Morgan, to control the fly issue you should really try some natural predators. By that I mean some fly wasps. They're very small and don't attack humans, but they lay their eggs in fly larvae which kills the flies and eventually lowers the population. A lot of farms use this as a natural control method and have good success with it.
We were SO SUCCESSFUL with putting down fly predators in early spring this year. We had tons of the little black wasps and praying mantises. And now we only have a handful of flies coming in when the kids forget to close the door. So good!
Just a helpful tip of advice with Abby, telling her off / stopping her from bad behaviour and then petting her isn't a good idea, it's conflicting information and isn't making clear that what she's doing is wrong, you're actually re-enforcing that bad behaviour. All the best bud.
Same, An idea would be to carry around a stick or pole for correction. Every time she gets ready to play, while in the mindset, tap her gently and say no. Very much like Ceasar Millan would do. Even walking around with a long leash would work, just tug it from time to time when she acts up and a firm, no. Just some thoughts, keep it up!! You've got alot going on.
While its sad maybe Mama could tell something wasn't right and wanted to focus on one hatchling. Glad to see Toby looking so well and happy around the farm.
Agreed. I’d say she focused on the only one she knew would survive. Birds aren’t that bad of parents that they kill healthy babies. It’s not just farm birds that do that either. Wild birds will kick an unhealthy nestling out of the nest, so if you find a baby on the ground you’ve got to ascertain if it fell out or was kicked out, and how old it is - is it old enough to be on its own yet? Other animals - including cats and dogs - will do that too. Unfortunately, the mother may abandon the babies she knows won’t survive. My mama cats do it all the time, and though I’ll try to save them by bottle feeding them or giving them to another mother - one I know is a really good Mum - with kittens about the same age, but I’ve yet to have an abandoned baby survive long term. (We rescue and these are mostly feral mums we haven’t been able to catch to spay - despite our efforts. They seem to avoid any traps and we catch the same ones over and over!! Or a skunk or raccoon will be in the trap when we check it.) It was the same when we bred our German Shepherds (ours were the sires). In one instance the dam lived across the street, and I was the one who ended up helping the mother whelp the pups. The owners could have cared less, and if I hadn’t intervened, she’d have eaten them all - but let’s not finish that story!! Anyway, she’d push certain ones away when they tried to nurse. 🤷🏼♀️😿😿😿
You know I have noticed alot of negitive comments on how he is farming. I think we all need to remember that he is still learning. He has seemed to be very transparent about continuously striving to learn and improve on himself and farming techniques. That takes time, he will probably continue to make mistakes as he is human like the rest of us. So let's give him some grace he has never claimed to be perfect!
I just want to say the ground POV for Release the Quacken is one of my favorite things. Just love seeing the birds barreling down the ramp at foot- and belly-level. Not only are ducks racing along inherently comical (because ducks are inherently comical, and I mean that in the most positive, loving, and respectful way), but there's also that frisson of "good lord, these *are* velociraptors!"
Yeah I like that too. So much that when me and my two girls do a long drive and come to somewhere they love to play I say release the cluckin' before I let Izzy and Sophia out. They always act like they appreciate the intro too.
I feel like I’m there( a duck too) being at there level as they are coming down the ramp. 😆 I also liked Morgan’s duck level shot while they were eating.
when we were naturally hatching goslings, we would go out 2 or 3 time a day maybe more and gather the babies so they wouldn't get crushed or get lost from other critters that would kill them. Then they would go into a heated pens until big enough to go out into covered pens ( with wire covers with some shade) to protect them from things from above. Raised hundreds of baby geese this way and I would take mini flocks of babies out on field trips out in areas from them to bond and get grass etc.just my experience. Love your videos!
Morgan, Have you ever looked into fly predators. I have used them successfully in a pastured poultry setting. My other suggestion is bird houses incorporated into your permaculture pasture.
I think he mentioned there was a bird flu outbreak in another video. There are a lot of states at the moment with a temporary moratorium on bird houses.
