interesting with this co-mothering thing. It happens at least once a year that two hens will claim the same nest. Once the eggs hatch, the babies will be back and forth between two mamas.

If you want to know more about the difference between heritage turkeys and supermarket turkeys, check out Let's Talk Turkey from last October. And if you just can't wait to see pictures of the poults that will hopefully hatch in a couple weeks, check out Turkey Surprise from last May.

Who dunnit?

When Mike and I were in Peoria last Thursday helping with a relative having surgery, we received a phone call from Katherine that a goose had been killed. A wild predator was ruled out because the geese are in an area that is enclosed with woven wire. That only left Porter and Trouper. Porter is three years old and has never laid teeth on an animal here. That left Trouper as the likely culprit. A few days earlier I had seen him run at the geese, but he turned at the last minute and left them alone. I had also seen him snap at animals but never actually make a connection.

As we were driving home that night, we received another phone call. A second goose had been found dead. Katherine then locked up both dogs. When I arrived home, I had to pack and leave for a homeschooling conference where I was speaking on Friday and Saturday, so I didn't have time to investigate. While I was gone, Mike said he let the two dogs out of the barn and came inside for about two minutes. He heard a racket and looked outside. A dog was on top of a goose, although he couldn't tell which one. He started screaming, and the dog left the goose. Later, he let the dogs out one at a time, and nothing happened. Sounds like classic "pack mentality," but that doesn't make the situation any better.

What is especially sad is that one of the murdered geese was a mama making a nest. I had been so proud of her because she'd chosen to go into a little chicken coop to make her nest, so we would be able to close the door every night, keeping her completely safe from predators. How ironic that her seemingly brilliant idea was what caused her demise.

What to do now? Trouper has incontinence, which makes it a challenge for him to spend any time in the house. I had not bought the belly bands that someone suggested because I kept thinking that it was a temporary problem. It's muddy outside this time of year, so Porter doesn't really like coming into the house because we always clean his feet. He had been happy to stay outside with Trouper, and they'd been spending the nights together in the barn office. It seemed like a great solution until geese started getting killed. Now the two dogs spend their time locked up unless someone is out there to supervise. I don't want to bring Porter back into the house, because Trouper would be lonely. And although he didn't attack any geese when Mike let him run around alone, I'm not convinced that it's a good idea to leave Trouper unattended around any fowl.

I need to find a new home for Trouper, although I know his resume isn't great. Being incontinent makes it harder to find him a city home. His habit of chasing poultry makes it unwise to send him to a country home. He is a very sweet dog though. He really likes to please people and comes the moment I call him. His pelvis seems to have healed fine -- as evidenced by his newfound love of chasing poultry. If you know anyone who might be able to give Trouper a good home, send them the link to this post and have them contact me.

To read more about Trouper, you can check out this post about how we found him, his first vet visit, and another post about his recuperation.

Goose rescue

When I was walking Trooper this morning, this is what I saw . . . a goose that looked like baling twine was coming out of her back and attached to the pond aerator, which she was dragging from one side of the water to the other. She looked exhausted with her wings hanging down. The ice that had formed on the feathers told me that she had not held her wings against her body for quite some time.

I tried to hurry Trouper, but he's an unfixed male dog, and thinks he needs to pee on at least a dozen things. But as I tried to rush him, I also had no idea what I would do for the goose. The ice was so thin on one side that I could see air bubbling underneath, and if we approached the goose on the safer, thicker side of the ice (which was also on the shallow side of the pond), the goose would swim to the other side where the ice wouldn't hold anything heavier than a goose. I know someone an hour away who scuba dives and has wet suit, but what were the odds I could contact him and that he would available? We could lay a ladder across the ice. At least if the ice broke, the person would have something to hold onto. Not a great option. Jonathan fell through thin ice once, and it was not something I ever wanted to see again.

So, I called Mike, who is normally home on Fridays, but had to give a special presentation this morning. No answer, of course. A few minutes later, the phone rang. Mike was done with his presentation and noticed the missed call on his phone. I explained the situation to him, and he suggested that we use the tree trimmer (with a 12-foot long handle) to attempt to cut the baling twine. Being the safest option we had, Jonathan and I decided to go with it.

