Letting geese out of their pen for the day

[HeatherUribe]

We have three wonderful Chinese geese. Supposedly 2 females and a male. We bought them sexed from an online hatchery and received them by mail when they were just a few days old. They are almost full size now (born in April) with just a little down left. We keep them in a kennel outside and give them a small pool to swim in, but have been wanting to let them free during the day. They have really bonded with us and are very friendly, let us pick them up, put our hands around their necks, and they love to give us nibbles. In fact, our bulldog, Lulu, always comes with us for feeding and she'll stand so the geese can give her nibbles down one side of her body, then she'll flip around so they can do it to the other side...it's the funniest thing to watch.

We have kept them in the kennel because they were babies, but now that they are almost full grown, would it be okay to let them out to roam around? We live on a farm (11 acres, although I doubt they'd wander the whole thing.) They'd most likely stay close to the house where the dogs hang out.

 

[larkflying]

They would do best with a larger area with fencing. For many reasons - their own security, your peace of mind, stray dogs/coyotes, the security of any special plants, your neighbors/visitors protection and the safety of your houses structure --- in my experience, out of our 70 acres, our geese will head straight for the place we'd most like them to stay out of . . .

The biggest is safety. We had a loose dog break into our chicken house and slaughter chickens. It was terrible - for us and the kids. There was no warning - just happened unexpectedly. We would feel worse about the geese - since we are more attached to them and their funny personalities.

Geese like to taste / chew on many things, including hoses, cables, wiring, and even siding. Mine have slowly teethed through the plywood on the corners of the chicken house, in addition to nibbling thoughtfully on the gutters, and whatever random things happen to be in the yard.

Geese also like to artistically prune plants -- they might not eat them, but they have no problem shaping them into new forms . . . something that the expensive border plants might not be able to survive - or the neighbors landscaping. They will also chew on the bark of trees and nibble on raspberry canes, eat the new growth off evergreens, and in general investigate everything. Even as adults they are much like teething puppies . . .

As geese get older they want to protect their environment. Some birds are more enthusiastic about this than others. If yours decide that the driveway is off limits to all cars but yours, and the UPS driver comes up to deliver a package, there could be some issues . . . Most people don't know much about geese and a large angry gander is pretty intimidating.

I'd recommend slowly increasing their range. If you don't feel like predators are an issue, you can fence in a larger area around their main house with anything from woven wire to the plastic chicken netting (although I strongly recommend wire fencing - search dog attack on this site) to give them more independence without letting them have complete freedom. Then, if you are home for the day or outside working on things you can let them out of that area to wander where ever they would like. Our geese grew up with the fence and they now look for it as "home." If they are out and can't see us, they will march right back to the fence to put themselves in. Wish the chickens would do that!

Goslings are so charming! Yours sound like very fun little ones -- it is so nice when the dogs don't mind them. Post pictures of them and the dog . . .

 

[HeatherUribe]

Here is Lulu, our bulldog, and our three geese, Lucy, Nibbles (the gander), and Spot, giving the dog her nibble massage. The dog leans her head away to protect her eyes and inner ears, but the geese have a real go at everywhere else on her, including her lips sometimes. It's quite a spectacle! I have never seen a dog tolerate this before, let alone seek it out. Lulu has surprised us on more than one occasion, though. She's a goofy little English bulldog!

I had no idea the geese were going to be as much fun as they are either. Lucy, the smallest one, has really taken to me, although I have to be careful when I'm bending over around her. (Like when I'm dumping over their pool water or something.) On more than one occasion she has honked me "where the sun doesn't shine", if you get my drift. We just love the geese and can't wait for them to start mating and give us some more babies next spring.

 

[Miss Lydia]

What a sweet pic.

 

[larkflying]

What a tolerant dog! How sweet!