Birdhouses are a great idea but the other reply is correct about Avian Flu being a factor this year. Bummer. Next year hopefully! The fly predator idea seems super cool. I had to look them up. I wonder if that method would be an issue with cycle he's been creating to further develop the soil microbiome? Not sure if they'd interrupt some part of the process or not.
@@aintmisbehavin7400 I follow regenerative farming practices myself and using fly predators would not affect soil biology. They are predatory wasps. Which lay their eggs in fly lava. So the wasp lava will consume and destroy the fly lava. They do not survive climate in North America and must be replenished. They are an effective way to quickly bring down fly populations quickly. They contribute to a substantial reduction in flies this summer. The bird houses would be a longer term suggestion. As most birds will be finishing raising young by now. I'm on the Mississippi flyway and we have no problem with bird houses that I'm aware of.
I love that if u look to that back fence of the gosling/chick pen all the adults are crowded by the fence staring at the babies eating there breakfast. It was adorable
Be careful of fly tape, around anything the cows will eat. That tape gets moisture on it and will drop down on food stuffs. If it's a toxic tape, do a rethink. A friend of mine lost a $150,000 stallion because of fly tape in a stall.
Thanks! I was wondering if it was and tried to keep it away from my chickens and ducks! Hopefully Morgan doesn't lose any of his cows I was afraid it would fall down and they would eat it or get it stuck over their nose.
Hey Morgan! By no means do I have any experience in training dogs but I just had a thought that perhaps when you say no to abby for punishing her behaviour and then pet her she might think that that may be good behaviour and thus continue misbehaving.
I think instead of focusing on corrections after she messes up, he should go back to basics and work on a very solid sit stay with Abby. Abby doesn’t seem to care much for yelling and it’s better to prevent her from rehearsing bad behavior in the first place.
Because its a kind of redirect back to you, right? With these independent breeds or distracted individuals, require and reinforce attention more than anything.
1. Mother Goose may have known something was up with them, but maybe it was an accident, or maybe she just did it for no reason. 2. You do realize that PETTING Abby after a strong no is telling her to keep making you say no right?
@Emily Anderson I agree, the age difference is to great, ducklings look to be 3 or 4 weeks older, even one of the chicks attacked it, sad, it needs it's Mom.
It looks like you need to create several generations to teach good nesting and hatching behavior. Don’t give up!! It’s an amazing practice you’re allowing to develop.
Abby & Toby are looking well. Like everyone I'm so thankful Toby is doing well following his diagnosis of Lyme Disease. Getting proper Vet care in the beginning was key. It's one thing about you that I really admire, you put the health of your animals over the potential costs. It's obvious all of the farm animals are pets. People can learn a lot from you. And Abby, God love you for recognizing her limitations & potential problems with being a potential for breeding with Toby; but most of all for understanding not every dog can be as adept as Toby. She will learn & can be taught to be an integral part of your farm in some capacity.
It’s amazing how well you have increased the numbers in your poultry, Morgan. Just two (was it 3) years ago you started the first box of 40 goslings or ducklings. Makes me want to raise geese.
A good point. These cattle are so skittish, though. I think Morgan would have to make something to isolate each cow, just to get close enough. I know they sell devices to help, but Morgan only has a few cattle, some of whom may be going into the freezer this fall. Builting a encloseure might be more affordable.
While it may be hard to lose babies to a mother's learning curve it can be very rewarding to future generations. I let my mother's go through that learning curve up to three failed attempts. Most of the time it only takes one failure for them to figure it out. And then yes, the babies are better mother's themselves. They have that experience to draw on.
Sad about the siblings of the gosling, but your intervention was necessary. Any loss on the farm is upsetting, but survival of the fittest is the way of the world. Happy to see that Toby boy and Abby girl are doing great after needing medical assistance. Thx for the new video, I hurry to your channel when I get the notification.
I am from Indonesia and for years we kept a few geese in the garden (mainly to guard the property). There never was any problem hatching and raising goslings. Every few months the geese would produce about 3 or 4 goslings and raise them. Our problem was civet cats which liked to try to catch them at night.
