First Monday and Moving the Ducks Outside

I hope y'all don't mind me sending you these. I like to imagine we live close and can keep up with one another. I love getting updates from all of y'all.  This week has been kinda interesting around here.

Yesterday, Robin and I went to First Monday one more time (3rd time in a row) looking for a female African goose.  They didn't have one.   They had them in droves in January.  Anyway - I thought I'd show y'all what Dog Town looks like - which is where all the animals are sold at First Monday.  Some of you I haven't yet convinced to visit and check it out for yourself. :)  They have farm animals as well as pets of every kind from sugar gliders, $25 farm dogs and $3,000 Shar Pei's, Bulldogs, and King Charles Spaniels.  We've seen little piglets on leashes, a monkey. and puppies of every kind being walked around here.

Here are a few animals we came across on our goose-hunt.

This is where we usually buy our geese.  They have 100's of ducks, chickens, geese, eggs, ducklings - everything.  Their camper can be seen in the background on the upper right - they sleep on the grounds for the weekend.  The white large pens behind the ladies are where the geese are usually kept.

Even peacocks!

The first week of the ducklings' lives we keep them indoors in a pen so we can control the temp. and keep a good watch on them.  They are messy little dudes and it takes a lot of fastidious attention to keep things smelling sweet. :)  In about a week, I am exhausted and ready for them to move outdoors.  We have a small covered pen to keep them safe from crawling and flying predators. We have hawks and owls around here.  I decided to put the two goslings in the large pen and keep the ducks in the small crate inside the large pen.  The ducklings are amazing escape artists and can crawl through pens you'd never think possible.

You can see the sweet, round duckling faces are already taking on a more mature, streamlined look - although they are only a week old!

I couldn't wait to see how HonkHe, the gander we thought was a goose, would react. Last year when we got goslings he stood watch 24 hours a day keeping everything safe.  That amazed us, when we thought he was a she - but now that we know he's a feller - that's pretty amazing dedication, considering he had never been around goslings before!

Well, about 10 minutes after I had everyone safely penned, watered and fed - you guessed it - here he came.  Tongue out - already hissing.

Puppies have to learn about the geese.  It's a good lesson, really. They need to learn to respect the geese - who in turn take care of the ducks.  The Colonel, one of the new puppies, didn't really understand the geese and felt quite courageous.  He didn't understand why HonkHe was out of the pond and hanging around near the house, so he took it upon himself to move him back to the water where he belonged.  Amazingly, Honkhe acquiesced - this time.  :)

Just move on along, pesky noisy goose . .

That's not far enough - all the way back to the pond, big fella.

No, don't turn around and  complain - just GO!

It was hilarious seeing the goose move due to the little puppy.  Generally he turns around, hisses and charges with his neck down as you can see him trying to do here.  He can really pinch and beat with  his wings, if provoked.  He's nice to people tho - he only gets upset when he's protecting something.

Finally, I added a video just to show how brave (or how dumb) Colonel really is.  He stood his ground with two geese ready to attack him.  In the end - I imagine him saying, "Hey - what's all the fuss about? I just wanted my stick - leave me alone."  Notice - his tail just keeps on wagging.

And - the next day, Colonel did get a bit too brave and HonkHe had to show him who was really boss.  He gave him a good whap with his wings - and I haven't seen the puppy over by the cage anymore. 

I love animals - and having the opportunity to really share their lives.