Merlin’s Magical Menagerie

03/06/2026

*Update: Rehomed 🥰

Proven trio of unrelated American geese. The male (hatched 2022) is blue split to buff and the two females (hatched 2021) are lilac. Friendly but territorial. Will take treats from your hand and alert to perceived threats. They were hand-raised by me and are my own lines.

Will produce goslings in both genders in all the colors; Gray, Blue, Silver/Lavender, Lilac, Cream, and Buff. The last photo is some of their 2023 offspring.

I would love them to go to a breeder as passionate about preserving their heritage as I was.
Rehoming fee reflects their rarity.
Located in Skagit Co.

05/20/2024

I am in love with the latest hatch of muscovy ducklings 😍. I want to quit my job and just hang out with them all day 😂.

Dad is my bronze ripple split to lavender and chocolate and mom is my lilac cream (lavender + chocolate + blue) and my lavender hen, both moms split to bronze and ripple. There were 20 eggs and I split the giant nest into two smaller ones and the lavender mom went broody on ten eggs. The lilac cream is not the best at wanting to go broody, but man does she make some gorgeous ducklings. I think I even see porcelain (lavender + chocolate + bronze).

Both excited and overwhelmed at the prospect of watching these littles feather in. My favorite is the teeny tiny chocolate-ish one in the last four photos. I love how her tail is too big for her tiny-ness 😅.

03/13/2024

For those who have made private reservations or just for folks with a vested interest in what I do, I have officially set the first batch of American eggs. Hoping all goes well and I can start filling orders soon.

I hope to be able to reach out to those waiting for goslings soon, but in case I can’t get to it right away, consider this your official notification. Let the countdown begin 🥳🥰

05/23/2023

My lilac cream muscovy went broody on an unprotected nest. I couldn’t let the pigs out on pasture until I secured the calf hutch in which she laid. Each morning, I’d collect her eggs and put them in a safe area before letting the pigs out. Every evening after penning the pigs, I’d put her eggs back so she’d lay in the same spot. I thought I’d have more time to try to change her lay spot (she’s laid in three different areas in the past week) before she went broody. So instead of upsetting her routine, I farm-rigged the calf hutch. It looks horrible, but hopefully it keeps the pigs out 🤞🏻

05/15/2023

Five of the six colors in American geese. From left to right: Gray, Lilac, Blue, Buff, and Cream. Missing from photo: Silver.

Kind of bummed that of the twenty-something geese I currently have, I only have one Silver and she’s not feathered enough to make this photo shoot. I also only have one Gray. Interesting how the numbers work out.

In my continued effort to document the color progression while simultaneously trying to keep my numbers low, I will hold onto these five until the Silver goose can “earn her keep” 😂.

I have yet to see anyone provide documentation of all six colors in one photo.

05/15/2023

This is the day I’ve been looking forward to.

The back pasture is lush and in need of a trim. We’ve reduced our pig numbers to our original three AGH. The duck mamas in that part of the pasture have both hatched their ducklings so I can finally let the pigs out. The wallow that they and Merlin created and then expanded into a pond has deteriorated despite our best efforts to keep it looking nice and deep. The girls immediately started turning the dirt there. And then, of course, they had to clean up the bird food that the geese had spilled out from their feeder and left to go to waste. Seeing them back out on pasture doing what pigs do made my heart so very happy.

05/14/2023

I thought I was doing a controlled breeding. I thought I was aware of all the genetic variables at play in my flock. Life had other plans. After two years, I’m still discovering hidden genetics. And what was supposed to be a small, simple hatch of Black, Chocolate, Cream, and Lavender Muscovy ducklings, turned into something much more confusing. It’s not what I had in mind for this season, but I’m choosing to be excited about it. Apparently, it’s meant to be. Can’t fight fate, right? 😂

“Hello Bronze, where the flock did you come from?”

04/27/2023

04/27/2023

Here’s a Raven shenanigan from when she was younger. I don’t think I ever posted this anywhere. It’s kind of a Part 1/Part 2 video, but can also be viewed independently.

04/27/2023

These are the original photos from the post of Raven in all her photobombing glory

04/27/2023

I recently made a post from my personal page to a group called ‘Crap bird photography’ about my turkey, Raven. She received a lot of attention and it validated what I already knew which is that she is a pretty cool gal. But it also made me realize that I need to share a lot more stuff like this; the “oops”, the not-so-perfect side to farming, and particularly her shenanigans.

Raven will be three this summer and she’s mellowed out a bit, but she’s still very much in the thick of whatever is going on around here. I’ve temporarily eliminated my turkey breeding program, but I kept her and my original tom, Jack. They are basically pets.

Anyone who has visited the farm has been greeted and escorted by Jack, our male Royal Palm turkey. He has a lot of fans and almost everyone has stopped to take his picture. But despite what I’ve been telling her the past three years, Raven still firmly believes that absolutely everything is about her. She is the unsung hero here and that tune is about to change.

So by very popular demand (like seriously, threats to my physical well-being were made 😅), I present to you my very sweet, attention-seeking, “what’s in your hand, is that for me?” turkey.

Stay tuned for all the posts. I may have to quit my full-time job to document and post her shenanigans in order to appease her fans. 😂

04/17/2023

Cream!

I wanted to show my American Creams. These guys were hatched March 4th so they’re a month-and-a-half old. I had a sneaking suspicion since hatch that they were Cream just by process of elimination. I’ve had all the other colors (Buff, Lilac, Blue, Gray, and Silver/Lavender) and have documented them as they feather, but these two were different. There’s not a lot of information out there and I hope to publish my findings on my website in the near future in order to help other breeders.

I tried to capture decent photos of their eyes, which are blue, but the lighting wasn’t the greatest. Their maternal grandfather was a Buff who had blue eyes when he was younger and they eventually turned brown. The standard calls for brown eyes with American Buff geese. There is no standard for the other colors as they aren’t officially recognized yet by the American Poultry Association (APA) or any other organization. So I personally don’t consider their blue eyes a fault and whether they keep them or not isn’t as important to me as their temperament and body build.

For the record, with the colors that I breed for, I follow the guidelines set forth by the APA for American Buffs with my primary focus being on temperament. I have loved every minute of the four years I’ve been working with American geese and what I call my Color Conservation Project.