Goose pastures, pictures and experiences, please

[Cottage Rose]

Quote:
Oh yes, they get closed in every night without fail.
We have too many coyotes, fox and coons that would like to eat my beloved geese.
A couple of times some of my Muscovy drakes refused to go in for the night...
next morning gone without a trace or found with heads chewed off.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Quote:
Oh yes, they get closed in every night without fail.
We have too many coyotes, fox and coons that would like to eat my beloved geese.
A couple of times some of my Muscovy drakes refused to go in for the night...
next morning gone without a trace or found with heads chewed off.

YIKES! Yeah I have no problem putting them each night...it would be a good excuse to get out of the house...in the winter, not so much! LOL But we don't have cougars in the winter (the follow the deer down to the lower elevations) but the coyotes are here year round. The geese are currently in an uncovered pen but we haven't had any issues because of the dogs.

 

[Cottage Rose]

Quote:
We don't have any outside dogs to keep predators away so thats why I close mine in every night.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Well I think I got the go ahead---well....sort of...DH didn't say no--which to me means YES!

I told him I wanted a large pasture area for the geese which they can graze in and his response was, "Does that mean they don't need to come out and sh*t on the lawn?" I told him yes--if the area was large enough not to turn to dirt or become overgrazed, they wouldn't have to be turned out at all. His response was, "Good!" So it sounds like I go!

I also found a man who mans shelters for $250.00 which would be perfect for a trio or quad of geese. I would just need to put some finishing touches on it and have DH build a door so they would be locked in every night. But I might be able to make my DH build me something similar for less money (this one is a 6 hour round trip away + gas money + the cost of renting a flat bed trailer for $60/day).

 

[mominoz]

I use a self draining hydrant and a long hose with quick connects (metal) on it and I drain by putting the end of the hose downhill and making sure there are no loops to hold water at night. But we don't have many days when it freezes solid, (those heated buckets or trough heaters can use alot of electricity.... I have fruit trees and have small ring of fence around all trees and shrubs they want to nibble on...(hollies and cypress don't get chewed on.) Yep, separate pens for ganders , maybe not the first year, but the second is when mine grew up