I think in the US, when you buy from hatcheries, you are getting birds selectively bred for egg production, because by artificially raising them they can produce a lot more. So our stock is not as reliable as moms, as far as the genetics.
How you talk to the birds gets me everytime! You look behind you to see all the geese in with mama duck and her babies “excuse me geese!!!!” Lmaooo 😂😂😂😂
I wonder if positive reinforcement would work better with Abbey as the corrections don't seem to be going anywhere, but she seems to love treats and physical affection. Maybe work on recall. Have some more sturdy birds in a temporary pen/corral to minimise risk, and work on commands like calling her to you and "leave it!". Every time she returns to you on "leave it", you give her a treat, and any time she stays at a respectful distance from the birds, you praise that too until she starts to associate not playing with the birds = reward. You would then gradually move to more vulnerable birds (like from geese to ducks to chickens), then eventually the white chickens, and eventually, the babies when you're confident you can trust her. Each more skittish or small bird will be a new temptation for playing, so going from least risk to high risk is the safest way to desensitise her urge to play with the birds. You can even involve Toby with the training occasionally as seeing the other dog get treats for staying at a certain distance or within a certain spot should encourage her to come over and investigate. Remember to praise even the most minor aspects of "leave it", like she sits or lies down or just stands still, and praise it straight away at the beginning. The second she leaves it, you reward immediately. As she gets more used to leaving the birds alone on command, you can start extending time between rewards, but at the beginning, it's really important to enforce any of the good behaviour you want to see. Eventually, she'll associate keeping her distance with "Yes, I'm a good girl. I'm not touching the birds just like daddy wants, because I'm the good girl!" It takes a lot of effort, but it tends to work well with praise driven active dogs who don't really care when it comes to being scolded.
*the final scene-💯heartbreaking to see momma goose found her one baby chick, through the fence. I know her other chicks didn’t make it but I would have given her a chance with the one. I mean either way that one chick is going to have it tough. May as well be with its mom.*
Yeah that's true : Birds, just like mammals, don't instinctively know how to raise their babies. When they have their own offsprings they rely on the memories of their own parents to know what they have to do. Birds that have been raised in incubators and closed up areas aren't good parents because they don't know what they need to do for it. So when you have a couple of birds that hatch naturally, it can be devastating (especially in a farm setting), but the offsprings that survive will progressively get better at hatching their own.
Addition: since incubators were invented and became more profitable than letting the birds raise their own chicks, the birds didn't even need the basic instincts anymore, so the genetic basis for those behaviors got worse. In the past, if a goose was a bad parent it just couldn't pass on its genes.
Hey Morgan, Before you destroy thosse goose eggs, do you candle them? Since the three gooslings only hatched yesterday, one or two of the eggs Might be almost ready to hatch as well. It's worth a look, right? Be nice if new goosling had a sibling or two to grow up with. Two guard geese are better then one. :)
My last season of raising mixed flocks like this has gone pretty well. Having an orphan 3 week old chick to put in with my 2 older ganders helped raise the lone goslings past that silly stage that he has talked about on a previous video. They did pretty well with the young ducks too. Unfortunately predators got the 2 goslings after awhile. Being cotton patch, they are very hard to replace.
You've asked for video recommendations in other videos and I just thought of one, so I'm hoping you find this. I'd really like to see your cows mow down one paddock of grass. From when they enter the new paddock to when you move them to the next one. Either some sort of time lapse or those things where it takes a picture every 10, 30, or 60 minutes. Obviously I don't know if this would be possible or how much work it would be, but it's something I'd really like to see. Thanks for all you do, caring for and raising all your animals!
