My Zen Geese

There is something so peaceful and tranquil about watching the geese.  I just adore them.  I pray nothing gets into the sheep barn while I am gone.  I have a friend coming to watch them a couple of times a day until we get back.  They are a bit harder to care for than the sheep because they require fresh water day and night.  And, they make a mess of their water :0)  But, on the whole they are very clean birds.  If they have a large enclosure they will try to poop away from their bedding.

This is Ching Ching, the gander

I love to watch him.  He is so graceful and so respectful.  But, if a stranger comes by, he is the noisiest by far and will honk up a storm.  Chinese geese are known for their watch goose attitudes.

This is Ching Ching with his mate, Black nose.  How do I know that is his mate?  After studying them, he hangs out with her and they look out for one another.  Black nose is a large hen and she will hiss at me.  I hiss back at her and she stops it.  I really like her attitude.

This is Dot.  Dot and Tip are hard for me to tell apart.  They are colored exactly alike and similar in size.  She is bathing herself in their tub.

Here are all 5 of them.  The two in the back are Tip and Dot.  You can only tell them apart by the markings on their bills.  Tip has a slit of a nostril with a black dot on the end of her beak.  Dot has a dot on the side of her bill.  I'm guessing they are females.

This is Lovey.  Her nostril is almost the shape of a heart.  She is the friendliest of the geese.  She will come right up to me and likes to eat out of my hand.  In this photo she is leaning her head onto her back to rest in the sun.

If you look closely at her bill, you can see the serrations like a Great White Shark…well, not quite like a shark, but if they bite you, you will know it.

I haven't picked any of them up yet, because I'm still getting used to them.  But, I love to watch them. I can sit for half an hour easily observing them preening and bathing.  Plus, they walk in a slow motion manner than amuses me to no end.