African geese

[Shewolfe]

So I just got a pair of African Geese. Literally yesterday. My very first ever. They just got laying age. I know nothing of them. I got a pair of white Chinese goslings the day before. Again my very first. I am ignorant as to how to care for them. I just know that they need a shelter for night and can waddle around during the day foraging. My big question is how soon can I turn them out of the pen and let them enjoy the pasture? Can anybody tell me how long it takes them to adjust to a new environment please please please? I hate to see them locked up. Thank you so much in advance!

 

[Berd Man]

So the African adults should be fine outdoors year round. if your experiencing windchill well below zero they may benefit from a shelter during the winter months. Also, during those winter months when grass / pasture is covered by ice or snow they will need some feed. All flock or flock raiser should do the trick.

For goslings as long as it’s warmer than 50 degrees F outside I let them have a baby pen/ tractor and then put them under protection from owls at night. They’ll need a heat lamp if it’s cool at night and they can’t huddle together and keep warm. The goslings will eat flock raiser too and if you’re worried they need vitamins, access to pasture never hurts and you can also add some brewers / nutritional yeast to their flock raiser.

Everyone does something a little different when it comes to raising geese. My adults do not get fed at all unless there is snow or ice over grass. I try to wean goslings off the high protein feed by week 3-4. You may be able to do something similar depending on your climate and how fast pasture grows. I will say that pasture is very different from “lawn sod”… pasture has weeds, legumes, taproots, etc… these items are preferred by all geese. They’ll eat lawn grass if it’s all they have.

Good luck with your geese! Feel free to post their mugs around here