Well, it's mating season, folks. The geese have paired off; we've discovered a nest with two eggs, and I STILL don't have the nesting boxes built, a special fence put up for their protection, or the brooder box cleaned.
We're not going to collect the eggs from the current nest. Like the past three years, we'll let some wild animal eat them, and then will start collecting the second batch that we find. It sounds cruel, but I keep hoping against hope that somehow the geese will be able to lay, incubate, hatch, and raise their own goslings so I don't have to.
And that's where the nesting boxes coming. If I can build a simplified box with a small step, then enclose that area with chicken wire, hopefully that will keep all the predators except for turtles and snakes away. I have an idea that might deter the turtles away from the eggs, but there's not much I can do about snakes. Granted, I've never seen a snake around the geese nests, but several years ago we did have one on the porch railings going after a bird's nest.
I guess the good news is that according to my daffodils and geese...spring is here!
Comments
they've actually done better this year...the first two years they laid their eggs in the middle of the yard, then built a nest in the middle of the pier!