I stayed in the house because we were expecting someone to arrive at any minute, and I needed to be available to open the gate for her. Jonathan had no trouble hooking the c-shaped blade under the baling twine. Cutting it was a challenge. Just as I realized that the tree trimmer was not going to cut the baling twine, the gate intercom dinged. I hit the remote opener, grabbed a pair of scissors, and ran out the door. Before I could get to the pond, Jonathan had caught the goose and untangled the baling twine from her wing. He said she had a small cut on her wing, but otherwise seemed okay. She immediately ran to to rejoin her flock.

When things like this happen, it reminds me that when you share your life with animals, you have to know that if anything can happen, it will. Mike had used that baling twine to lower the aerator into the pond. He's made a loop on the end, which is what the goose's wing caught. The odds are probably several million to one that a goose would be diving in just the perfect spot to catch that loop. But odds mean nothing if you're the one. I'm glad that we were able to save the goose, and Mike is already trying to figure out how he can retrieve that baling twine and cut off the loop, so that this doesn't happen again.

Insanely busy, fun weekend

Before I could even begin to write today's post, I had to just sit and think. I'm sitting at the dining room table and watching the geese on the pond. It looks so effortless and relaxing the way they seem to just float across the water. If you think about it though, you know that they're paddling their feet underneath. But that's what geese do. It's in their nature to be paddling gracefully across the pond. By contrast, they look clumsy and awkward on dry land.

People sometimes tell me that I make my lifestyle look easy. I always laugh. It's not easy, but I love what I'm doing -- just like those geese. The past three days are a perfect example. They're a bit of a blur. Every moment was packed, except when I was sleeping, and I only had four hours of sleep Friday night!

On Friday, an aspiring apprentice took the train from Chicago to spend a day with us, seeing what we do and deciding if this is really what she wants to do next spring as an independent study for five weeks in April and May. While she was here, we had to go about our daily chores, which included (on that day) breeding goats and trying to stop the sheep from breeding. We had to catch the rams to relocate them 1/4 mile away from the ewes so that I don't wind up with a flock of unregisterable lambs next spring.

On Friday, our new milking machine arrived. We generally milk no more than 10 goats at a time, because that's about all that our daughters can handle, and I can only do about four at a sitting before my hands feel like they're going to fall off. (I know I'm a wimp!) So, after seven years of hand milking, we finally decided to take the plunge and get a two-goat milker. With everything else going on, we only had a few minutes to unpack it and give it a cursory look. When Mike's Thanksgiving break starts on Wednesday, it's going out to the barn, and we'll figure out what kind of adjustments we need to make in order to start using it.

Saturday began at 3 a.m. as Mike and I headed down to Arthur with our paltry nine turkeys that we raised this year. It's the smallest number of turkeys we've raised since -- well, ever! (You can read more about our turkey hatching woes here and turkey-coyote woes here.) Anyway, we arrived at the poultry processing facility at 6:30ish and were able to unload immediately, which was great because our day was just beginning!

After a quick breakfast at Yoder's, we headed back up I-57 to Champaign to attend U of I's Organic Gardening Day. I was worried about being able to stay awake with only four hours of sleep, but it was not a problem. (Adrenaline is a wonderful thing.) After 20 years of struggling with gardening, I've finally decided that trial and error isn't always the most expedient way to learn things. (Yeah, I can be a slow learner sometimes.) So, when a friend told me about this workshop, I figured out how to make it work (after briefly whining about it being on our turkey processing day). I have a lot of info that I can't wait to share with you, but it will have to be spread out over the next week or two.

Yesterday, Mike and I delivered turkeys and took home Sarah, our wonderful apprentice, whose three weeks was already over. This was the first year that I helped deliver turkeys, and it was fun to finally meet some of our customers (very few compared to previous years). It was sad saying bye to Sarah however. She's been an awesome apprentice, and after about the third time yesterday that I said, "I miss Sarah," Mike joked, "If you're going to get this attached to interns, you can't have any more." I put on my best toddler-pouting face, and he laughed.

It's very quiet around here today. I can hear the ticking of the clock on the wall. It's just me, because Mike and Katherine are at school. Jonathan is spending a week at his grandparent's helping take care of his grandfather who has Alzheimer's. Margaret will be arriving home from U of I tomorrow, and I can hardly wait to see her. Although I have to teach tomorrow, I need to get started with my Thanksgiving cooking. I have a cranberry sauce recipe that says you can make it up to a week ahead of time, and I need to bake my pumpkin cookies. I need to make a batch of chevre today, so we can use that for chocolate truffles and a pumpkin cheesecake. Life isn't slowing down any time in the foreseeable future, but I love it -- and that's the important thing, right?

