Geese hate their house!

[SpeckledCoopQueen]

I'm curious, because I have 3 pairs of Pilgrim Geese ordered from Bell's Conservancy. Do you use separate sheds to house each pair during breeding season? (What size do you use? Does the size differ between varieties of geese, due to differences in aggressiveness? (I'm aware there may be differences within a variety, but just looking for general trends)

I have no experience in this because these are our only geese. We do want to get them girlfriends if we can get them under control and safe at night first. Don’t want to make the problem worse. Lol.

 

[Percheron chick]

Geese are not chickens and much prefer to sleep out in the open. Even in the snow, they will curl up in a ball and go to sleep. A nice bed of straw is more important than a roof. I have a 3 sided loafing shed for my goose coop and they pretty much only use it to lay.
I would set them up in a 6x6 dog kennel with a top. Only give them feed at night in the pen as bait to get them in. A head of romaine or chopped fruit will be irresistible and they will follow you anywhere. Chasing them around will only make it worse.

 

[SpeckledCoopQueen]

I wonder if the reason they don't want to go in has to do with size of the door? If the door was as big as the whole front square, I bet they'd go in easily. Ducks and geese are very spatially oriented. If something feels too small, they don't understand it will be bigger on the other side of the door. Their instinct kicks in to not get trapped anywhere they can't get out of. I see this with my ducks because twice a day we use two puppy pen panels with a hinge in between to make a smaller area to herd them into, so we can put them in totes and transfer them to vetween the coop in barn to movable pens. If I leave the opening too small, the ducks try to run outside the catch pen, but if I open it slightly more, they'll run right inside.

You can tell they are confused a lot of the time. They are able to be herded sometimes but will run right past it like it doesn’t even exist. We’re going to just throw together a simple little shelter but knowing my boyfriend he will won’t skip any beats. But need to make it asap so they can be safe at night! I worry every morning when I wake up and can’t find them. But usually they are over by the coop flirting with the chickens lol.

 

[SpeckledCoopQueen]

Great coop for a bantam flock. Just trying to help here.

Or a cute little barn kitty! It’s not completely out of use right now. Since the geese abandoned it a little vole moved himself in lol.

 

[SpeckledCoopQueen]

Geese are not chickens and much prefer to sleep out in the open. Even in the snow, they will curl up in a ball and go to sleep. A nice bed of straw is more important than a roof. I have a 3 sided loafing shed for my goose coop and they pretty much only use it to lay.
I would set them up in a 6x6 dog kennel with a top. Only give them feed at night in the pen as bait to get them in. A head of romaine or chopped fruit will be irresistible and they will follow you anywhere. Chasing them around will only make it worse.

Geese are not chickens and much prefer to sleep out in the open. Even in the snow, they will curl up in a ball and go to sleep. A nice bed of straw is more important than a roof. I have a 3 sided loafing shed for my goose coop and they pretty much only use it to lay.
I would set them up in a 6x6 dog kennel with a top. Only give them feed at night in the pen as bait to get them in. A head of romaine or chopped fruit will be irresistible and they will follow you anywhere. Chasing them around will only make it worse.

I am so over chasing them every night. I might look happy, but in all reality I’m just relieved it only took 30 minutes to catch this mister.

 

[HKG]

I asked him to make a little hut and he went and built a whole freaking mansion. Lol. I think we are going to make them a new shelter this week.. and hopefully it’ll take just a few hours. This house will be retired and gives us an excuse to find a new pet to house it.

Get a pygmy goat!!!

 

[Goosebaby]

Geese like to sleep in the open where they can see in all directions to spot predators, unless they’re nesting, then they do like to find a cave like space.

I don’t like mine out in the open in bad weather or at night so mine go into 10 x 6 ft to 10 x 10 ft dog kennels “roofed” at night. I have a dog travel crate in each of them for the girls if they feel like laying.

Geese do like routines, but you have to keep up on it or they’ll go back to wanting to be out in the open. You can try luring them out of the pond with treats, then guiding them to their house, tell them a simple but repeated word like “in in in” they’ll learn what that means.
It might help to move the house against a larger structure or put some boards up to help funnel them in.

Keep in mind geese need good ventilation in winter and summer. If it gets damp mold can grow, in summer it can get to hot to breath inside without ventilation.

 

[AGeese]

Ugh, anything to make bed time easier. Our closest neighbor is right across the street but we are back pretty far in the woods. He told me the other night he got home late and he could see someone running back by our house with a flashlight and could hear the geese putting up a fit lmao.

So it does sound like you might need a dog out there to watch things.

 

[AGeese]

I'm curious, because I have 3 pairs of Pilgrim Geese ordered from Bell's Conservancy. Do you use separate sheds to house each pair during breeding season? (What size do you use? Does the size differ between varieties of geese, due to differences in aggressiveness? (I'm aware there may be differences within a variety, but just looking for general trends)

Planning ahead yes, I will arrange a partition during the winter since I'm planning to let them mate. These are my first. I've cared for a neighbor's Embden for a time though. She showed up one day and adopted their ducks and we never saw any aggression.

 

[SpeckledCoopQueen]

Geese like to sleep in the open where they can see in all directions to spot predators, unless they’re nesting, then they do like to find a cave like space.

I don’t like mine out in the open in bad weather or at night so mine go into 10 x 6 ft to 10 x 10 ft dog kennels “roofed” at night. I have a dog travel crate in each of them for the girls if they feel like laying.

Geese do like routines, but you have to keep up on it or they’ll go back to wanting to be out in the open. You can try luring them out of the pond with treats, then guiding them to their house, tell them a simple but repeated word like “in in in” they’ll learn what that means.
It might help to move the house against a larger structure or put some boards up to help funnel them in.

Keep in mind geese need good ventilation in winter and summer. If it gets damp mold can grow, in summer it can get to hot to breath inside without ventilation.

Thanks for all the good info! Do you lock yours up at night completely or just give them their shelter to stay in?