I pulled on my pink-and-purple wellies, found an old pair of jeans and shirt, and piled the antique pitchfork and leaf rake onto the wheelbarrow. It was time to clean out the goose and duck coops and line them with fresh hay to insulate for the winter. Meanwhile, the geese presented their quizzical expressions and […]
finny
Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, Franklin, Lewiston-Auburn, Oxford Hills, River Valley, The Franklin Journal
Silas and Molly arrive
Finny didn’t waddle to the front of the pen when he saw me emerging from the back door with a pet carrier in each hand. He marched, then he squawked. As I opened the small pen that surrounds what was once a dog house, each of my newest pets emerged slowly from the carriers. Finny […]
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Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, Franklin, Lewiston-Auburn, Oxford Hills, River Valley, The Franklin Journal
Tragedy strikes the goose flock
The two flocks of geese are in one pen and peace reigns. But it came at a very high price. Beginning two weeks ago, the three remaining goslings and one of my big ganders came under attack by a huge, masked, four-legged vicious critter. So now my flock of 12 has been reduced to just […]
Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, Franklin, Lewiston-Auburn, Oxford Hills, River Valley, The Franklin Journal
Gracie turns out to be Grayson
Gracie is really Grayson. My not-so-little gosling, who is 2 months old, is showing definite signs of being a boy. When this year’s clutch hatched at the beginning of July, I gave them all girl names, figuring I’d know what they really were as time passed. Well, enough time has passed. Grayson looks very much […]
Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, Franklin, Lewiston-Auburn, Oxford Hills, River Valley, The Franklin Journal
Goose flock shrinks, but remaining goslings grow
And then there were three. My gaggle of geese gives me so much pleasure as I watch them grow, form friendships and create their own groups. They preen, make friends or enemies with each other, honk when a big bird is flying overhead or when they see something in the woods. Their antics often make […]
Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, Franklin, Lewiston-Auburn, Oxford Hills, River Valley, The Franklin Journal
The babes are growing like weeds
Funny how many baby creatures tend to have feet far too big for their bodies.Such is the way with my five not-so-little goslings. They are now just over a month old — no longer tiny fluff balls — and their legs and feet look like they belong to year-old geese. The parents have virtually given […]
Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, Franklin, Lewiston-Auburn, Oxford Hills, River Valley, The Franklin Journal
After all hope gone, six goslings hatch
I knew something was up when brothers Sam and Seb, and Sammie’s sister, Dufey, were standing quietly in front of the opening to the goose coop. The rest of the flock was quiet as well. Sure enough, as soon as I peered into the coop, there was Sammie, sitting on two fluffy, newly hatched goslings. […]
Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, Franklin, Lewiston-Auburn, Oxford Hills, River Valley, The Franklin Journal
Finny the Fabulous
The end of the mating season has arrived and still no goslings. My lovely old gray goose, Susie-Q, and 3-year-old Sammie continue to sit on their egg-filled nests, but time is running out. In another few days, the time will have passed for hatching. This has been a very difficult year for my geese to […]
Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, Franklin, Lewiston-Auburn, Oxford Hills, River Valley, The Franklin Journal
The flock comes together
The mini-flocks have come together into one nine-goose flock after I had to separate them for the past few weeks. I finally took a chance and herded my two old boys, Seb and Sam, and year-old cutie, Plum Blossom, into the pen with Finny, Shamus, Susie-Q and Blackberry, and let Dufey out of the coop […]
Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, Franklin, Lewiston-Auburn, Oxford Hills, River Valley, The Franklin Journal
A rough April in the goose coop
April has been a tough month in the goose pen. Finny’s doing fine. In fact, he’s one of the stronger and more aggressive geese, but some of my other wonderful feathered friends have had a rough time. A couple of weeks ago, Callie, the abandoned female goose I had rescued, was chased away by some of […]