Nod did not bless us with babies her first year on the nest. As we had suspected, she was sitting on sterile eggs. After giving up on her eggs, she moved back with her flock and spent the cold winter among the other geese, happy and content. The next February, she began taking interest in the garbage can. Leaving her geese friends and spending the day with her garbage can. Each Monday evening, the can would be rolled down to the road and she would squawk and honk, and flap her wings showing great concern for the departure of what appeared to be her “mate”. Then Tuesday morning, the can would be emptied and returned to its resting spot behind the house, and all was right with her world again.

As February became March, she settled once again into the barrel next to the kitchen door to build her nest and lay eggs. She had seemed so sad and lost when her eggs never hatched the previous year, so we decided to give her some fertile eggs this year. A neighbor (who had facilitated the communication that ultimately brought Nod to the farm) gifted Nod some of her Brown Chinese Goose eggs, and we discreetly traded these eggs for her eggs in the nest.

A month later, she successfully hatched 6 babies. She was so proud. She doated on those babies, showing them what to eat, how to swim and what dangers to watch for. She mothers them all the way to adulthood. Sadly, we lost two of her babies in the late hours of the night when they were nearly adults. It was a difficult time for us and we lost several turkeys as well.

Nod with her tiny Brown Chinese Goslings

She stayed with her babies through the winter, until the following February, when she once again began to search out a nest. We had taken the barrel away from the door and used it for something else (that's a while other story). We thought she would find another spot to build her nest, but she never settled anywhere permanently. Part of this was likely due to the dogs raiding her area and creating a sense of insecurity. When she finally gave up on the idea of nesting later that spring, she began calling to the geese that would fly overhead. Eventually, two of these wild geese took interest in her and would land and visit with her a couple of times a day. This went on for several weeks, but then began to decrease in frequency and then stopped all together.

But, just about the time the geese stopped visiting, three very young adult Canada Geese showed up on the farm. They were mostly gathered out, but you could still see some of their juvenile fluff. They were interested in Nod, but she was unsure about them. The four of them spent time near each other, but never developed a friendly relationship, it was more of a curiosity kind of thing. And then, as summer became fall, Nod moved back in with her own babies and the main flock of geese. And the three visitors stayed on their own. By now, we had taken to calling them “babies”.

The three babies stayed until the winter weather arrived, and then one of them left. The two have remained through the winter, and are strangely tam. They follow me around for chores, supervising and providing direction. They even knock on the kitchen door to beg for treats.

Now, we are back to February again, and Nod has begun to leave her main flock and search out nesting areas. We are working on setting up another barrel for her by the door, and we are going to try placing one in another area of the farm. She has gained some interest in the two Canada Geese that wintered here, and they are showing interest in her. The three of them spend time together throughout the day, and then go their separate ways for part of the day, but then regroup at night. One of “the babies” appears to be a male, so perhaps Nod will finally have her own Canada Goose babies after all.

You can follow her story on our Instagram and Facebook pages.

The Canada Geese here are never locked up here, they are free to come and go as they please. Nod appears to be settled here and happy to stay, though, if she were to hatch her own Canada Geese, we have no idea what that would mean in terms of her staying here, or leaving. But as much as we love her and enjoy having her here, we wont interfere with any part of this and will let her instinct, and desire lead her life.

02/13/2021

How Nod's life goes on the farm