The other day we finished setting up the new goose paddock system. It consists of cut cattle panels wrapped in 2 inch chicken wire and has been pretty successful, other than needing to clip Audo’s wings (video to come soon).
Of course, the first day we set up the new fence, who else but Dodger came to check it out and lay on top of everything.
Dodger and the Geese
He even went inside and snuggled with some goose eggs.
a great place to nap
Dodgey!
We just received a ton of Non GMO livestock feed. Literally, 1 ton.
We got some high protein turkey starter for our Bourbon Red Heritage Turkeys, some 16% laying feed for the chickens, a bunch of 18% grower/broiler feed for the teenage chickens and ducks, some pig food, and a few bags of chick starter for our next batch of ducks that will be showing up soon.
40 Bags of high quality, freshly milled GMO Free feed
We are very excited to start feeding only GMO free feed to our livestock. For some of the reasons why GMO free is important us, check out this post.
It was very hard to find a source for Non GMO chicken and livestock feed in our area, but after months of searching for an affordable option, we are excited to finally be able to offer some of the highest quality feed available to other small producers and backyard growers in the Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Rockingham and Stokes County areas.
High quality feed means happy hens, and happy hens mean delicious eggs!
This feed is milled fresh (as in 3 days ago) from high quality, 100% GMO free grains and without any medications, hormones, or antibiotics.
Pricing
All feeds in 50 lb. bags
Soy free feeds are available for an additional fee.
In the future we hope to offer some of the other supplements we use on our homestead (for both plants and animals) like kelp, rock dust, diatomaceous earth, and other types of mineral and protein supplements.
If you would like more information, send us an email at ourochreway@gmail.com or shoot us a message on Facebook.
We found a secret goose nest the other day, filled with 10 eggs!
The eggs were completely covered with leaves and partially buried in the pebbles and leaf mulch surrounding our front porch!
Goose nest right by the front porch!
The only reason that I noticed the nest at all was because China was laying in the leaves, totally flattened out as if she were dead. Since she’s usually very wiggly and noisy, I was surprised about how quiet and still she was! She didn’t move when I came close to her, and didn’t even blink. I watched to see if she was breathing, and I didn’t see any movement at all. I suppose she was holding her breath, but I was worried she was hurt (or worse)!
I even poked her with a stick and she refused to move.
I walked away to see if she would act normally once I left, and later I could see that her head was up and looking around. An hour later when I was back inside, I looked out the window to see her walking around the yard as usual.
That’s when I realized that she had to have been sitting on a nest! Geese will sometimes try to “lay low” by being still and quiet if they think danger approaches them and their nest.
When I checked out the nest I counted 8 eggs, and a day later there was 10!
Unfortunately the geese have not been sitting on them consistently (they trade off) so we don’t think they are viable eggs. But, we’ll see! Such an exciting springtime surprise, anyway!
First goose eggs of the year!
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This has been an intense winter, as many of you know from first-hand experience!
We’ve had to make a few fence repairs from the wind, and “pick up the pieces” after winter storms came through and dropped inches of snow.
Here’s our adventure in picture form:
A few weeks ago we had a wind storm that blew gusts around 50 or 60 miles per hour. We never, in our wildest dreams, would have thought that the chicken fence would act like a sail and fold up onto itself like a fan:
Where’d the square-shaped fence go?
An airborne fence? Whoa!
Stupidly, for the most recent winter storm we didn’t prepare for a power outage at all. We over-prepared (is there really such a thing?) for the one before this last one, but not for this one!
Since we get our water from a well, our water doesn’t work when the power doesn’t. We utterly forgot to worry about this, and so when we woke up yesterday to find that our power was out, we realized that we had to find a way to get water for our ducks to drink. We decided that melting snow next to the wood stove was the best bet…
Jason scooping snow into “the bathtub” to put by the wood stove.
And we also forgot to remove the netting from the chicken pen to keep the snow from sticking to it…
The netting became so heavy with snow that it deformed the fence!
Luckily none of the netting ripped!
Yes, that’s a blanket of snow on top of our bird netting!
Even after all the cleanup and repairs we had to do, it still is lovely to have a blanket of snow on the ground. I’m still not sick of winter yet, not when we have views like this…
And of course, the geese were not phased by the situation at all and continued to bathe throughout the freezing temperatures!
They don’t look quite as white as they used to, do they?
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Welcome back to Kids Wondering…!
This episode features our four fantastic geese, Audo (a male Emden), China (a female Chinese), and Houdina and Iza (female Africans).
Check it out!
.:.
Tonight it is supposed to get down to 10 degrees (without the wind chill) and we decided that we really needed to set up the chickens with extra windbreaks and warmth.
Here’s what we did:
The bantam mobile gets some extra warmth!
A cardboard door!
Using our bungees… Thanks Grandma!
