Hi, everyone!
This Spring weather has been insane! I moved to Florida when I was 6 years old and I just loath the cold. I understand it is much more bone chilling elsewhere in the country, but I just can’t.
So naturally, being the wimp to cold that I am, I was pretty worried about our first time mama geese. I was initially unsure if they would even go broody to begin with, but they did. I wasn’t sure if they could actually keep their nests warm enough to hatch though. One day it was 80 out, the next day was 60. I understand that it is colder other places. I also understand that geese still hatch eggs in colder weather than ours. I couldn’t shake the Floridian feeling though. I mean, I bring a sweater to Disney World in the summertime because I freeze inside shops and restaurants (don’t judge me).
My husband, who moved to Florida at a much older age than I, laughed at me. It was uncalled for. Rude.
Anyhow, after being ridiculed for voicing my uncertainty, I came home from work and heard that glorious gosling beep! My excitement was soon followed by panic because I knew hearing any baby animal from this distance was a cry for help. I ran to the back of the property and nearly died laughing. This teeny tiny gosling, it appears, imprinted on one of our goat kids. The kid was completely unaware and just kept running and playing around. Whenever this gosling came near one of our ducks, the ducks would run in terror. Papa goose, from afar, just kept watching. He was being such a good daddy (the fathers aid in rasing the babies). I have seen this goose pick up our largest rooster and throw him. He is the sweetest goose towards humans food givers, but he protects his whole flock of geese and ducks. Unless he’s being fed. Then he’s like What flock?
I went to grab this little guy, thankful Goofy (our male) didn’t mind me handling his son. I brought the little one back to the females. They hissed at me. I told them to cut it out. Then I noticed a sister hiding with the females. Two goslings when I expected none. I was happy and excited. Geese are some of my favorite animals.
We have only ever hatched young from an incubator. So, I was like a paranoid first time mother, checking on this nest every couple of hours. I couldn’t help it. I wasn’t ready to see how well my geese trusted me with touching the goslings, but we do have a pond. Believe it or not, ducklings and goslings do drown. Watching it is terrifying and I’ve seen people watch it unaware that it’s happening. They are babies and they do get tired. If they don’t know how to escape the water, they drown. If the water is cold enough, their bodies stop working almost instantly. One year, we had ducklings find the pond in 60 degree weather. I watched one duckling just stop and start floating around the pond like a dead body, calling for help as best as she could. I scooped her out and put her in the lid of a small cardboard box. I boiled water and put two mugs of hot water beside her and made a tent out of a dish towel. At this moment, she wasn’t making any noise. After thirty minutes, I heard her chirping. I gave her some food and a little bit of cayenne in water. Within two hours she was up and escaping from her heat tent, so I returned her to her brothers and sisters.
My side story has a point. I promise. Because the day after our goslings hatched, I came home and the boy was missing again. I found him in an area our goat kids often play in and his neck was caught in the fence. He wasn’t moving and I was certain he was dead. Upon closer inspection I saw he was breathing, trying to call out, but no noise could be produced. I initially thought it was because he was caught in the fence. But he was breathing without struggle. I was still certain there was a neck injury. My husband got the gosling out and told me the neck actually looked fine. Holding the gosling, he informed me boy was very cold. I recreated the same heat tent and within 45 minutes, he was beeping and moving his head. No apparent neck injury. I told my husband we have to bring them in. I wasn’t risking losing them while at work, knowing I may still lose the one fighting for his life.
We set up a heat lamp and brooder in the barn. We put the male in and I put gloves on and went to fetch his sister. The female geese nipped at me, but the gloves helped. They stopped biting when they realized it wasn’t doing much good and I was taking the baby anyway. Goofy, our male, didn’t even hiss at me. I brought the girl in to be with her brother. Within two hours, both were up and happy. We are very thankful.
It’s certainly never a dull day. We were exhausted ourselves when everything was said and done. The most common response I get when I replay these stories out loud with people is, “I don’t know how you can deal with all this.”
I would never willingly give up this lifestyle.
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