A POULTRY MINI-MANUAL
(Page 6 of 6)
The lady who sold us ours says that geese usually hatch two
nests of eggs in the spring and the gander gets a little
cranky when the hen starts to lay. Once she's brooding
eggs, however, she chases him away and he comes
around—honking forlornly—seeking human
companionship.
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Our geese, gray and white—the gander with bright
orange bill and feet—are beautiful birds. They follow
us around but will only let us pet them at night, when we
are sitting outside and THEY approach US. If we don't
barricade the porch, they like to sleep right in front of
the door.
As I write this, our chickens are three months old and the
roosters have bigger combs and wattles than the pullets. It
will be a few months before we get much return from them.
Heavy breed pullets don't start to lay until around six
months old and they don't lay much in cold weather. So it
may be spring before we see an egg.
We have eaten only one chicken so far. Although he looked
nice and fat, it was mostly bluff and feathers. The
drumsticks were really dainty! The actual butchering was
unpleasant but bearable. We believe in the Indian way of
explaining to an animal why you need it.
Besides the three reasons mentioned in the first paragraph
for having poultry, there's another one: FUN! Lots of
evenings we sit by the chicken pen watching the chicken
society. The adolescent roosters have mock cock fights, the
pullets chase the little crooked footed one into the bushes
and Araucanas sail over the fence like doves. The geese
then come whirling by, flapping their wings (maybe keeping
in shape in case they ever want to fly off). Then the geese
stop, touch their bills lightly together and GANAWK!
loudly, talking to each other.
I wonder where we can find some ducks.
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