An addition

One gosling .

Starting to explore as well. So once it has dried out it will get moved to a run and introduced to food and water

The geese are coming

Well, hatching , actually

We've been rescuing goose eggs from the nest  and when we had collected a few, put them in the incubator.  And after a month, one of them has started to hatch

Google says it can take 3 days for a goose to exit the shell. So check back on thursday

The GooseEggProtector canopy

A raven took some goose eggs back here .

It continues to disturb the nest . So SOMETHING MUST BE DONE

And the something is some protection

And the nest is still accessible 

and something to discourage coming in from the side !

But will the goose also be put off from laying in the same place ?

It appears not !

One goose a-laying

I made a very nice goose-house last year . Its inaugural trip is here.  The geese ignored it where it was,  so we've relocated it, and we have placed is somewhere sheltered .

But the geese know better. Here's some  disturbed ground

And if we move the bracken and leaves

 In fact, she has been laying eggs for a while and we have been collecting them - always leaving one there as a reminder for her.

So when this lot hatch , we'll possibly use the incubator again and hatch some geese.
Geese arent the most fastidious of mothers around , so the chicks have a better hcance of survival from the incubator.

farewell, Carol

And there is a lonely Gander in Shetland (called Robert, For what its worth) . And we think Carol  - the goose that was called Christmas until she decalred her sex -  would make a good 'friend' for Robert. 

So we caught her, and put her in the dog crate ( with some food, of course) and  took her to Hatston

And then to Northlink 

 and for £10.30 she is transported to Lerwick . 

And the crate needs to come back . But now it will be freight - £30 . 

So if someone is comgin back from Shetland to Orkney on the Ferry, and can put a collapsed dog crate in their car we would be very grateful . 

An Irn-Bru'd goose

And the tin was stuck , preventing the goose from  grazing. It wasn't there  last night , and its not getting light until about 9am , so it hasnt been there very long. 

But long enough to do some damage . 

So back out in the field with the others. And it didnt look like the tongue had been affected, and the jawbone was intact. 

Infection will be the most likely possible complication - but antibiotics to a goose ? 

And painkillers ?  Google cant tell me the dose of calpol to give to a goose. 

So don't just chuck your tins out  of the window as you drive past. 

And this is the goose that was named Christmas , until we discoverd it was female and therefore will be  used to hatch some eggs in the summer. 

So she has been renamed Carol . 

new neighbours

the goose and its gosling have outgrown their temporary home.

And Harald needs more space.

And i don't want to lug sheep hurdles all over the place un-necessarily.

So Harald, Alice (the goose) and the as-yet un-named gosling - how about amarillo, or artichoke, or asparagus - are neighbours

sadly,again

We were told geese aren't particularly good mothers.

And I found only one of the goslings  up and about this  afternoon.  There were 2 running around at lunchtime

the other one had died lying at the side of the run.  No idea what had  happened to it .

Trodden on by the mother and trapped perhaps?
fallen in the dish of water and drowned ?

RIP Gertie

We've 2 groups of geese. One of the the  three living in the Burn Field  has been sitting on some eggs.  The other pair hang round the drive and pond ( and house) . And the female (Gertie) has been laying eggs - but we think the ravens or hoodies have been taking them - we have found broken goose eggs in the fields.

For the last few days she has been sitting - on nothing-  in various places.
And today we found her on the  empty nest she had made previously.
Very strange - usually whne you approach  a goose they hiss at you , but she didnt. She was very limp and not reacting .

So something clearly was amiss.

And this afternoon on checking on her , we found that she had died. if the information we were given when we received her was accurate , she would be 7 years of age. And dometic geese and live up to the age of 30  so it was unlikely to be 'old age' .

RIP Gertie

.

the Goose house

weve decided to hatch some goslings .
So the geese will need somewhere to nest .

We've had broody geese before  - in 2016  and 2014 , for instance ., but we ignored it

So ive made a suitable house for brooding - it needs to be big enough to take a goose and ideally  provide a protected, dark environment .

So  with an old crate  cut in half and some spare metal panneling from the shed, I made something

adn then it needed to be trainsported. Whilst not heavy, its an awkward shape .

and then the geese are hanging around at the top of the field , so we put the box up there

 but in the brush, one of them has started buildign a nest and laid eggs ( here partially covered by moss)

 so we might be a week too late.
other the other goose might devide to use the new palatial accommodation.

Or something

onion eaters

It happened in 2014

And again in 2015

And its happened again this year. Now the beds have got raised sides - approx 15 inches.

And only those onions nearest the side have been got at

 So I think its the geese.


lets see how they get on with this .

Geese

We've got a couple of geese.  One of them went AWOL a while ago  and has been spotted occasionally on the moorland.

And the other one has a nest.  last year the goose tried to incubate a plate .
this year the remaining goose has a nest  but  isn't sitting on  anything this year

The one on the moor may come back sometime .  This one will get fed up of sitting on nothing and start hanging around again with the ducks .

Hanging round with the ducks.

One of the geese is broody as  indicated here . We have 2 geese and the other one has been a bit forlorn, going round by herself. Prior to going broody , the geese were always spotted going round together.

But all is not lost - the one goose has found some new friends -  the ducks.

She has been spotted hanging round with the ducks, going exploring with the ducks and grazing with the ducks.  I dont know if Albert has tried to welcome her as  duck, but if so we haven't seen or heard any of that sort of activity .





So the solitary goose and the ducks has have been spotted together.

 












Meanwhile , back a the nest , the other goose continues to sit on half a plate and a small garden ornament. We've not found any goose eggs in any nest for quite a while .

But the nest has been slowly slipping down the embankment and is in imminent danger of disintegrating and ending up on the path.
 What will the sitting goose do when the nest falls apart ?

Who knows .

One Goose a-sitting

One of the geese  has gone broody - as well as the various  hens.



 
She has made a nest for herself and is sitting on one egg ( and , we think,  some broken china ) . But we haven't got a gander so the egg will be infertile.





So we leave her to it. We've no idea how long she will sit for, before realising that it is all to no avail .

But if you get too close you get hissed at.