[garden cottage]

hello all, hope this isnt a daft question but this is the first year weve had geese and their looking good for xmas however have noticed a lot of flying practice recently do we need to clip wings or one wing? or is it all show?       neil

[MrRee]

You need to clip their wings!!  Mine were showing off,flying up and down the paddock,even managed a few turns before landing again. Next thing I know,4 of them had overshot the fence and landed in a 6 acre field of 10 foot tall maize. It's much easier to clip their wings than to leopard crawl for 3 hours trying to round them up!!!
 Tip; only clip one wing

 ......... Ree

[doganjo]

Can we have some instructions for the newbies and scaredypies amonst us please?  I will happily trim 2 and 3 week old baby puppies nails but I'm a tad scared I do some harm to my birdies

[garden cottage]

Thanks mr ree will do them tomorrow, re annies post have only clipped ducks wings up to now, catch your birdy stretch out the wing using strong scissors cut the long flying feathers feel for the edge of wing if not sure use your fingers as a cutting guide, as mr ree says cut one wing it will thro them out of balance. wont be able to take off. i think geese will be a two man job though!     neil

[stephen]

when we had geese we held them upside down (accross the lap) with a tea towel over their head, be carefull not to get wacked in the face by a wing tho as it stings just a bit!!!! 

[MrRee]

OK.... I'm right-handed,so this is how I did it. Picked up the goose so it's neck was under my left arm and facing backwards,tail out in front of me. Put my right knee on the floor and sat the goose across the thigh of my left leg and pulled the bird in close to me. This frees up my right arm/hand,and with a little pressure from the back of my left upper arm,held the goose in place. Then it's a simple matter of extending the gooses right wing (I like the idea of them flying in a counter-clockwise fashion) and snipping away trying not to catch the skin. It's also a good time to check them over for mites,sexing them if ya know what to look for (I don't), et al before placing them back on the floor gently.
  If you've ever sat next to the window of an airplane and looked at the flappy bits that stick out and move at the back of the wing,then that's what ya supposed to be trimming off the gooses wing......... Ree

[garden cottage]

Thanks for that mr ree, wings are done no problems, assuming youve eaten some of your geese how long do you hang them for before they go on the plate, also killing method if possible cheers neil