Creating a space for the geese to sleep!
Taking a freezing bath!
.:.
today was wetter and rainier than days past, and even though all of the birds got 4+ hours of daylight to range freely and eat any bugs or other delicious tidbits they could find, all of the birds still acted as though they were starving when bolt and i came outside.
picture this: bolt, who loves to chase chickens (and if he caught one he might try to eat it), coming outside with me to see a horde of poultry coming towards him like flesh eating zombies! of course he was interested, and since the chickens got way too close to him (how could they be so foolish?! oh yeah, they’re chickens!) his interest was definitely peaked! after being corrected a few times, he did a good job of ignoring their creepy, feathery advances and we were able to complete our walk as usual.
once bolt was safely inside, i came back out with a camera to film the horde of chickens chasing me around. i didn’t have any food at the time, but since it was past their usual dinner time, they expected me to have something and thought to follow me around (some of them totally underfoot) hoping i would feed them right then!
i’ve noticed that all of the birds (bantams, standards, geese) have been hungrier lately… perhaps they’re trying to fatten up for the cold winter ahead.
.:.
chickens vs. geese…
if you live outside of the city limits, and are looking to raise some birds, you might be wondering if you should begin with geese or chickens (or both!) as you begin your homestead.
here’s a few things that we’ve learned about chickens and geese, and hopefully we can provide some insight and help you make the choice that is best for you and your life!
self-sufficiency–winner: it’s a tie!
ability to protect themselves/immunity to predation— winner: geese!
intelligence–winner: geese!
personality–winner: geese!
body size (for meat purposes)–winner: geese!
egg laying–winner: chickens!
space needed–winner: chickens!
noisiness–winner: chickens!
guardian ability–winner: geese!
overall, we recommend raising both geese and chickens, just like we recommend raising both standard and bantam chickens! each has their own pros and cons, so why not dive on in and reap the benefits of both?
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one thing’s for sure, living with animals on a farm reminds you how much all of us animals really have in common.
when it gets hot and humid outside, we all head for the shade and search out some water. since i just got back from the beach, i spent most of today dreaming about a large body of water to soak in (like a pond!). i also drank tons of water today, which i really needed to add ice cubes to since i spent most of today with my hands in a scalding hot dish-sink. we’ve decided against cutting on the air unless company is visiting; we really like hearing the world outside our windows and having the AC on makes us lazy bums who avoid doing anything outside.
since today was a hot one, and i spent most of my time looking out the kitchen window at the birds, i was reminded of these common needs we all have in the heat… shade and water!
the chickens were nowhere to be seen when the sun was shining, but as soon as a cloud would cover the sun they would come out of the house for a little exploration. the small white shade cloth that we’ve recently added to our new chicken pen setup provided enough shade during portions of the day for rex and a select group of his ladies to nap in the shade.
the geese spent most of the day sleeping while floating in their kiddie pool, and bolt tried to hog the floor fan that was supposed to be blowing on me while i washed dishes. no doubt if he had been outside he would have been hiding under his shady bush!
all four geese chilling in their kiddie pool together!
bridey drank tons of water and bolt could be heard lapping up water from the upstairs toilet, the downstairs toilet, a downstairs water bowl, and an upstairs water bowl. when it rained later in the day both he and i really enjoyed walking in it to cool off!
so whatever animals you have, mammals or birds, or just your partner (since we humans are animals too), make sure they’ve got plenty of water to drink and shade to hide in!
.:.
our geese seem happy in their fence, although when we got them they were used to roaming around wherever they wanted to go. at first, they tried to escape so that they could get to the greener grass on the other side, but once they got used to their pen, during the few times we let them out on purpose they would willingly walk back into the safety of their pen after sending some quality time outside.
our goose pen is made out of four 16-foot cattle panels that are lashed together with very large and very long zip ties. 3 of the four corners of the panels are lashed at the top and the bottom and the 4th corner is attached with a caribeaner so we can use it as a gate.
3-foot tall poultry wire is attached to all of the panels so that they can’t squeeze out of the larger holes (which they did before we added the poultry wire).
they also have a kiddie pool where they are often seen splashing about and jumping on each other. a few bricks, a cement block, and a metal disc make up their ramp into the pool.
they have a tarp strung over a portion of their pen so that they have shade and a rain shield. their water bucket sits under this shade so that the water doesn’t get too warm. their two dishes get placed near the pool and the bucket when we feed them each afternoon because geese like/need water as they eat their food so it “goes down” their throats easier.we only feed them grain once a day since we move their pen every two or three days and they have fresh, delicious grass to snack on, which they much prefer to the grain.
one corner of the pen has another metal covering to help keep out the rain and to provide a cozy nest spot whenever they decide to build another nest and lay some eggs!
and that’s our goose pen!
.:.
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