Time for ducklings

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I've been worried about not seeing three of our ducks for a month now. I've been hoping that they were setting, rather than being digested in a coyote's stomach. Thursday night, we were eating dinner on the deck, which overlooks the pond, and I shrieked, "Ducks!" and pointed towards the edge of the pond near the chicken house. Mike thought something was wrong, but I quickly corrected myself by adding, "Baby ducks!"

We now have six ducks again, and they have seven ducklings following them. I have no idea which ducklings belong to which ducks, but it doesn't really matter anyway. One thing I've learned about domesticated ducks and geese is that they fully support the idea of a village raising a child.

On a sadder note, the mama goose has finally given up. There is only one egg left on her nest. At least she is not injured. Perhaps in the goose world, she is considered a less-than-adequate mother, but I'm glad she ran when the coyote kept coming back to her nest. The last poor goose stood up to the coyote three years in a row. She was badly injured the first two years, and this year, she was eaten.

I shouldn't get too excited about the ducklings, however, because there is a giant snapping turtle in the pond, and she eats all the ducklings that swim out there. Trying to keep ducklings out of a pond is not an easy task. Two years ago, Margaret and I tried to catch ducklings. After an hour of running around, I wound up with heat exhaustion. It is not an experience I want to repeat. Unfortunately, we really didn't learn much from the experience, so I'm not terribly optimistic about our chances of trying to help.

Here we go again

The coyotes are back. A goose was sitting on a nest next to our house, and she's gone. Her 18 eggs have been completely chilled, so the little goslings-to-be have perished. Jonathan found her head, neck, and a few feathers and bones in the woods, several hundred feet from the house. It had to be a coyote, as a raccoon couldn't carry a goose that far. Well, it doesn't have to be a coyote, but I'd prefer that to a wolf or mountain lion.

This was our last purebred female buff goose. We have three buff ganders, but they can't do much on their own. The rest of the geese are either embdens or crosses. This is terribly disappointing, since the guard dog has been sleeping on the front porch most nights. The llamas are in the pastures with the sheep and goats.

I started to get upset with us, thinking the attack could have been prevented if we'd finished that fence around the pond last fall, but last week, Katherine saw two coyotes across the road jump a fence with the ease of a deer. We will finish the fence, of course, but I am starting to think that I will just have to accept coyote losses as a normal part of life out here. Resignation is not my strong suit.

Busy morning

It's been a busy few hours, and I'm about to shower so I can go to the city an hour away for shopping. I need to get goat feed, some large quantities of sharp white cheddar, as well as a few other vegetables that we don't have at the moment, like onions and potatoes. Mike and I have decided to try our hand at making hard cheese again, but cheddar has to age, so we'll be buying it for several more months.

This morning, I made chevre (soft goat cheese), then I thinned the lettuces and had enough baby bronze romaine to make large salads for the three of us that are home today. I also picked radishes for our salads. Then I sorted several pounds of kidney beans, rinsed them, and started soaking them. Tomorrow I'll be using them for kidney bean spread with our green onions for lunch, as well as a dinner casserole. After lunch, I cut a basket full of fresh mint and laid it out to dry in the oven -- with a big purple post-it note that says "Do not use!" stuck to the oven control pad. I only put it in the oven so it is out of the way and won't get dusty. I'm looking forward to mint tea. I'm also thinking that I will get some apple juice today, so I can use it to make mint jelly. I'll need to cut more fresh mint for that.

After he weeded the garden, Mike butchered a rooster that will make chicken and dumplings in a couple days. The rooster has been going across the road to the newly-planted cornfield, and the farmer is mad about it. He's also mad about the geese, but we're not butchering all of them. We have to figure out a fencing system to keep them over here. We also need to keep them safe from coyotes, which come across the creek from the south -- the field is to the north -- so the fence issue will have to be addressed soon.

Coyote attacks

It was about 10:00 this morning. I was sitting at the table talking to my friend from grad school who will be moving back to Denmark next week. I was chatting and casually looking out across the pond when I saw the geese collectively rise and head to the pond with wings flapping. A brown coyote came leaping over the tall grass snapping at the adult geese. When his front feet hit the water, and he still did not have a goose, he turned and started snapping at the goslings who were still on dry land. From the moment I saw him, I started screaming, "Coyote! The geese! There's a coyote attacking the geese!" I went running onto the deck, still screaming, calling the coyote a few not-so-nice names. Katherine jumped off the deck about the time the coyote grabbed a gosling. He kept snapping, and it looked like he grabbed two of them, but I didn't think he'd be that ambitious. Mike came running out of the basement, asking where's the coyote. I told him it had taken off behind the pond. "Katherine's going after him!" Mike ran after Katherine.

