Duck, duck, goose! Gander? Goose? What?

The raising of ducks and geese has become a frustrating endevour for me. Last year - two rather expensive orders from hatcheries and one free donation from a kind stranger left me with one Buff Orpington duck, two Cayuga drakes, one Pekin drake and one Tufted Roman gander (or is it goose? - I just can't tell!). Poor Augustus/Augusta lost his/her mate. Drusilla/Drusus was lost in a mystery attack a couple of months ago. The out-of control drakes have been harrassing him/her and Buffy the Buff duck for the last several weeks. It's almost embarrasing, really. I mean, if they weren't water fowl and all...

I read this article yesterday, and it made me think about my lone goose, and the gang of young drakes... So tonight I placed an order for 2 Tufted Roman Geese and one Gander, and 3 Buff Orpington Hens and one Drake. I had promised myself that I would not order chickens this year. Geese and ducks don't count, do they? Besides, we need chicks of some sort for our Second Annual Chickfest/Chickapalooza party in April. Hopefully soon, with a little culling of the unwanted Cayuga drakes, we'll have happy flocks. Prophetically, the Cayugas never acquired names. The new residents should arrive around the first day of spring.