It's a common reaction among farm birds : when you introduce a new bird to the flock, they all start squabling for a bit to find out what place it has in the "pecking order", and once they figured that out they stop the bullying. That gosling will be just fine, especially considering how fast goslings grow
I’m really glad you rescued the gosling from his mother but I’m very worried it won’t make it with those big runner ducks Picking at it because they’re so very many of them. If there was a way to separate the pin so they’re on one side and it’s on the other well just had a corner till it gets bigger because they do grow fairly fast but already on the video it shows them picking at him, and that’s not “hello how are you? I’m happy to see you!! !..kind of pic!! Another thought was maybe putting it with the other mother duck with five little ducklings because they’re about the same size. I know you probably hate everybody giving you advice Morgan and I try not to but as you know I am a huge fan of goslings and geese so I’m all for protecting them over everything else and of course Abby. Glad to see you she was up and moving around fairly well today. I was really really happy to see that you bought a longer brush and you were able to reach out and brush a couple of the cattle. I’m really excited for you because I think this is the answer. None of them ran away from it or shy from it and the fact that a couple of them allow due to brush on them for a little bit is very encouraging. Now I have to do is go back to the chair or bucket routine with Your book in the brush a couple days a week and see if you make more progress. I’m so glad you have Green pastures for your cattle. The Midwest and south central parts of the US is having a terrible drought and it’s affecting the cattle and all the animals as far as it goes so much… But also they have brown, crunchy grass everywhere…. Nothing like the tall illustrious grass you have. I live in Cedar Rapids IA and it is just raining lovely buckets here right now at 3:30 AM and it’s been raining for several hours often on and even earlier yesterday evening but it’s kind of nice rains that are gentle two nice enough to have some run-off which catches, so We also have beautiful green grass; however I have relatives that live 2 1/2 to 3 hours away, still in Iowa, He did not have any grass and do not get the rain we do, in fact they are in a drought down south west.…( For those who don’t know Cedar Rapids is in the East/North east portion of Iowa)!! Likewise, in the winter time we get much more snow and colder temperatures and they do which I guess makes sense.… We’re closer to Vermont LOL😊♥️♥️ Sometimes Morgan, I feel guilty for how much rain we are getting when states such as South Dakota, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas are all in so much trouble without any rain and drought weather conditions😂😂😂🙏🙏 but I know God is in control not me. We all just have to keep praying. Sure love how your farm is looking..& My question for this week is what is your favorite and Alison‘s favorite GARDEN produce that you have to eat… Both of you??? (Not meat !!)
Morgan Josh at Stoney Ridge Farm in foothills of Appalachian mountains in NC (I live in western NC) doesn't use fly spray. He has been using a fly trap called Fly Fix it , I think, with good results. Check out his channel & the video showing it's use & results. Something to consider. He is a first generation regenerative farmer like you. His main thing is cattle farming. He grew up on a farm so he had a lot of background experience that you don't have. But you both have a lot of the same farming goals.
I saw a comment saying the parenting skills of your birds can be genetic, and that breeding for good parents will be much more effective than just letting birds learn by themselves.
Pretty harsh selection there, but the one surviving gosling must be the Chosen One, destined to liberate Goosedom from the insidious Gold Shaw Internment Camp, one day. We shall watch this one with great expectation.
I was told peafowl weren't great moms. But mine were from farms where moms hatched them . This should have been my clue.... this year we had moms every where. Can't share pens, protective of the babies. For nest disasters. My chickens end up clean up crew.. not by my choice but as soon as I get the the healthy ones... and momma... they show up like it's their duty on the farm to cleanup egg fiascos, lay eggs in my garage, and guard mommies w babies. They are weirdest birds we have
Morgan, I know absolutely nothing about rasing birds, but one ting I thought of in the first 2 minutes of the video... could it be posisble that none of the mother geese do well at rasing goslings becasue they themselves were not raised by a mother goose to know how to properly care for little ones?
The problem is more instinctual than instructional, some domestic birds have largely lost the protective instinct since it's not really necessary with humans usually doing the work of raising. They assume their job is done once the chicks hatch(if they bother sitting on the eggs well enough to hatch them at all), which is why things often turn tragic so quickly. It's definitely possible to bring those instincts back(the least terrible bird moms will have more chicks survive to reach adulthood, which encourages the instinct over generations) but it's gonna take a loooong time. e: Basically he needs to either get good mothering breeds or really buckle down on a breeding program, the current strategy of just kinda leaving birds to nest wherever and hoping things will work out isn't really going well.