I counted the goslings on the pond. Four. I counted again. Four. A few minutes later when Mike reappeared behind the pond, I yelled at him to count them. He counted four. There were six before the attack, so the coyote did grab two goslings. Mike came limping back to the deck. When he stepped up, I noticed he had lost a slipper somewhere in the grass as he was running. Later I learned that Katherine had taken off barefoot. She didn't come back for more than half an hour. She was determined (as usual) to at least get some answers. She thinks the coyote ran east; the humans ran south. I think the coyote ran west because that's the direction that Porter, the English shepherd, ran. I think his nose is better than our eyes.

Last week, we lost a turkey hen who was sitting on eggs. She seemed to have a nice secluded spot. It was under a fallen tree with lots of branches and tall grass around her. It was difficult for me to find her nest, but I don't have a coyote's nose. When I was coming home one day, I saw turkey feathers scattered on the unplanted corn field across the road. After parking the car, I walked to the place where the turkey had her nest. She was gone. There was nothing left but a pile of feathers, broken egg shells, and three cold, unbroken eggs.

If there can be any consolation, it would be that at least the goslings died quickly as the coyote crushed them. The turkey hen's fate was probably much worse. From seeing coyotes in action, we've learned that if they feel safe, coyotes will grab a bird, hold it down, and start to pull out the feathers while the bird is still alive. That's why there was a huge pile of feathers next to the turkey's nest.

It's unlikely that we'll have any home-hatched turkeys this year. A bourbon red hen had been faithfully sitting on eggs until the last day or two. They're not fertile. One exploded. Yes, it stinks horribly. Maybe the turkey hen also thinks it stinks. Maybe that's nature's way of telling her that it's time to give up and move on.

The coyote is definitely a problem. Now that he thinks he has discovered a wonderful buffet of poultry and water fowl, I doubt he'll want to move on. Last fall, we'd lost six lambs before we decided to have someone sleep in the pasture for more than a month. That was the only thing that got them to move on. The gosling attack was in daylight though. I'm not sure what we're going to do.

Four daddies

Before breakfast, I was in the barn having a talk with Coco about the importance of her giving birth to her kids, rather than keeping them inside forever, and Mike walked in to inform me that we had goslings! Our year-old goose hatched her first gaggle of geese, and they have four daddies.

When I walked out of the barn, I saw the four ganders standing next to the door of the coop where the goose has been setting. The first gosling was standing in the doorway, and a couple more were standing behind it. About half an hour later, seven of the goslings had made their way outside the coop, and the mama goose was standing with them. A eighth gosling was being left behind. When the goose family had traveled about 10 feet away from the coop, Katherine picked up the one left inside and set it down near the others. It flopped on its belly. It's legs stuck out to the side, and it tried again to move forward, but it sort of hopped and flopped. As slowly as the other geese were moving, it wasn't slow enough for Number Eight. Regular blog readers have probably already guessed that #8 is now living in Katherine's bedroom. At two-hours old, he still wasn't standing, so it will be interesting to see how he develops.
I ate my bowl of cereal this morning sitting on the deck, watching the mama goose, the four daddies, and the seven goslings slowly make their way around the yard near the pond. The mama was easy to recognize -- she was the one gobbling grass. Sitting on eggs for four weeks has to be as exhausting as giving birth, perhaps more exhausting, since she hardly eats for all that time. Yes, of course, she does eat, but she only leaves the nest once a day to grab a quick bite and then get back to her eggs before they cool off. The most beautiful part of the whole picture was watching the four daddies, standing as sentinels around the goslings as they explored their new world.

Near miss -- and a loss

Last night I was in the basement when I heard a screeching bird. I wasn't even sure which type of bird -- chicken or turkey? I didn't think it was a duck or a goose though. It was definitely a bad sound, but I knew that by the time I got up the stairs and out the door, everything would be over. Luckily Katherine was closer to the situation.

