Happy Goat Productions

Promoting Sustainable Family Farming in Northern New Mexico

Every-Day Miracle

Our beautiful golden goose Esmeralda, one of a rambunctious flock of four and for the longest time the odd one out because of being just a plain old barn-yard goose compared to our three stunning Chinese Greys, had been faithfully sitting on six eggs for over a month. I had even considered throwing them out because it had been so long and she seemed to be giving up, leaving the nest quite frequently to go for a swim or grass-eating stroll. The other day, I woke up around 5, a little earlier than usual to even more goose squawking than normal. To my shame, I have to admit that I rolled over, put a pillow over my head, and went back to sleep. A couple of hours later, after a nice quiet cup of tea, I finally went down to the barn to check on everybody. I found the geese very agitated, Esmeralda sitting on her nest, the other mama desperately trying to sit next to her and already having laid an egg right there, and the two papas just going wild when I approached. I figured they were just being grouchy (perhaps a dog had gone by on the road?) and went about my chores. After all the other animals were happy, I threw the geese some grain and checked on the nest while Esmeralda was distracted. First, I saw only five eggs and thought, oh no, the barn mice had gotten another one, but then I heard this tiny tiny peep and following the sound, discovered - a baby goose! a little yellow fluff ball barely able to stand yet, still a little moist and bedraggled but struggling with all her might to follow the big mamas and papas. I am calling him her and her him interchangeably because we simply cannot tell yet and I cannot get myself to call him an "it"! He didn't seem to quite know who his mama was but it didn't matter because all the geese formed a tight circle around him to protect him from me and the dogs. I did manage to break through, pick him up, stick him under my shirt because he felt cold, and satisfy my own maternal urges for a minute, before giving him back to his proud and very upset group of parents. Since then, the geese have all been sticking close together, all four equally committed to protecting the little gal. She actually seems more attached to her papa, Esmeralda’s old man, than to Esmeralda who we figured was his mom. After more than a month of devoted mama-activity, she is enjoying the freedom of playing in the ditch for hours at a time.

Here is the little guy/gal, photographed by my talented friend Laura Shields.

Here is the other mama goose, Ismelda, playing adoptive parent mama-lion while Esmeralda is going for a swim. I had no idea geese worked in such family units.

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Run, baby, run!

The next day, the little gosling (unnamed until Momo comes back tomorrow to help me name him/her) was still there in the morning, hiding under Esmeralda. And then I realized that another egg had a crack in it and someone was trying to come out. Being the non-interventionist farmer I am, I left them all alone to let nature take its course without disturbances, but hours later still nothing had happened. So I helped, peeling shells away, since Esmeralda and the other geese were just not interested in this new arrival but focused all their attention on yesterday's babe.

Here is the new guy, fresh out of the egg:

And here is yesterday’s babe, all happy and content, acting like she had lived here all her life (which she had) and knowing that she was being watched by 4 pairs of eyes associated with the loudest and fiercest guardians within miles.

The story ends like most farm stories, some happy news, some not so good. The second gosling didn't make it through the night but was simply gone the next morning, probably carried off by a snake or something that night. I wonder if he was too sick and therefore didn't make it out of the egg without my help, so wasn't meant to make it anyway. Or whether I interfered too much too soon and he therefore bonded with me instead of his mama. Should I have taken him inside that night, as I wanted to so badly but decided not to, so as not to take him away from his mama? Was my interference the cause of his death or did it merely delay his death and allow him to live when he would have never made it out of the egg in the first place without me? Did I misunderstand goose psychology and interrupt the delicate bonding process, or was Esmeralda simply not interested in raising more than one baby, teenage mom that she is?

None of the other four eggs have hatched since, but Ismelda, the Chinese Grey mama goose, has laid two more in Esmeralda's nest, has taken over sitting duty, and is brooding 24 hrs a day, so we may get more goslings in a month.

The first little guy is just incredible. On day 3, I looked out the window and found the whole adult flock swimming happily in the ditch. No alarm cries. I run out, concerned about the baby following, falling into the ditch, and being swept downstream by the rather strong current, but there he is, happily floating around, just as nature intended. Especially his big uncle, El Lobo, was very careful to always stay above him to shelter him from the current. And then, when they had enough water fun, they all scrambled up the banks, including the little guy - peeping in desperation once or twice, so they all waited for him at the bank until he made it over sandbags 10 times his size by flapping his tiny wings and jumping like a bouncyball over the obstacles.

I had no idea that geese would act like this. I just happened to acquire four goslings from a neighbor last spring, not knowing anything about geese and their particular kind of intelligence (or their obnoxious loud squawking at 5 am). The bond between the four adults has become really obvious since the arrival of the little guy. They all work together in protecting him, all taking turns shielding him from currents in the ditch, curious dogs, overly excited children and their human mamas, nasty grey rats living under the hay bales, and the cold mountain nights. This tiny creature just follows the flock and has learned to keep up and feed himself in 3 days, at least I think so because otherwise he wouldn’t be alive any more by now. He is now so confident he even waddles up to me when I come. Does he perhaps sort of just a little bit maybe consider me part of his flock as well? I wonder – I envy the geese their tight bond and closeness, extending to brooding and protecting each other's eggs. Is that how humans used to live a long time in the past? The papas don’t sit on the eggs but boy, they sure make up for it by being protective and watchful over the whole barnyard! I have never seen papas, uncles, and aunties be so involved and concerned with offspring - especially in egg-laying critters! Life is a miracle - the fact that this little critter has made it through 4 days now is a total miracle! But what is a greater miracle is how this small flock of geese has turned my entire farm into a safe goose hatchery for one little guy, tightly patrolled 24 hrs a day so that he can strut around like Napoleon confronting anything with great confidence, when he just barely learned how to open his eyes. For some reason, that gives me hope for humanity.

Footnote: Most of the pictures in this story were taken by my friend Laura Shields, an amazing photographer. For more of her work, visit her website: www.laurashieldsphotography.com

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