Ive raised call ducklings in a brooder and now I have to goslings. 1 is a male pilgrim (Gus Gus) that I hatched myself and the other is supposed to be a toulouse (Despero) that I bought at a feed store to keep him company. Are they as messy as ducklings? The ducklings played and spilled there water at every chance.. Is this going to happen with my new babies? Any hints and advice is greatly appreciated on raising these guys to keep them as tame as possible. Ive never had geese before.
My experience is that they are not as bad as ducks, but they are messy. They don't wash everything like ducks do.
About as bad, but the piles of poop are bigger. I used a gallon jug with a hole in it for them to get water out of, it helped a little.
I really think ducklings are a bit worse than goslings, but they can both be pretty messy. Finding a way to keep the water clean and in it's container goes a LONG way toward keeping the brooder cleaner. Something with a hole they have to stick their heads into is helpful.
I just bought 5 yesterday and have never had them before either ,, so ,,pppllleeeaaasssee , keep advising ,, mine turned from yellow to dark brown overnite , brought them to mama's kitchen sink got the water warm and rinsed them off ,, then found out that it was the WRONG place to wash geese ,,hey there was warm water there ,, what could be wrong with that . mine are white chineese ? yellow till tonight .
LOTS of absorbent bedding, changed as often as necessary, water they can't get into in the brooder, food NOT too near the water, and if you feel you must bathe them make sure they are not in the water long and dry fully. I've used all kinds of things for bedding. My favorite for the goose's sake was absorbent towels with NO loose strings, but it was not a nice job to clean them. For ease of cleaning, I prefer Aspen shavings in a kiddie pool. You can scoop out wet bedding easily and replace it with dry. Depending on your setup, raising feeder and waterer up on flat stepping stones can be a good idea.
I have both geese and ducks and sorry to relate but the geese are just as messy ( as you have probably found out by now ) - their poop is usually looser than duck poop and they love to "express" themselves in their water too - hang on a minute.... my ducks and chickens do the same - now tell me - how does a chicken poop in a waterer? There doesn't seem enough room for them to do it... but they still do.... they even stand on top of the waterer and poop all down it! My geese and ducks are usually brown when they emerge from their respective houses in the morning - luckily we have a mill pond here and they clean themselves up in no time - a sink in the house is NOT a good idea.....!!! Good luck!!!
