Mother Goose....?

Following the attempt to move the ducklings to the pond only to have them return within 24 hours they were loaded up (this is quite a job as they aren't easy to catch unless corralled in a small area, their nails - yes, they have nails - are extremely sharp, there's usually mud to be splashed all over you, and Guinevere is honking at you for disturbing her babies) into the ranger, driven to the pier, loaded onto the boat, and placed into the duck house... once again. There was a big difference this trip though. Guinevere. I figured since they were so attached to her I'd take her along to see if that would keep them at the pond. Well.... 

Success! Apparently, they needed their Mother Goose. After a while they tested out the water and Guinevere kept them close and mostly in the duck house. Here, over a week later, they're still in the duck house! I imagine as their feathers grow in they'll be all over the pond! I miss Guinevere in the yard but she's happy mothering her ducklings so I'm happy for her!

~~~~~~~~~~ And, for the rest of the story ~~~~~~~~~

After a couple of days, while taking some feed out to them, I noticed something not quite right with Guinevere. Upon further inspection I diagnosed, as feared, a prolapsed cloaca. This means part of her uterus had come out of her - like a hernia. I knew what to do but decided to research a bit before bringing her in. Reinsertion was easy but it refused to stay. After calling all the vets around (because she is my pet goose!) I finally found one that would see her but not until Monday. 

Guinevere spent the weekend in the house sleeping on the sofa covered with towels and in a kennel at night. And, all this with family visiting! 

Never know what'll be going on at the ranch while you're here! 

Monday morning found us in Hawkins, Texas with an exotic animal vet who very nicely told me my diagnosis was correct and properly treated. She also informed me that Guinevere had a prolapsed phallus rather than a cloaca............. 

Um... well....... so that's why it looked a bit different from the online photos. 

Amputation of the tip was the treatment decided on. Okay, you may be cringing at this but unlike humans and other mammals nothing flows through their phallus but rather spirals around the outside of it ~ COOL, huh?! I have no idea if other species do this but apparently geese do. Anyway, surgery it was...

Guinevere was a very good patient!

Very sleepy afterwards...

And, back home, sleeping in her his spot :)

It's still sinking in that Guinevere is a boy. I picked out a girl Pilgrim goose and the markings confirm that. Mostly. I'd been wondering about the stripe down the back of her his neck. I did further research and finally figured out that he is a Chinese brown goose rather than a Pilgrim. That explains some things. Sigh.... buying hatchery stock isn't always what it's quacked up to be! (It was funny and you know it. Laugh! At least smile!) The Chinese goose is descended from the wild swan and that's why he holds his longer neck so upright. I'm just happy he's back to his healthy sweet self. The vet mentioned no babies multiple times. I think she missed the fact he is the only goose at the ranch. 

Guinevere went back outside yesterday. He's in the yard hanging with the flock. I half expected him to walk to the pond but I guess he's happy here. After his antibiotics are done I may take him to the pond once in a while because he's pretty when he swims. For now he gets to enjoy the little blue plastic kiddie pool.

As for his name... It may stay Guinevere. I really like Guinevere. He answers to Guinevere. And, I haven't come up with something to change it to.... yet.

Ducklings

This really cool structure is the new duck house. One more can of spray paint and it'll be finished, a fun sunny yellow! Michael has repeatedly taken my plans and made them real. Isn't he wonderful?! It's got a sturdy wire bottom to safely support the ducklings as they grow while allowing waste to easily fall through yet not harm their webbed feet. The trellis sides allow a breeze to blow through while they're protected from the heat of the sun with a sturdy roof. Artificial grass covers the ramp for traction while a pool noodle under the end keeps it afloat.

Not quite sure what to think about their new digs. Clippings from the yard were added for comfort.

Close up shot:

~~~~~~~

This morning....

Two babies, a Muscovy and a Rouen drake, braved venturing down the ramp and swam to the bank shortly before I arrived to feed them this morning. They were still preening and shaking off all the water as I drove up. While in the duck house...

...the rest were still hanging out wondering what to do next and how to get over to the other two!

Later this morning...

...they were found back together again at the end of the pier. 

Watching from afar I could see they spent most of the day on the grass at the edge of the walkway to the pier.

Until I looked out and saw...

...a gaggle of ducks slowly making their way up the drive...

...across the front yard and around the house...

...to be reunited with... Guinevere, who thoroughly inspected them...

...and lead them to a meal of chicken feed before bedtime. 

They filed right back into their run when they heard the hose filling the water bowl.

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Wonder if it'll ever get used again...

Somebody's a new father....

