Grass for geese questions

[Chicky-dees]

Thank you...I guess I've been a little over-protective since I received them 2 weeks ago. Ninya has had several leg issues and of course Charlotte is more active.
I take them out each morning and put them up each night. I have a portable pen that I move around to fresh grass each day.
I think they are bonded enough they would stay close to the house and barn. We have a two lane highway in front of the house. They would have to go thru a cable fence and over gravel to get to the front yard...
I'm thinking they will stay close to their water tubs and cooler areas. with out the temporary pen up.
We have a craw-dad pond that the wild ducks and Canadian greese frequent when they are here. It is within walking distance of the barn.

Coyotes do cross over our pastures......

Where is the smilie with the wringing hands?

Mine wander the garden all day and go to their pen at night - all I have to do is go out there and shut and lock the door (I use a snap type lock to hold the door latch closed - we have very creative racoons here). My geese used to live in a fenced area with trees that was about 80 x 60 feet, and has a goat house at one end. Their house was at the other end and very rarely would they venture to the other side of the pen and back - I guess it was just too open? Even with 5 foot tall rolled sheep wire? But in my garden (which is even larger) they will roam all over and I think it is because they have so much more foliage to hide in. So I think that if your temporary pen is surrounded by mostly open area, they might stay put. But if they have a bush or two to hide in every few feet or so, they might wander far from the house so keep an eye on them just in case. Mine don't hesitate to go into the horse pasture through some corral panels that we are using for temporary fencing on one section - and they will even go through two paddocks and go around to the driveway to meet me when I drive up, but only because they have little wild shrub plants and other weeds to hide behind as they go along.

 

[Chicky-dees]

Something else I find interesting - I wonder if anyone else has geese that do this? My birds have a baby pool that I will dump and refresh every few days and I always find the strangest foreign objects in their pool. Pieces of metal, sticks, rocks, all kinds of things. So one day I watched and saw one of my geese dig up a pretty red rock (a little smaller than a golf ball) and take it to the pool. Both of the birds played and played with it underwater all day. The next day I dumped out the pool and found more rocks and a couple of sticks. It's so funny! I have geese that won't eat grass, but they collect rocks.

 

[Winisk]

Well I have a tub with a drain thinking it would be smart so I wouldn`t have to flip it over all the time. I haven`t been able to use it much since my geese think the plug is a toy. They pull the darn thing out every time! So much for the bath. Good thing the pond doesn`t have a plug.

 

[plantcityhomestead]

Something else I find interesting - I wonder if anyone else has geese that do this? My birds have a baby pool that I will dump and refresh every few days and I always find the strangest foreign objects in their pool. Pieces of metal, sticks, rocks, all kinds of things. So one day I watched and saw one of my geese dig up a pretty red rock (a little smaller than a golf ball) and take it to the pool. Both of the birds played and played with it underwater all day. The next day I dumped out the pool and found more rocks and a couple of sticks. It's so funny! I have geese that won't eat grass, but they collect rocks.

If I can't find something small that I have left outside, the first place I look is the pool. Those geese are little thieves.

 

[Goose and Fig]

Quote: We have a mixture of perennial rye and fescue, and some spots are bermuda.
I do the wheat grass in the beds and when they it mow really low, I put the garden fence back around it til it comes back. and open up antother box. It does really well in fall and spring, especially. Nice to see something fresh and bright green like that in the winter too. I swear if we get a few warm days it shoots up even in January. Its like $14 for a 50lb bag at the co-op, and you can feed the grain straight to the birds too if you want.
I just use the 2ft or 3 ft high green snow-fence looking stuff and hold it in with tomato stakes. Keeps even the chickens out most of the time.

 

[Goose and Fig]

Quote: We had an outdoor shower in the garden for a couple years. One time my clean clothes went missing and they had scattered them all over the yard,.
.

 

[NanaKat]

We have open pasture on two sides of the garden...sounds like they will decide to stay close there....that would be wonderful.

Quote: We have a mixture of perennial rye and fescue, and some spots are bermuda.
I do the wheat grass in the beds and when they it mow really low, I put the garden fence back around it til it comes back. and open up antother box. It does really well in fall and spring, especially. Nice to see something fresh and bright green like that in the winter too. I swear if we get a few warm days it shoots up even in January. Its like $14 for a 50lb bag at the co-op, and you can feed the grain straight to the birds too if you want.
I just use the 2ft or 3 ft high green snow-fence looking stuff and hold it in with tomato stakes. Keeps even the chickens out most of the time.
Thank you...that is helpful.

 

[Holly31]

Hi Geese folks,
I have two ducks and a goose that spend overnight in a 10 x 10 pen where the goose has started a nest. Since they LOVE to come up on the patio, look in the doors, and subsequently poop on the cement, my husband has instigated a no-poop zone and they are relegated to part of our land by the horses. There is very little grass out there. Being in the desert we don't grow grass just for fun, it is all by design. I would like to plant them a mini pasture, maybe 20 x 20, much smaller than the 70 x 30 we have that they graze near the house. We have very little water to waste, but can irrigate every day in the summer and 2-3 x a week in the winter.
What should I plant? I am looking at drought grasses, such as wheatgrass, orchard grass, fescues and bromegrass - these grow here without flooding the space. Ryegrass also is good with little water. But will the goose be able to make do with these varieties? I supplement the 3 with lowest protein veggie based dog kibble I can find (Alpo).
I don't want any grasses that are phytoestrogened like zoyosia for drought tolerance, as these cause infertility in female animals that eat them. Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

[pet lady]

Hi all, this is my first time raising geese. I have three Emden geese, with one I think is a gander. They are snow white, except the gander which has developed a little bit of gray throughout his back. They are large with deep orange peaks and blue eyes. Fun raising them, I think they imprinted on me. They follow me everywhere, recognize my voice, recognize my face, and when they get too loud talking to me, I go shhhhh, stop, and they do. Pretty funny, huh, If I get too busy and take too long cleaning out their kiddie pool they start pulling on my shorts for their chicken scratch every morning. I drink my first cup of coffee out in the field with them. Only downside is that they are a bit messy. We live in Southern Oregon, on east side and surrounded by the Cascade Mountain Range. In the bowl here, temperature can get down to minus 10-20 for several nights in a row. I am think of building an A-frame lean- to next to the chicken coop, give them a heat lamp and a kiddie pool with maybe an under water heater similar to what is used in ponds just outside of the A-frame. I had chickens before and gave them oatmeal during cold days. Cooked store brand oatmeal in some water, let it cool a bit and they thought that was the best thing. Who would have thought chickens like oatmeal. Guess you can fix them cream of wheat also. No sweetners or other stuff added.

 

[poultrypals]

Desert goose keepers! We are attempting to use turf until we can invent some kind of plantingbed for home grown goose grasses. Does any one have a suggestion for grass varieties that wil grow in the so. AZ desert with alittle TLC? poultry pals