Sunday, February 20, 2011

Ganders a bit Confused

I have 5 Toulouse. They are great!! They're hilarious to watch, keep hawks and eagles from stealing chickens (just by the geese being in the yard), aren't cuddly friendly but not outright mean to us, but heaven help anyone or thing that comes into our yard uninvited (by them) and they don't invite anyone/thing in the yard.  Oh and the males are rooster killing machines. This all started when the ganders started fighting each other for dominance. I think that because the chickens and geese were raised together, the ganders are a bit confused by who to battle for dominance.  The ganders (2) are just turning a year old and are too big for their britches and are brats. Obviously they aren't allowed to freerange together anymore......

Interestingly, they were also killing the roosters by color. I have lots of different breeds and (admittedly) too many roosters, but still.  The ganders went after white roosters first, then the red, then the brown.  Took awhile to figure out that it was the geese doing it, thought it was a dog for awhile. Also weird that all my favorite roosters are still alive- of each color/breed.   I still have all of the barred rock and cuckoo marans roos, I think I figured out what was going on before they got around to blaxk and white striped roos.  Oh and they never killed a hen, not a single hen.  And I've got some pretty bossy hens....

But- the geese are awesome and aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Oh, and they come when called too.   It's the only "trick" I've been able to teach them.

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