I regularly monitor nest boxes, a martin house, and various nests built around our structures. We've had bluebirds in the nest boxes, rough winged swallows in the martin house (after the martins moved on without nesting), bluebirds and barn swallows at the shop, barn swallows at the pier, pigeons at the barn, a Carolina wren in the goat's hay bag in their shed, barn swallows and eastern phoebes under eaves of the house, and even a couple of blue jays that fledged a bit too early in the yard.

Can't imagine the bug population if we didn't have all of these wonderful bug devouring fowl!

Now if I could just have a cardinal and mockingbird nest close by :)

There have been abandoned nests, abandoned eggs, babies kicked out due to health and brood parasites (like a cow bird, although I've not seen any), and babies fledging too soon. It's a tough life for these birds but I don't interfere. I just enjoy what I can and record what I can on nestwatch.org 

Today these four babies hatched and are waiting on the fifth making some bluebirds new parents. I added the one photo because it held its head up for food and looked cute :) I attempt to get photos regularly but I often miss them. Enjoy!

Happy Father's Day!

Another delayed introduction...

Back in the middle of March I was in town to close on our old house and finish moving the remainder of our furniture. Thanks to Westley's grandma I discovered a miniature breed of goat I hadn't heard of. You guessed right ~  I brought one home!

Hello.

My name is Inigo.

Be prepared to fall in love.

Inigo was quite shy at first. It wasn't long before he found his place in the herd and is very sweet. A Mini-Silky has the myotonic gene which means he is a "fainting" goat but that does not mean he will faint. As of yet he hasn't and I don't really think he will. He has a long silky coat that could get quite long as he gets older and he'll be just taller than Westley and Buttercup. Food is his main interest :)

Hazel follows to watch over the morning routine in the goat pen.

Just to the right of Inigo you can catch a glimpse of Lou, the tribe's rooster. He waits at the gate watching for the goats to return from their morning walk. Lou takes his job 

as guardian over his tribe of 3 goats, 2 hens, and himself very seriously. We've seen him alert both the girls and goats to a food source and he frequently herds them into the shed. 

Took him a while but Inigo finally decided being up high on the stumps was fun!

Everybody looks forward to breakfast ~ even Cocobunny joined in for her share.

Fallen fresh pine needles are a nice treat enjoyed by all.

Buttercup, Westley, and Inigo playing games in the evening before dinner.

Guinevere and then some....

I know. Guinevere isn't thrilled that I didn't post anything right away and then it's taken me almost 14 weeks to finally blog about her.... Maybe that's why she's so independent.

I've been wanting a goose for a while now. I didn't want two or more, just one. They can be aggressive, especially a pair in the spring. When you only have one it sees you as it's mama, or at the very least part of it's flock. I wanted a girl and the Pilgrim Goose is the only breed that is auto-sexed, which means you can tell at hatching whether it is male or female. You can tell because they are different colors. Guinevere is a Pilgrim Goose. She was just the cutest fluff ball at 2 days old. Rachel was convinced she didn't have anything under that fluff :)

She spent a lot of time in my lap....

Going for rides....

Being protected by Tucker...

And, playtime in the water!!!

Ducks and geese produce an oil that is distributed over their feathers as they preen themselves which helps them float. Mamas provide this for them because as -lings they don't produce this oil until their feathers are fully grown. So, when raised without their natural mama they cannot be allowed to have water deep enough to swim in unsupervised. They have so much fun in water they will get water logged and drown. Guinevere definitely likes her water time! There are snips of grass and clover in there for her to eat as she plays. 

Outside in the sunny weather is super fun! And, boy had she grown at this stage!

We also have 4 turkeys, 3 of which are toms. I guess males were in abundance this year (or I'm a male magnet LOL) since that's what everything seems to be when they have matured at our place. We'll be getting a few more soon hoping they'll be girls and having two bloodlines will be good for production. This little fella is about 4 weeks old. 

Here's Guinevere watching Tom show off to another turkey. He's the largest so far. Jerry has been rather sickly so he might be culled, but there's another tom to take his name :)  These are Red Bourbon turkeys and will be a very pretty reddish brown with white trim when grown... I hope to get a couple of Royal Palms, a smaller black and white turkey with very good meat.

Then we have Bobwhite quail. These won't be for eating. They're just for fun. We got 50 ~ will release half and keep half hoping they'll reproduce more for release. We love their sounds. This photo shows them at about 2 weeks old. They're now 6 weeks old so I guess release day is quickly coming up!

And, ducks, of course! These are Rouens ~ they will look like overstuffed Mallards. We ended up with 5 little boys and 2 girls. Gotta find somebody with some girls... 

