Two friendly geese have come to stay, just for 7 weeks while their family is on holiday in the USofA.
Sharna and Rikki are 9 year old and live out at Duram Lead when they are not staying in Buninyong.
Rikki came to the family as Richard, but he turned out to be a she (a common story with poultry I'm sure).
13-09-08 - Rikki has now made a full recovery, so Heidi thankfully was quite right. After about 5 days of not walking, Rikki first stood up (to dry her under feathers) and then progressed to a slow walk, and finally back to normal!
02-09-08 - Rikki has injured her leg and will not walk about, so we make sure she has water near by, and lift her into her hutch each night. She comes outside on her own, and is eating and drinking, so she seems ok. Our local expert Heidi reckons she'll get better in a few days, presumably when her leg feels better. I think she probably tumbled down the slope of a pile of dirt in the yard, which they both like climbing to the top of - a kind of "I'm the king or the castle" type of game. I notice that Sharna is not climbing it any more - fast learners.Sharna has slightly curled up feathers, and Rikki's white patch on her face is a straight line, so they are easy to tell apart. Much easier now Rikki sits still!
Because Sharna has her curly feathers, they must be from Sebastapol Geese, but could be crossed with Pommeranian or even Embden. Look at geese photos from Backyard Poultry.See their Breed Photos link, and look for Geese!
I have found out a lot about geese in the last 5 days:
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they eat grass, and a little bit of wheat
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they lay an egg every second day
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they are pretty tough
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they can't catch worms from dogs
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goose wormer is Levamisole, and the brand drug is Nilverm
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most vets don't know much about geese
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goose tonic: 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in 9 litres of water
See the goose movie, right at the bottom.
Goose Movie
September 5th
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