Autumn is prime feather poof time for my Sebastopol geese.
Here's my favorite girly-girl "Souffle".
Ms. Fluffy Butt
You can't get any prettier than that !!!!!!
Julie =0)
now that is gorgous!!!
She's absolutely flawless, CR. I just love her!
how come she is fluffy is she the duck version of a silkie chicken
She's a goose, not a duck and I guess you could say she's the waterfowl version of a Silkie chicken. Their unique feather mutation makes the feathers on their body soft and spiral down like ribbons and streamers.
When they molt once a year, usually late summer then get their new feathers in they are quite dramatic looking, but with wear and tear, some of the longer feathers fall out and they might look more like this Spring - Summer.
Some retain their long feathers longer than others.
My gander holds his for a long time, a trait I hope he passes on to his offspring.
Heres a pic of the same the same goose after her long feathers have fallen out.
This message was edited Oct 24, 2007 9:47 AM
Wow, they are absolutely BEAUTIFUL. How many do you have?
I have 9.
You can see more on my website...
http://www.freewebs.com/cottage_rose_birdsnblossoms/
Check out your website. What great photo's. Your geese are absolutely gorgeous. Thanks for sharing them.
oh they look realy cute do they need as much water as ducks do
Lucky
All waterfowl needs lots of water.
Never-the-less one doesn't need a pond.
I use small plastic kiddy pools for mine which I fill up daily with fresh water. I also have buckets of water in the barn where they get closed in every night to protect them from predators. Their feeders are in the barn so they have to have water in there too since waterfowl need water to help shallow thier food.
Heres 3 young Sebastopols enjoying their pool...
rose, enjoying your view again ;-) my dh said i couldn't have theses because of neighbor dogs... but i WILL keep on dreamin! thanks for sharing...
tf
TF some electric fence would keep those dogs out.
Glad you enjoyed the goosies. ;o)
yes, except we don't have a driveway gate. at the rate we are going it will take a few years to get all our property cleared & fenced, then some kind of gate that my elderly mom could handle. i would LOVE the electronet style fencing!
my husband has some time between jobs, so he has been waiting outside the first half of the day for them to come back, then they won't be coming again...
You could just have a pen for your geese...you wouldn't need your whole property fenced in. When you are home you could let them free range.
Geese can be taught to herd real easy so you could move them back into pens at night or when you are gone to protect from predators.
You can get elec. poultry fencing which is portable so you can move around. Premier Fencing is one online source
Hope your hubby gets those dogs.
Some people are just so irresponsible with their pets.
Our neighbors untrained idiot dog killed one of our chickens.
We called animal control on them and we haven't had anymore problems but that dog is just another accident waiting to happen.
Next time we won't be so kind.
we are in the county, and the sheriffs just remind us of the law, that we can shoot them. you gotta catch them first, and they always seem to come by when we are gone. we did catch them on video once, when i was plucking the duck they killed for us to eat [they just catch them, lay on them, breeak their necks and leave them for dead], i saw them going in and out of the coop. nearly killed my last breeding rooster! he was injured and in shock for a few days.
i try to use these situations to teach my children that it isn't about a good or bad dog, just whether or not the owner is being responsbile. then remind them that it would be irresponsible of us to get an animal that we couldn't properly care for.
almost got a guard dog a couple months ago, it was a dutch farm breed, and at the pound. but it was bad timing for us to go drive a hundred miles just to look at it. i hope someone else took her, as her time was extended twice, the max.
i know i will have some of those beauties one day. meanwhile we are enjoying the white chinese and white embdens that were given to us. we ate the brown chinese for turkey day since we didn't have any turkeys of our own LOL wonderful with potato stuffing.
thank you rose!
tf
What a beautiful goose! I have never seen one before. *repeats* I do not need more animals, I do not need more animals...
hubby is already rolling his eyes at me, as we go to look at some peafowl last night. I have my chickens (of which I'm ordering even more in the spring *grin*) will probably be getting 3 peafowl....and then I want some guineas, maybe a couple ducks, and some turkeys that I will get in June/July.
those are beautiful photos on your web site! Did you take them all?
i definitely want some of those fluffy geese :-)
i have 3 white geese & 2 gray and they are just so funny....one of them will follow me around & even tap my shoulder if i haven't paid him any/enough attention
TF
Livestock guard dogs are always a great option.
They do bark a lot though...there way of letting others know its their turf.
I highly agree ...there are no bad dogs only bad owners.
B.Brahma...I know what you mean ;o)
I've seemed to of gotten a grip on impulse buys in my maturity
but there was a time when I had a lot more critters.
Beth D.
Yes those are all my photos...glad you enjoyed them! :o)
Quote Larlienda: "one of them will follow me around & even tap my shoulder if i haven't paid him any/enough attention"
That must be an awful TALL goose at got there! ;o)
oh Rose. would you PLEASE start a thread on muscovies? we have lost a young drake & young duck to the neighbors puppy, but we have our mama duck to thank for hatching out one buckeye chick!