After moving them outdoors Guinevere was super excited to take over duck duty. Sadly, within the first hour she'd drowned one so she was then only allowed to observe from outside their run for the next few weeks. The smaller ducks, Muscovies, were added about a week later.

Michael has been working on transforming an ugly structure in the middle of the pond (the previous owners had plans to put in a fountain) into a shelter for them. Should be done this weekend. Of course, they don't have enough feathers yet but it shouldn't be too long before they'll be able to call the pond their home! The shelter is really only to provide them with extra shade since they'll only have the tall growth along the banks, the pier, and their shelter. We've planted trees around the pond and have plans for more but if I waited for those to grow I'd never have ducks!!

Okay, last photo. It has nothing to do with Guinevere but... I've been tagged or had the chicken swing video posted on my timeline countless times by very sweet friends. I'd like y'all to know our chickens now have their very own all natural swing! It's a blurry photo but it's proof they use it. And. love it! I'm hoping to get more perches put up outside their coop for them.

That's it for now. I hope you like the photos! Until next time...

Weeding and Losses

(Written yesterday. Internet troubles - a common issue out here - so read it as if it's still yesterday)

I went out this afternoon to check on the flock and found myself pulling up grass and weeds from the beds around the koi pond. I discovered that five elephant ears I'd about given up on had finally pushed up above the sand to grow. I didn't pull up much but it gave me a few moments to reflect on the past week or so. I really have nothing to complain about. We have been so blessed and are so very thankful to our mighty God for those blessings. Still, it's been a rough week.

I had started the promised continuation on the growing chicken flock and how they have kept me busy the past 4-5 months. Last night I found myself adding a photo of a chick but decided to go to bed and finish today. You see, we lost him last night. Along with another young chicken. He was such a pretty fella and rather personable. His name was Peanut.

He and an unnamed barred rock were found dead as we were putting everybody to bed for the night. I'd found another sudden unexplained dead chicken a couple of weeks back so this wasn't new but two? Well, I wasn't looking forward to going out this morning. 

Two more lying there like they'd just laid down to rest, dead. Nobody seemed eager to eat, run, chatter... nothing. A few wandered out to find a spot to hang for a while. I made sure they all had food and water, attempted to entice a few to eat or drink. I came back in almost ready to give in to defeat. I'd wait it out and clean up after... Sigh... 

Skipping quiet a few details - I'd connected with a sweet lady online and the thought did occur to me that she and I could be friends if we lived closer. I sent a text to inform her of a change in plans and why. She replied and I told her a few more details. She replied again and while replying to her reply (Lost yet? LOL!) I hit the call button. Much easier! After a 45 minute call I was encouraged, had a plan, and definitely a new friend! 

Say what you will about Facebook... It drives me crazy too! I waste plenty of time on it as well. It aggravates me, irritates me, overwhelms me with the needs people post. Yet, I have found family I haven't seen in years, some I've never met, old friends from high school, friends from some of the previous places we've lived, and made quite a few new friends. Yes, friends! Okay, so I have a short list of really close friends that I'd drop everything in a heartbeat to help, and one or two of these new-never-met-face-to-face friends I might do for as well, but they're all friends. Sometimes it's just a shared interest, or a kind word, but it really doesn't take much to invite somebody in (or just barge right on in and make myself at home) and I love to do that! Oh, yes, I'm a homebody. I'd rather stay home than go... anywhere. I'd much rather you visit me because I do prefer one on one and face to face versus any of the many opportunities technology affords us! Just don't forget to call so you don't interrupt my nap... It's the extroverted introvert in me that you know. Few see the introvert but that's the larger part of me.... Anyway, I'm thankful for friends, old and new, near and far, close, good, and just there, each and every one of them! My kids ask me all the time if I've ever met a stranger..... I'm really not sure I have.

Eight. So far we've lost eight. They were a bit more perky this afternoon, eating and drinking, scratching, and wandering around. A few were still huddled up, some alone, some in groups. One or two have lost their buddies. It's sad. I wasn't vigilant enough. I thought I'd done enough. I made a mistake. I'm working on fixing the issue and pray I'm more successful than not.

Loss is part of life whether you're on a farm/ranch or not. Death. It's part of life. It seems a larger part of life out here to me. The living must go on, remember, learn, and try better. Over the past week or so we've lost seven to predators, and eight to what I'm assuming is an internal parasite I didn't treat well enough for. I pray we're completely done with death. At least for now. I need a break.

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This morning the flock was a bit perkier. A bit. A few are still a bit dazed. I'm hoping they hang in there and make it through this. Thanks for listening....