Sometimes I wish I had all that lovely down that my flock of geese has. I look outside the back window during this frigid, wintry weather and wonder how they stay healthy and well during such awful weather. But my geese, although domesticated for hundreds of years, have a historic memory taken from their wild […]
finny
Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, Franklin, Lewiston-Auburn, Oxford Hills, River Valley
Finny discovers blackberries
Finny has found a new love — half-ripened blackberries! Who knew geese liked berries? I knew, from trying to feed my favorite feathered friends citrus and apple peelings and other fruity things, that they didn’t like anything sweet. That is, until Finny tried an almost-ripe blackberry. His big, orange beak carefully took the berry from […]
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Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, Franklin, Lewiston-Auburn, Oxford Hills, River Valley
Geese surround, protect their young
Summer and Solstice couldn’t be safer if they were surrounded by a Marine battalion. My two newest goslings, at 3 weeks old, are loved and protected by Finny and the flock. Evidence couldn’t be any stronger than watching their goodnight ritual. First, Susie Q, the mother of the two (I think Dufey is the biological […]
Posted inFranklin, Lewiston-Auburn, Oxford Hills, River Valley
Summer and Solstice join the flock
Saturday, the summer solstice, brought two new goslings into the goose pen. Their names? Summer and Solstice. My old goose Susie Q, one of only two remaining from my original flock, hatched out the babes, and while Finny and Shamus are baby-sitting for the two little ones, she’s trying to hatch out another. It’s always […]
Posted inFranklin, Lewiston-Auburn, Oxford Hills, River Valley
Geese enjoy mud season
The flock practically honked for joy when I let my geese out for the first time this season. As soon as the last one left the pen, they struggled and waddled through nearly 2 feet of snow on the back lawn to reach our driveway. As always in mud season, the driveway is full of […]
Posted inRiver Valley
New birds invade the pen as signs of spring emerge
The “dinosaurs” have invaded the goose pen. These wild turkeys help themselves to the cracked corn, bread crumbs and anything else I provide to my increasingly amorous flock. The turkeys — which I really like because they are just so different from any other bird, wild or domestic — seem to have found a home […]
Posted inFranklin, Oxford Hills, River Valley
Geese, ducks weather the storms much better than I
My geese are all tuckered out. Waddling through nearly 2 feet of snow to get to the food and water has taken its toll. I’m all tuckered out, too. I love my geese and ducks, but during the winter, particularly with last week’s major snowstorms and blizzard conditions, I’ve had to shovel them out three […]
Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, Franklin, Oxford Hills, River Valley
Khaki Campbells join backyard flocks
Finny wasn’t quite sure what to make of those three brown, tan and black quacking creatures staring at him from inside their own pen. Finny looked and squawked, then decided maybe they weren’t worth all that effort. Millie, Tillie and Billie, the three Khaki Campbell ducks, arrived a couple of months ago and have taken […]
Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, River Valley
Finny and the flock, Pekins and Khaki Campbell ducks wish everyone a great Christmas
Trying to get my beautiful goose flock to pose — more or less — in front of a bright red bow proved impossible. Even with some fresh celery that they love, they would not get anywhere near where I had hung the bow. But as soon as I removed it — sure enough — they […]
Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, Franklin, Lewiston-Auburn, Oxford Hills, River Valley, The Franklin Journal
Finny and the flock , turkeys, ignore each other
Finny and the rest of the flock of geese were enjoying themselves at the edge of the garden under a huge pine tree. Suddenly, a flock of at least 24 full-grown turkeys appeared from the woods. But not to worry. It seems that the two species have no quarrel with each other. Finny, as the […]