American Buff geese deserve their reputation as calm, gentle birds — except during nesting.   A Buff defending her nest can be ferocious.  With five Buffs on separate nests around the barn, there’s a lot of ferociousness to avoid. If I remember to sing the goose song while working near a nest, there’s usually not a problem. 
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A few weeks ago, the sweetest of the young geese turned up lame.  She stumbled around and made pitiful sounds, so we prepared the big cage in the ‘hospital room’ and brought her in for rest and observation.   I suspected a pulled muscle from too much frolicking.   Two days of quiet with no racing the others to
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Sure, they’re friendly now. A few hours ago, when I added the gosling to the brooder, the 3 ducklings freaked. Eeek! Gigantor! It took them half an hour to work up the nerve to check him (her?) out – aka peck his head. That’s how ducklings get acquainted, peck, peck, nibble. Guess they discovered the
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Our American Buff geese seem to laugh at the cold. They’ll even bust the ice on their wading pool so they can bathe and play in the frigid water. They’ll come into the barn during the dark of night, but otherwise they like having open sky above their heads. Not that they do much flying
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These American Buff goslings will spend their first week in the hose-out brooder. My genius husband built this brooder from the shell of our old dishwasher. It’s the easiest to clean and sanitize – a big plus. Waterfowl babies are MESSY! It’s also the most heat efficient of our brooders.