Goose Stories

In the spring of 2005, Doug bought a pair of goslings. A male and a female. The following spring the female started laying eggs, and hatched 11 goslings. Unfortunately, one died a few days later, drowned in a basin of water. We lost two more last year, one succumbed to injuries sustained from who knows where, and one got eaten by a predator. Last month we lost three in a span of two weeks, most likely the victims of a hungry coyote.

When there were still 10 of them.

Early this year, the geese started to separate into three distinct family units. We only discovered this fact when we started putting them in two pens (we did not want to lose any more to the coyote!). In one pen, there were four geese and in the other, three geese. One goose, a male, in the pen of four, was always being pecked on by the others. He managed to squeeze himself out of the pen one night, and the first thought that came to Doug's mind, when he saw the dented gate and one missing goose, was that a coyote had manage to grab the goose from the pen!

Doug was so angry that day that he ordered some traps, traps that are illegal in California! But the funny thing was, the goose had escaped from the pen! He couldn't put up with the pecking from the other geese any more.

It became apparent to us that this lonely goose had lost his mates to the coyote. No wonder the other geese did not want to have anything to do with him because he belonged to another family unit. We let this goose stay in the fenced area in our back patio, and there he has been for a while now.

This is where our friend, Cory, comes into the picture.

Cory stayed in our trailer parked at the side of our house, one weekend, to help us watch our geese while we visited our other home in Los Osos. He called us daily to update us with the well-being of the geese and informed us that he had befriended the lonely goose. They're buddies now, he said.

Cory, the goose whisperer.

I am still amazed at how Cory is able to tame this goose! He calls the goose over, the goose goes over to him. He pats the goose as he would a dog!

However, don't for one minute believe that the goose is as friendly with just anyone! He still puts his neck out and tries to chase anyone he doesn't like! Duncan, my 5-year-old, has been pecked by a goose or another many times!

This particular goose came after me yesterday. I was trying to let it out of the fenced patio area since we had fenced off the entrance where a coyote could have entered the backyard. But the stupid goose instead charged at me and managed to peck me on my knee! And it kept charging at me! You should have heard me scream! This is the first time I'd been bitten by a goose!

Amazing how a goose peck can bruise you!

Doug asked me, "Does that mean we are going to have roast goose for dinner?" He'd been asking me for the longest time when we were going to feast on our geese!!

Those are pets! No matter how vicious they can be!

And they've been very good about providing us with eggs that Doug has turned into salted eggs.  Yummy, best eaten with rice porridge!

Egg Thief Update

Yesterday the goose egg thief had a little "incident". As usual, the thief and his accomplice set out on their raiding mission. The accomplice who should have known better did not warn the young thief to check to see if the mother goose was in before attempting to crawl into the nest.

The said nest was located in an old dog house. The little thief, in his eagerness to raid the nest, crawled into the dog house but instead of joyfully reaching for eggs he had a nasty shock. Mother goose was sitting on the nest, and bit the thief on his shoulder resulting in the thief crying in pain and humiliation!

During his bath time, Mommy saw the red and sore looking spot on the thief's shoulder. "It does not hurt, no more, Mommy."

"Next time, make sure you check to see if there is a goose in the dog house before you crawl in!"

"Yes, mommy."

Egg Thief

Every day, Duncan and his Dad would raid the geese's nests and steal their eggs. This activity is Duncan's daily highlight. He loves the excitement of angering the geese and stealing their eggs right under their noses or should I say, beaks?

The egg thief in action. He has broken a few eggs in his haste to get away from the angry geese, and also due to his own clumsiness.

A pair of angry geese, honking and hissing at the humans who dared steal their eggs!

Doug has 18 eggs in a covered bucket that he is making into salted eggs. He found a recipe on how to do it, and he says it'll take about three months to get firm salted eggs.

Yesterday, I shared about the geese laying their eggs in our yard with some church ladies, and everyone wanted me to bring some for them at our next meeting. They enjoyed my recounting the story of Duncan stealing the geese's eggs.

Would you like some goose eggs?

Goose Eggs Galore

It's goose egg laying season! This year will be the third year for the mother goose and the second year for the kids. For laying eggs, that is.

Last year we had more eggs than we could consume, and we gave away most of them. We are not going to let the eggs hatch, you know why! Inbreeding!

Just to show you the size of the goose eggs compared to the chicken eggs.

Want to know exactly how big they are? Doug suggested I take a picture of the eggs next to a measuring tape!

We've given away some of the eggs to our kids' teachers, and also to Doug's colleagues.

Goose eggs are rich - the egg yolk is thick and dark orange. Not everyone likes them. I made banana bread recently and instead of using two chicken eggs, I used one goose egg. Yummy!

Too bad you guys do not live around here. Otherwise, you'll get to enjoy some of our goose eggs too!