Tag: goose

Hard Choices and New Additions

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Hard Choice

This weekend on our farm we said goodbye to one of our animals and hello to a new one. Let’s start with the goodbye. Back at the beginning of the summer, we got a gosling to help protect our flock. I had done quite a bit of research on how to protect a flock and since we aren’t really large enough for a Livestock Guardian dog a goose was recommended. Everyone recommended one goose since it would bond with other birds better that way, and that is what we did. So, for six months now we’ve had this goose, and she’s been pretty great for the most part. However, recently she took quite a turn in personality. Her normal goose honking, which we were totally fine with, changed pitch and became almost like an alarm sound. It was super high-pitched and screechy. Now, instead of honking here and there, if anyone was outside she screamed the entire time. When I get up at 7:30 to do chores she screams the entire time it takes me to get done. Evening chores, which sometimes get done at 9pm, she screams the entire time. One of our neighbors has a person living in an RV on their property and I assume he can hear this goose through the RV walls. Her cry is so loud it echoes through the entire neighborhood. We live on a three-acre plot and so do all of our neighbors. So, although we are in the “country” we do have quite close neighbors and I have felt horrible about this goose and her squawking. As if that weren’t bad enough she has recently taken to biting people. One thing I will absolutely not put up with in my home or on my farm is an animal that bites. Over the past few months, this goose has basically made it not enjoyable to be outside. Either she’s loud the entire time anyone is outside, or now if she gets near you she bites. So, we had a decision to make. Could we put up with the bad behavior, or did she need to go?

When we bought this property I made it clear that the animals brought onto our farm had to have a purpose. I have said from the beginning if they cannot fulfill that purpose they are gone. We loved our goose, she was like the farm mascot, but she got to a point where she was more of a problem than a benefit. I cannot afford to feed a problem animal, nor do I want to keep a problem animal. I want my family to be able to go outside and enjoy our farm and what we have on it. So, we made the tough decision and I went ahead and harvested the goose. She did not go to waste, we processed her and she went to freezer camp. I know it may seem harsh but I want people to feel free to make the tough decisions. Having a farm, or a homestead, or whatever you have has to work. The animals you raise have a purpose and when they can no longer fulfill that purpose you shouldn’t have guilt removing that animal. We have to have the mindset that farm animals are different from our pets. Getting rid of our goose made the most sense. Now, I don’t worry that neighbors are going to be mad at the noise, I don’t worry that my kids are going to be attacked, and being outside doing chores or simply hanging out on the property has become a lot more enjoyable. It was a hard decision and it was hard to follow through when that decision was made, but I am glad it’s done. I do believe that at the end of the day it was the right decision for us.

New Addition

On Friday our family welcomed a new member. I brought home an 8-week old English Springer Spaniel and we have named her Bonnie. I have big plans for little Bonnie. First and foremost she is going to be a bird-dog. I want to be able to take her hunting. Springer Spaniels are what are known as flushers. Her job is to find the bird and get it in the air so the hunter can shoot it. She will then retrieve the bird, so also a retriever. On top of this, I want to make a deer tracking dog. Many dogs can be trained to find deer, in fact I am on a Facebook page and I saw a post where a guy had his mini daschund out there tracking deer. My husband and I usually get an archery tag every year and I like the idea of having a dog that can help find the deer if we ever get one. It is also something that quite a few people turn into a business. I guess plenty of deer go missing every year, and they bring a dog in to find them.

We’ve had Bonnie for two days now and she is already retrieving fairly well, and yesterday after we processed the goose, we used the wing to train Bonnie and she did amazing with it. When I say retrieve, I mean, right now, she is basically playing fetch. It will get more complicated as time goes on but for now she has to get the object thrown and bring it back to me. Yesterday with the goose wing, she was a champ. I was worried she wouldn’t turn out to be a good bird dog since dad hunts, but mom doesn’t, but it seems like she may do ok after all. The desire is there at least. Now, I have to do my part and not screw it up. I am very hopeful that she will turn into a great dog, for now she is simply the cutest thing ever!!!!

Final Thoughts

I think the thing I have thought most about this week is that we have one life to live and we need to live it well. I am not a big fan of the saying “You have to make yourself happy”, because I think it leads to bad decisions sometimes, but sometimes you have to do what makes you happy. I struggled with the decision to get a new puppy. I definitely didn’t need a puppy right now. In fact, having a puppy is always a bit of a headache, but it’s what I wanted. Have I trained a bird dog before? No, but I wanted to try. As, I get older I am learning to trust my instincts more and worry about other peoples opinions less. I owe it to myself to be honest about who I am and what I want from my life. I am not saying push something when it’s the wrong time, but if you have the means and the desire, why not take a chance? You never know if it may be the best decision ever.

