Jiminy's albatross imitation

Geese are so funny. When they're little, their wings are just little tabs, and seem way too small for their bodies. Then, seemingly overnight, their wings quadruple in size and are suddenly too big. They remind me of some sort of sea bird fledgling. Great big heavy wings that they can barely lift.

Quick pic Thursday... More chicks hatched

The other broody's chicks hatched yesterday. Providing I'm correct about Dunder over a barred hen producing sex-linked chicks where the boys have a white head spot.... 3 of 4 maran eggs in this hatch produced boys, one of which is in the pic above. Ugh. I'm gonna name him Stewy. :) At least Belly gave me 2 girls of the 3 maran eggs she hatched.

I think the white head spot means that he should be barred? If so, with that brown face... Interesting.

I love our wisteria

Enjoying it while I can, as the recent wind and rain have been knocking off blooms at an alarming rate.

Internally pipped goose egg!

Ok, so I'm on my second round of goose egg incubation. The pic above is me in a dark tiny closet, holding a small maglite to an internally pipped egg. That little peak is the beak! Internal pipping is where the gosling/chick/keet/whathaveyou breaks through the membrane inside the egg, allowing access to the large air cell at the big end of the egg. Within a day or so, I should see an external pip, where the baby breaks through the shell so it can access outside air. Shortly after that, baby will "unzip" the egg, breaking the shell in a circular manner so it can get free of the egg.

In the pic above, I think something is wrong with the egg. See how there's a lighter area under the air cell, unlike the first pic? Perhaps a ruptured air cell? I dunno. In any case, the gosling is moving around in there, so hopefully it can proceed to external pip.

This is my last round of incubator eggs this season, and it has been an incredible experience! The geese are done laying, and our second and last round of chicks are due naturally-incubated under Jerky Pecking $&@#% Hen next week. (Not every hen can be as sweet as Bellina, you know). I'm hoping to foster these new goose babies (if they make it through hatching) with Affie. Sooooo much easier when the geese raise them, as I don't have to feed and water them separately, and I also don't get ATTACHED to meat birds... sigh... We'll see how it goes. Wish me luck!

Pucker up!

The tastiest grass is that which I'm sitting on...

My, how the goslings have grown!

So, these are the goslings that I hatched in the incubator a few weeks ago. That's Jiminy in the front, Meat Goose behind, and their pet duck (Crusty) on the right. They're currently living in the recently vacated duck tractor. Every evening, I let them out for a walk and some socializing. They're way too much fun. I do love geese!