Ducks vs Geese with food and water

[SummerChick]

I chop the apple and carrot really small. Since they are larger now (month old) i don't have to chop as small.

 

[zooweemama]

Thanks SummerChick!!

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

The largest part of their daily diet should be outside grazing. They will be happiest and healthiest if outside grazing all day, and locked up at night or safety. Your daytime highs are perfectly fine for the, to be out all day long with nothing but water. Feed them when they come in at night. Pulling grass and chopping items for them is fine, but you won't ever provide as much as they want (keeping it fresh) as just putting the, outside.

Playpens can be adjusted as they grow. Hoop houses with shade cloth. Temp fence panels out of PVC and netting, hardware cloth,or chicken wire are all fine daytime pens. Some cover from the sun and fresh water and they will happy babies.

 

[zooweemama]

Today it's raining and in the 60s. Which is incredibly odd for us. No outside for them today. I have an area set aside for them but today is not a good day for them. They really is nothing for them to eat outside. The last time we mowed- the grass was already brown and it stays pretty trim and brown all summer long without any trimming. It's dead dead dead. They can totally go outside but for greens - I am afraid they will have to rely on me. There are a lot of greens in the pond- but I don't think geese are all that interested in pond greens? LOL Next Spring we will be working on putting in some grass- but middle of the summer with a giant bill from pond watering is killing us. Plus we have to fix the sprinkler system. This property was a repo- so we are trying to take it project by project. By next Summer we aim to have some grassy portions around the house and they can totally have at it. Attaching a picture of my yard in next post...

 

[zooweemama]

As you can see- not much for them to eat. This is what country land looks like in my neck of the woods. Summers are hot and dry. Without a lot of money and time and huge water bills - only people with lots of money or tiny yards have green grass here in California.



If it doesn't make sense - I blame autocorrect. Sent from my sweet iPhone 4s.

 

[zooweemama]

As you can see- not much for them to eat. This is what country land looks like in my neck of the woods. Summers are hot and dry. Without a lot of money and time and huge water bills - only people with lots of money or tiny yards have green grass here in California.
If it doesn't make sense - I blame autocorrect. Sent from my sweet iPhone 4s.

And the patches or weedy green you see? Not really grass. BUT it's there because of the ducks poop. It was NOT there last year. So the ducks poop has been SUCH a huge help.

 

[plantcityhomestead]

As you can see- not much for them to eat. This is what country land looks like in my neck of the woods. Summers are hot and dry. Without a lot of money and time and huge water bills - only people with lots of money or tiny yards have green grass here in California.
If it doesn't make sense - I blame autocorrect. Sent from my sweet iPhone 4s.

Wish I could send you the thunderstorm we are having right now. If that is typical of California, I'll stick with Florida. My geese can't keep up with all the green in the yard.

 

[zooweemama]

Wish I could send you the thunderstorm we are having right now. If that is typical of California, I'll stick with Florida. My geese can't keep up with all the green in the yard.

California has some varying weather areas. If you go even further North of me- just shy of Oregon you can hit some areas that do not look dead. But California generally speaking is not known for it's grassy splendor by any means. If you see green grassy yards- people planted it and spend time upkeeping it. Adding fertilizers and weed killers (weeds are insanely prevalent here) to keep it grass and not weedy (the most gorgeous grass without fertilizer and weed killer can go weedy fast). I have 4 acres and the 2 acres we actually use- at this time it's not possible to grass it and water it. 100-115 from July through September (and sometimes into October) and dry dry dry. Also low humidity. Water evaporates insanely fast. Our pond is already about half drained in a week- part from natural percolation and part from the hot temps we just had. The next few days are supposed to be oddly cool (not complaining!) so the ground got a kiss of wetness from our brief rain. We also had a bit of a drought this winter/fall...usually we get a lot of rain in the winter. It's pretty dry. So our ground here is thirsssty.

Enjoy your pretty green grass. The last time I had pretty green grass I lived in Ohio...almost 20 years ago. Grass doesn't even have to try to be green there. LOL

My mil used to have green grass. It was so pretty. She watered it almost daily, had a lawn guy that did her weeding and mowing on like 1/2 acre?...we don't have time to do that right now. Maybe one day with some of our land though!

ETA: People that live in the city usually have green grass. They have smaller yards. I don't know many country dwellers that try to 'lawn-ify' their acreages of land. So we have dirt dirt dirt and weeds.

 

[Habibs Hens]

i got my ducks and geese last week

ducks where day old and geese where 3 weeks

the ducks are messy but not with food but with water they will soak the brooder with water and i have to clean so not to give them hypothermia

the geese went straight outside and in a pen they are pretty ok untill i put in a bucket of water and man do they love it

half the time they dont drink it they dip their heads in it and splash it about

but i give the geese mainly daytime grass grazing

even turnt away my lawn mower man as i dont need him hehe

i love em all

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Zoowee, maybe set up a low rise raised bed you can grow grasses in and water it only for a spot for the Greece to graze. Since you only have two geese, you could make two and keep one off limits while they eat the other, then switch so the first can recover and grow tall again. Just a thought to keep them in grass. Oddly enough geese love anything green to munch on, weeds, grass, hay field, beans, peas. New green growth and they are all over it.

We have the opposit problem, the geese can't keep up with the growth rate of our grass. Still have more fencing to finish and will have another spot they can graze on.