How Do You Entertain a Goose in Confinement?

Sal had a landing accident last Saturday.  We didn't see what happened (however, the next day I found clues) At dusk I went to put the geese in their run and Sal was sitting near the trough and didn't get up to follow Cirrus.  I went over to see what was going on and saw a tuft of down hanging from her underbelly.  I scooped her up and found a gash where the skin was opened but no bleeding.  She acted calm like nothing was wrong.

Why is it always on a weekend that accidents happen?  I called our vet and was advised to call the exotic animal vet in Fishersville where she went the last time she got into trouble.  Come on, farm geese are not exotic animals.  You have a cow, sheep, horse, goat, pig, llama and a vet from our local clinic will make a house call but you want to bring a goose in and they hesitate big time.  They take care of dogs and cats too so I didn't think it was asking too much.  A goose is similar except it has wings and feathers and it wasn't the wings or feathers that were involved.  To be fair, the doctor said she would call me back in 15 minutes to make sure I was able to get ahold of someone at the other clinic.  This was after I suggested maybe I would try to sew her up myself.

John had left for New England that morning but Lyndy was still here from coming for Thanksgiving and I was giving thanks that she was here.  I was giving thanks too that we did have a place to take Sal.  On the way there I held Sal, who loves to drive in the car and look out the window, and Lyndy drove.  The whole way there I reminded myself of the good I was doing for the economy.  They always say the best way to help the economy is to spend money.

Back at the farm, Sal has been on pretty good behavior in her small area of the goose run.  She is separated from Cirrus by a cattle panel.  This way he can go in and out the other door of the run and not get Sal worked up.  He does go about his regular day but spends a fair amount of time by her door or on his side of the cattle panel in the run.  Cirrus gets to swim in the tub and pond and Sal has to just watch.  I can't wait until Monday when she can hopefully go in the tub.  She is so tired of taking a bath with her water bucket.  This morning she tried to get into it.

I feel so sorry for her not being able to go out and have fun on the farm.  I came in this morning and googled "entertaining a goose in confinement". Unfortunately, all the sites were about how entertaining a goose is and about confined geese vs free range.  I guess we should all just be glad that the confinement will be over soon.