Perhaps you should use multiple different fly catchers the more flies you catch the better as long as the traps work,choose the best long lasting fly traps,you should also try looking up how to make your own fly traps aswell!
I wish I could do a tractor like the one the mama duck is in. Its too hot down here in SC though. I do mine all in chicken wire and put a tarp over the back third.
We had two geese sit, only one really meant it. She sat on twelve eggs, we reduced it to six. Two were scrabbled, two hatched and unfortunately she crushed them, two are doing well. The father is looking after the family, aunties are a little frosty. I wasn't exactly sure what a saw then, but the conditions for your sitting goose looked awful. Where was the nesting material? Found that visiting her twice a day during the last ten days helped, bringing her food and water. Initially not that happy, but green leaves persuaded her. Important to build relationships, which includes letting the goose bite you - it's very informative.
You might chop the kitchen greens a little more. I lost some Marans teensagers when they started eating long tough Johnson grass. It tangled up in their crops. Asking around on chicken forums and this seems to be a problem with Marans more than other breeds.
Toby is the goodest boy ever and Abby just doesn't have that same calm obedience. But it's not Abby's fault she just doesn't have the same good breeding as Toby. She's trying 🥺
Adding to the insect control suggestions: Fly Tape and weeds native to your area that flies don't like? (Idk your locality and growing zone for more specific suggestions. I've learned to love Marigolds since moving to USA Zone 6 where I somehow still get mozzie bites in winter ^.^;';; EDIT: Wathcing though; travelling flystrips on the travelling shade thing are good!! If it's cost+labour-effective, throw one or two on 'shepherds crooks' along the current fenceline? Walk-by brushies with a new comb/brush has been helpful for getting our stubborn doggos used to new grooming gear. Might be good for the cows? Three scritches with the off-hand, a brish or two with the brush-hand then finish off with familiar scritchies to get them used to the feeling? (I'm from sheep country Coastal Otago and guessing on the fly ^.^;;)
A good mama is definitely worth her weight in gold! We had a great little Bantam who raised and nest full after nest full of baby chicks and ducklings. She would kill rats that went after her chicks and kept her babies safe snug and warm. The cost of using a brooder and heat lamps can get expensive and is a lot more maintenance. I sure do miss a little Pecky. We recently tried hatching naturally with another new chicken that was determined to be a mother but as each chick hatched she would kill it. Some are born to be moms others think they want to be moms but just can’t. Unfortunately it happens with people too. Have an ex sister-in-law like that.
We have a black hen that hatched out 13 chicks under the play yard slide a few days after thanksgiving. We had no idea until we heard chirping! She did a great job and her daughters are with us to this day. A good mama is so nice! She did all the work for us.
as i watch hours of videos on homesteading it is shown that you rotate chickens after the cattle they root through the cow pies and eat the fly larva so then flys wont hatch to have such a abundance of out breaks
Hey Morgan, a good natural fly spray is easy to make. Just don’t spray it on your cats as essential oils aren’t good for kitties. Ingredients: 4 cups raw apple cider vinegar (or you can use white or regular apple cider vinegar) 20 drops rosemary essential oil 20 drops basil essential oil 20 drops peppermint essential oil 2 tablespoons liquid oil (olive oil, canola oil, or mineral oil will work) 1 tablespoon dish soap (natural kind like method for example) You Can use other oils such as eucalyptus but don’t use citrus oils as they’re not the best for this. Mix this in a spray bottle and give it a really good shake before spring cattle on their bodies. If you can do this once a day it will help with the flies immensely and it’s natural and safe. I know it might be hard because they’re scared and don’t usually let you come near them so maybe it’s some thing you can try as they walk by you When you’re moving them to new pasture. Also making sure that the cow patties are spread out so there’s not as many for flies to lay their eggs because it is a very favourite place for them. Chickens are really good for helping with the eating of flies.
