Goose lovers – please help!!

[Iain Utah]

No worries. How are they developing? Got any new pics?

Marty & Redev, how about yours?

By the way, anyone seen DutchChic lately? She too got buff, grey and brown african goslings from Carole. I wonder how all of hers are doing.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

The buffs are in the rear yard will get some new pics tomorrow (we should have the fence finished then. Three seem good, 1 is very questionable lol.

Dutch hasn't been on since before the massive wildfires and evacuation in OK.

 

[psue]

I talked to Dutch once after the fires. She was ok they missed her, but was having family stuff going on. She didn't say alot. Just that she was ok.

 

[Marty1876]

No worries. How are they developing? Got any new pics?

Marty & Redev, how about yours?

By the way, anyone seen DutchChic lately? She too got buff, grey and brown african goslings from Carole. I wonder how all of hers are doing.

Mine are doing great! All of them have filled out into the interesting statures of the dewlap toulouse. All finally have great laps between their legs, and are starting to develope those awesome neck dewlaps. I'll get some pics.

 

[LightningTFarm]

Lightening it depends on what is sharing the fence line. If you are subdividing and the horses will share the fence line use field fencing. if not you can go shorter.If its a perimeter fence I wouldnt go shorter ever as it makes it easier for dogs ect to go over.

Perimeter fence here is field fencing (no climb goat safe)
Interior we use 3' around the duck yards (for breeding) otherwise its 3.5- 4' temp panels we can set up and take down as needed.

our rear yard has chain link from the previous owners. We removed the top poles from it and the chickens cant see the top edge to jump up and over thus keeping them in the back.

Our perimeter is field fence, as well. I will go with 4' field fence just to be sure, even if it's to divide a pasture since there may be times when there's a horse on the other side. I appreciate the feedback. I got a 20% off coupon good this weekend at Sutherlands (a Southern, smaller version of Lowe's), so I'll be going over and picking up what I need to fix up the goose house and get the fencing. Nothing like a good coupon!! I'm thinking of putting skids under the goose house so I can tow it to wherever the grass is the most lush using either our tractor or the Mule. I am going to talk to my dad about how to put together a fence using field fence that we can take down easily, roll up, and then put back up around the house in the new location. That way, they've always got prime real estate. I'm trying to decide if I should use T-posts or step-on fence posts like you use with poultry netting. Anybody got an opinion on which would be best?

 

[Iain Utah]

Lightning, if you want to make a temporary holding pen that is easily movable for when they first arrive, I would recommend a set up like my special needs pen (which is 25' x 25'), using pvc pipe and wire mesh to make panels, ziptied to electric horse fence step in posts. However, you will find that as they figure out where home base is, ie grain, water, shelter, social interaction with their human, they do not stray. I would not even need fences with my geese if I did not have to worry about living on a fairly busy road. Currently, since the rescued juvenile dewlaps are in my personal dewlap group's yard, I have my guys in my front yard in a fence made of cheap alum tposts, 3ft chicken wire and zip ties. It certainly would not keep them contained if they wanted to escape, but they have no desire to try.

Here is a pic of the special needs pen:

 

[Iain Utah]

Oh... and Lightning... one other thing. You do not have to keep your geese separated from your horses, as they usually get along great together, assuming you have enough space for the geese to stay out of the horses' way. My free range geese share my horses' pasture. Just make sure their feed/water area is in an area that the horses cannot access and the ingress/egress is not a common traffic zone for the horses.

 

[1MrsMagoo]

Lightning, if you want to make a temporary holding pen that is easily movable for when they first arrive, I would recommend a set up like my special needs pen (which is 25' x 25'), using pvc pipe and wire mesh to make panels, ziptied to electric horse fence step in posts. However, you will find that as they figure out where home base is, ie grain, water, shelter, social interaction with their human, they do not stray. I would not even need fences with my geese if I did not have to worry about living on a fairly busy road. Currently, since the rescued juvenile dewlaps are in my personal dewlap group's yard, I have my guys in my front yard in a fence made of cheap alum tposts, 3ft chicken wire and zip ties. It certainly would not keep them contained if they wanted to escape, but they have no desire to try.

Here is a pic of the special needs pen:

VERY clever use of PVC pipe. That is awesome!!!!

 

[LightningTFarm]

Thanks so much for all the information. I am working right now on plans to make a rolling goose house and a fence we can pick up and move to where we want it. I want the fence not so much to contain the geese as to protect them, as sometimes there are packs of dogs who wander around here. I don't want to lose them to any predators. I was considering using the horse step-in posts as well, with T-posts on the corners. Do you find the step-in posts last very long? How long are your step-in posts?

Thanks!

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Iain, is hubby making more panels this week for the big round up? If ou ever want a large (length wise) panel add T's in the middle of the top and bottom lengths and run a verticle PVC for stability. Then you can have shorter and longer panels to build with. Think I am making a gate (like we talked about on the phone) to split the dewlap front area from the citrus trees and garden space.