Sebastopol Geese

I have eleven geese now. That’s about nine too many. I think I have 4 pairs, and 3 extra males. I need to get out there and seperate them into breeding/nesting areas and sell the extras. They interfere with each other, and most of the other animals here. If the Muscovies try to breed, the geese run over and disrupt them. Yelling and pecking and pulling the drake off the hen. They have tried to do that with the turkeys, too, but I think the turkeys fought back.

Update 3/15/08: Well, I HAD eleven geese, now I have ten. I don't know what happened to the other. Coyote? Drive-by? hmmm. I was also incorrect on who was what. I have three males and seven females, very nice! As of today six females are setting and one has just started laying. I also have lots of eggs in the incubator. Can't wait to see how that turns out.

Update 4/19/08: Well, the lots of eggs in the incubator didn't survive being out in the cold garage with freezing temperatures. The geese setting in the barn managed to hatch out four goslings, which I promptly sold. They kept trying to share nests, and the eggs managed to get broken or weren't kept at an even temperature, so they didn't hatch. Now I need to clean out the stinky geese nests and see if they will try it again. This time, the incubator will be inside the warm house.

Muscovy Ducks

I like the Muscovy duck. They are a beautiful duck to look at, once you get past that red caruncling they have on their head They have pleasing personalities and it is interesting to watch them interact with each other. They are very quiet and not nearly as messy as they could be, and can be quite prolific with the ducklings! They like to perch on the fence or fence posts. They fly very well, especially the hens. They also taste very good! I have a problem eating a nice bird, though. It’s easier to just sell it than utilize it for what I bred it for. If they were mean and nasty, we’d be eating them every day! I need to get better at harvesting my duck crop.