adopting geese - and houseing

[SillyChicken]

I'm adopting 2 geese from a fellow BYC member. They are about a yr old. Is there anything I can do to make their transition easier? I want them to be happy in their new home.

I have an enclosed chicken pen and coop (although I think the coop may be too small and warm for their liking). I was thinking of converting an old dog house for them and giving them access to the run and/or free range to my pond and yard.

I'm open to suggestions!

 

[Goosehaven]

What kind of geese are you adopting? They will be very nervous for a few days so you definitely want to keep them contained at first. Once they are settled in they will be happier if they can free range safely during the day and then pen them up at night to protect them from potential predetors. I let mine out every morning and they willingly go in their pen at night because they have all learned the routine. I don't know how big your chicken pen is but geese require alot more room than chickens or ducks so if its not very big you might want to consider something else in the future. Good luck with your new geese!

 

[SillyChicken]

one african and one embden both (female) were raised together so they stay pretty close.

What you suggested is what I've been doing so far. I've only had them 2 days now so I was going to give them a week and then allow them loose. Currently they have free run of the chicken run, the chickens will stay inside (esp with the rainy weather) until the geese are allowed loose.

I figure that since they will have free run all day, I won't worry as much about a run for them. They wanted in the coop with the chickens in the worst way lastnight (they were raised with chickens). They were ok with the chickens, but my chickens were terrified. lol! I'm going to come up with seperate quarters for them later. I put a dog house with wood shavings in side the run for them during the day.. although they seemed to want to squeeze under the coop instead.... sillygeese!

Thanks for the info and replying to my post.