Homestead Pest Control: Using Muscovy Ducks and Other Poultry for Bug Management

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This summer we have been eaten alive by mosquitoes, we have grasshoppers everywhere, and there are spiders and beetles galore. The bugs on this property are out of control. It makes sense, our property is in the middle of the prairie and we are surrounded by farmland, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. I know there are chemical answers out there, but I don’t like the idea of covering our land in insecticides. So, I began searching for natural answers.

First, was our mosquito problem. I have never lived somewhere where we had mosquitoes like this. We do have a small fish pond but that is our only standing water and I still cannot figure out where they are coming from. I swear they live in the grass and they are making outside time miserable. We built a new goat shelter and my husband’s legs got eaten to pieces. I can’t go into my garden to take care of it without having six mosquitoes on each leg every time I turn around. I don’t love being covered in bug spray but at that point, it was our only option. So, a Google search ensued.

Most birds, including chickens, will eat mosquitoes and other pests however, they are not particularly good at it. Bats are great mosquito hunters, but as I mentioned we live on the prairie so that didn’t seem like a good answer. Ducks are better foragers and bug catchers than chickens in general, but not all ducks are as good as others. From my research, it seems that the Muscovy duck is the best duck for pest control. In fact, I believe they were called mosquito assassins and will eat mosquitoes out of the air. This was absolutely perfect for me because Muscovy ducks have been a dream animal of mine for many years. I know a lot of people think they are ugly but I love them. The fact that they gobble bugs is a giant bonus.

Bringing ducklings home

I started to look around online hoping to find adult Moscovy ducks. I did, but all the adults were a minimum of four hours away and I won’t drive that to pick up birds. So instead, I found a local woman who had four Muscovy ducklings. They won’t be gobbling bugs right away but I don’t think it will be too long before they do. If you want Muscovy ducks, I recommend starting with your local Facebook pages. Here, we have a statewide poultry exchange page that is pretty helpful when looking for poultry of any kind.

Before I continue this story let me add that we currently have three baby turkeys about 3-4 weeks old, and a gosling also the same age. They were sharing a brooder and I thought they would be too big to put the babies in with.

We picked the babies up, brought them home, and put them in their own brooder. Later that day we took them out for a little outside time and decided to also bring out the gosling to see what it would do. This gosling, we are now pretty sure is an African Goose, but still do not know the sex. As soon as the gosling saw these babies it went straight over to them, checked them out, and plopped down right next to them. They also ran right over to the gosling cuddled up and wouldn’t leave it. It was the cutest thing and not how I thought that would go at all. So, now our 3-4 week gosling is basically a mother duck. They are in the brooder together and it hovers over them like an anxious momma. Every time we go out to check on them they are all snuggled up together. This gosling was originally purchased as a chicken guardian, but I guess it is now the duck guard.

Muscovy Benefits

Muscovy ducks are not like most ducks, in fact, they are more goose-like than duck. They grow to be large birds that are capable of protecting themselves fairly well. They make good mothers who raise very large clutches of ducklings. This is also why they can become an invasive species, as they reproduce rapidly. If you have a homestead or a farm, Muscovy is said to taste more like steak than duck, and since they are such large birds make great meat options. They also do not quack like a typical duck but make more soft honks or hissing noises. Their water needs are less than your average duck. They do still need water, but they do not hang out in it all day like a mallard duck would. For all these reasons. plus the fact that they forage and eat insects, we decided to bring home Muscovy ducks to our little farm. Hopefully, the next update about the ducks will be a long post on how amazing they are at bug control.

Other options

We have obviously decided to bring Muscovy ducks to our property as I think they are going to be the best option for pest control, but what if you don’t want ducks? Once again, chickens do an ok job at pest control. I have seen ours chase grasshoppers around the yard and eat them, but I read they really only take care of mosquito larvae in water and not mosquitos in the air. The other poultry we have are the Turkey poults. We have recently found out that turkeys LOVE grasshoppers. Right now they are only able to catch and eat the smaller ones, but once they get big the grasshoppers are going to be in trouble. They are even better than the chickens at catching grasshoppers, but I am unsure of their skills with the mosquitoes or the beetles. One of them did eat a spider which for us is extremely helpful. Out on the prairie, we have wolf spiders living in the ground all over and I hate spiders. Wild birds will take care of some bugs for you, but for what we have they do not do enough. Another option would be something like Diatomaceous Earth. It will kill quite a few different varieties of bugs, but it can also take out your good bugs so I would be selective on where I put it. We did put that down first before the ducks came home as the mosquitoes were not bearable. I am very hopeful that when all the birds are big enough to roam around we will not have to use it again. Maybe between the combo of poultry and DE we can survive this summer without losing our minds over the bugs.