How long will Canada Geese stay?

[PoultryFanatic22]

If one was to hatch and raise Canada Geese, anyone have any idea how long they would stay around?

 

[Goosebaby]

As long as they choose. If they have an available food source and a nice climate year round they may stay.

Keep in mind that unless you purchased them from a licensed breeder canada geese are protected under the migratory bird treaty and so are illegal to keep.

 

[PoultryFanatic22]

As long as they choose. If they have an available food source and a nice climate year round they may stay.

Keep in mind that unless you purchased them from a licensed breeder canada geese are protected under the migratory bird treaty and so are illegal to keep.

I definitely have no intention on keeping them. I don’t pen or confine them in any way, and want them to be free and do as they please.

They were given to me as eggs after a neighbor’s lab killed their mother while trying to protect her nest.

The climate here in California is mild. I have grown very fond of them and am hoping they will stick around the property.

 

[Jenbirdee]

Wow beautiful videos!

 

[MGG]

They will probably stick around until fall and then join up with a wild flock of geese to migrate. Do you have a pond or lake? If you do and you put out feed there's a chance they'd stay all year.
Good job rescuing them, they look great.

 

[PoultryFanatic22]

They will probably stick around until fall and then join up with a wild flock of geese to migrate. Do you have a pond or lake? If you do and you put out feed there's a chance they'd stay all year.
Good job rescuing them, they look great.

Thank you! Yes I have a seasonal pond that fills up in the winter. I’m planning on putting some liner down to make it permanent. I do have several pools available for them though. They definitely know where to go when they are hungry lol. I leave feed out for my free range muscovies and chickens which they always help themselves to

We have seen wild flocks fly by and so far they have shown some interest but not a whole lot. I am amazed at their ability to return home. Their flights are much longer now, about 10 minutes. They also go very far, as far as the eye can see

 

[Goosebaby]

Sounds like they’re still practicing. Their flights will get longer and longer. At some point they might be spending a day or more away and then returning.
Sometimes wild geese will migrate shorter distances, like to a local wetland or lake, then return to their home range if the weather worsens wherever they went to.
I‘m not sure what part of the state you’re in but the geese up here in the mountains where I’am will head down to the rice fields in the winter, if the weather is good they’ll come back up to Lake Oroville or any of the smaller lakes and ponds in the area, then head back down to the valley before a storm comes in, so with migratory geese it isn’t always an extended migration up or down to another part of the continent hundreds or thousands of miles away, a lot of times it’s more of a nomadic semi local lifestyle. You might see them periodically off and on.