goose housing?

[GoodEgg]

Hello all,

I can't find this topic in the search ... maybe I'm using the wrong terms, but I wonder if anyone can give guidelines on goose housing?

It's only to lock them up when I go to sleep, and I'll be letting them out in a.m. with the chickens. I just cant quite let my babies be out with no protection from predators while I'm asleep.

I have 3 baby geese ... it's looking like 2 Africans and now I'm thinking the white one is an Embden (I hope so!).

I was leaning toward 8 x 8 x 8 or possibly an 8 x 8 x 4 ... I'm still trying to figure out how to make what I've got into a house. Oh ... and since it's geese, the height too. What I have is 4' tall, and I may lean the sides in so it may come to less than that, plus if I make a sloping roof that will take some height from one end.

Any suggestions if that is large enough?

Edited to add ... I'm thinking of building the sides of lattice panels to provide good ventilation, but should still be safe from any larger predators? A weasel could probably get through though ... and for the roof I have corrugated plastic (or pvc?) panels. Mostly I just want to keep them out of thunderstorms and locked away from dogs and large predators at night. I can put tarps over the semi-open walls if I ever need to, but they don't seem to much care for having shelter anyway (except I think they'd walk into the house with us at night if we let them! They sleep on the porch after 10pm if we haven't brought them in yet!)

Thanks!

trish

 

[DuckyBoys]

Oh that sounds plenty big enough to me. My 4 (along with 5 ducks) stay in a 6x14 at night and they have plenty of room.

I am hoping, and I have heard that they prefer this, that they will stay out of the pen at nights eventually though. I built my pens for breeding and not all of them will be breeders of course. Many people provide a 3 sided shelter with a top of some sort, and just let them go in there when they want. Of course, they must be all grown up before you stop locking them up I think. I would worry about growing goslings out all alone.

I have a pretty big barn that has to have one door open at all times for my donkeys, so hopefully the geese will wander in and stay there at night when I stop locking them up. The thing is - they LIKE being locked in that pen at night - geesh they are creatures of habit.

 

[GoodEgg]

Thanks for the answer! I had thought that would be big enough, but I wanted to make sure there wasn't something about their behavior when they grow up I didn't factor in.

I guess mine will be sort of like a 3-sided, but pretty open in warm weather. I'm planning to put lattice panels for the sides and back, and probably welded wire on the front. Unless I cut it down to 4 x 8, and I can make all 4 sides lattice.

Mine are getting into a habit too, I guess. I still bring them in at night. I USED to put all 3 of them in a large cardboard box. Now each one sleeps in a large rubbermaid tote. I usually bring them in last, around 10pm. I'm out there from about 9 - 10 getting everyone locked down and settled in. If I'm not out there "on time" ... they climb the steps and lie down against the back doors.

(Last night I went to a friend's house for a meeting the next town over, and I didn't make it home till almost 11 ... there is goose poo all over my back porch today!

)

Thanks again for the info.

trish

 

[greyfields]

I have duck/goose shelters which are 8' by 8' by 5'-6' (the roof slopes). I put them on 10' long 4x4 skids so I can move them around. It's very easy to train them to "go to bed" at night and mine are usually waiting in the shelter for me to close up the door. Waterfowl are awesome.

 

[GoodEgg]

Thanks, greyfields.

I love my baby gooses.

(Hope you don't mind, I borrowed your phrase for one of my blogs!)

They ARE awesome. But today ... for some reason the ducks are terrorizing them. I'm surprised, usually the babies bite anyone who scares them. But somehow the drakes got the upper hand and are chasing them today.

If this doesn't stop REAL quick, I will have to be building that duck pen now.

trish