It appears there was a scuffle in front of the barn. There were turkey feathers on the ground, and there was a very upset turkey hen sitting on the fence with only three tail feathers that looked "slobbery," according to Katherine. She also said there was a goose stuck in the fence. As she was freeing the goose, she saw something out of the corner of her eye run into the woods. I don't know what spooked it and caused it to give up on its turkey dinner, but I'm glad it decided to move on.

Two weeks ago, another goose wasn't so lucky. I was eating my breakfast, looking out the window at the pond, loving my idyllic view. Then in the glass of my china cabinet, I saw a reflection of something large and brown struggling with something white. I jumped up and ran to the dining room door in time to see a coyote dragging off a goose. I threw open the door and started screaming. I heard a scream coming from an upstairs window, and a moment later, Katherine was on the deck with me. She informed me that she was going after it. Mike and I have both tried to track coyotes with prey and have had no luck, so it seemed pointless to me. I felt defeated.

After 15 or 20 minutes, Katherine emerged from the woods carrying the goose. It was easy to tell that it was quite dead. Its long neck was hanging down from her arms. I wasn't sure if I was happy or not. The goose was dead, and there was still a hungry coyote in the woods.

Goslings hatched

Friday when we were running around getting ready for Saturday's goat show and Sunday's party, I noticed 2/3 of an egg shell near the goose that has been setting. Thursday, I had said to my husband, "When are those eggs going to hatch? It seems like she's been setting forever!" Then I added, "You know, when I say that, they usually hatch the next day." Sure enough, Friday, I saw the broken egg shell.

Saturday she got off the nest, and three little goslings followed. She left behind four unhatched eggs. They have been going down to the pond, which is scary for us because there are snapping turtles in there, and we've never been able to raise any ducklings as a result. Somehow, the Canada geese don't have a problem. Perhaps the babies are too big for the turtle to eat, or maybe they have just been lucky. The whole gaggle of geese are always surrounding the babies, which makes it hard to see the babies unless you're in a good position. I guess it takes a gaggle to raise a gosling.

Geese take on the world!

Did anyone out there in the blogosphere know that geese love tree bark -- especially the tree bark of newly planted fruit trees? [cue primal scream] Yes, the geese are chewing the bark off the fruit trees we recently planted. The little stinkers also ripped up my watermelon seedings through the floating row covers that I put over them to protect them from the insects (which I thought would be their only predators). The only goose (female) of the five (yes, four are ganders) laid another seven eggs and is now setting again. I was happy about this a week ago, but now I am wondering why I want more geese!

No goslings or ducklings this year

I can't believe I haven't posted for two weeks. I frequently think about what I want to write, but I am so busy with the farm and grad school that I can't seem to find the time. Plus, I frequently think that I'll wait until I have pictures to go with the post, and I never get around to the pictures, so nothing gets posted.

There is really no picture that needs to be posted with this sad news though. A couple days ago, Katherine called me on my cell phone to tell me that the buff goose was walking around looking very beaten up, and her nest had only one egg left in it. She started setting on Friday, April 6, so her eggs would have hatched at the end of this week. She had 17. As "they" say, don't count your chickens before they hatch. The same obviously goes for goslings. We are, of course, very sad. We were looking forward to seeing our first buff goslings. They are very rare, and we were hoping to add to their numbers.

As it turns out, we have four ganders and one goose. We really need to butcher some of these ganders, because they are now driving the poor girl crazy. She was swimming and screaming like crazy yesterday. The poor girl just lost her whole nest on Friday, and by Sunday, the ganders are chasing her like a bunch of gigolos. Considering how rare these geese are, you would think they would sell them in sexed pairs, rather than just letting you play the odds. Somewhere out there, someone got more girls than boys. Hopefully they at least got one boy to go with their girls. I know how sad that is -- our goose Lucy sat on infertile eggs that we knew would never hatch after Ricky the gander died.

To make matters even worse, we are now down to only one duck. We had four, but something happened to them. I think that somewhere in the woods is a coyote who is getting very fat! A couple weeks ago, when I first got out of bed, I was looking out the window. I had only been awake for a few minutes, and I didn't think my eyes were working right, but I saw something moving behind the pond -- too small to be a deer and too large to be a raccoon. Finally, I realized it was a coyote, and he had one of our chickens. Mike shot at him, but missed, of course. The coyote dropped the chicken and ran into the woods. Katherine went running out there and picked up the poor hen that was still alive. He hadn't quite killed her yet, but Katherine said it looked like he was plucking her feathers off. The hen died in Katherine's arms before she had walked very far.