Help Please! Goose taken in broad daylight while....

[Cameron03]

gators get into rock querys out here in fl

 

[tatum123]

Oh, and I guess I should be saying large pond rather than a lake. It is just a small part of the larger lake - but we get all the wildlife of what you see at a lake due to the woods and the larger connected lake, so I tend to call it our small lake rather than pond. lol - Sorry if I left anyone thinking it was a much larger body of water. (blushes)

 

[ChickenLegs13]

If it wasn't carted away by something feline, canine, or avian which should have left feather evidence, and there's no gators in Texas and the snapping turtle didn't do it, then either bigfoot got it or it went broody and is sitting on a hidden nest in the woods.

 

[Primo]

Beautiful place! Don't take this the wrong way, I grew up in Massachusetts. Lakes to me were always large bodies of water. Anything smaller than say 100 acres were considered a pond. So when you said lake I thought it might be possible there were gators. (still might be if the conservation lake is in the trinity watershed). Anyhow, predators are everywhere even in the suburbs. This should not influence whether you keep the birds you want to or not. The predators are around no matter where you live and will always be a risk. As far as not seeing it, I am an avid hunter and all my years out in the field I have only witnessed one predator attack. It was just a hawk gliding in and landing on a rabbit. Believe me predatory animals are so quick and good at what they do, if you saw it then it was a mistake or you just got lucky.

 

[Primo]

Well I posted and didn't read your retraction about "lakes". Really I did not want to come across that way. Truly if I had any water on my place I would call it "lake Primo" and not give a **** what anyone thought. Go get some more geese.

 

[aart]

Predators can often work around human activity, they are fast, sneaky and smart.

 

[tatum123]

Primo - Yeah, well in Texas to me that is a lake (considering Texas seems like the desert at at 110 degrees sometimes) lol - and yeah, I know it is a pond, but to me a large pond here in Texas is still a lake, since there is actually water in it most of the time So we TOTALLY agree!! LOL
I did not take it the wrong way, and actually did the redaction since I realized that this is not just a local forum in my area, and in other parts there are actually real lakes. hehehe....
I get it about the predators being everywhere, but well, I feel very responsible for my animals, and I feel so guilty when something happens to them. I often can't sleep at night, so for me it is as much of a - can I live with myself - sort of thing. It makes me really sad, even though I understand that everything wants to live, and has to eat to do so.
My husband is a hunter, and my only request is that he make it a clean, quick kill or don't take the shot, and when fishing do a quick dispatch of the fish. I just don't like to think of anything suffering a long drawn out kill, or laying somewhere injured and I can't find it.
So what really bothers me the most is having no idea what happened to her.

If she had gone broody, the male goose would be pretty much lurking really near the nest. He has never left one of his girls when they are laying, so I can't imagine he would just hang around the edge on our side of the pond and acting really leery of being very far from the bank and our side of the house. Something got her, but it is strange not to see any evidence of the kill.

 

[tatum123]

Maybe we should get some guineafowl ? Wonder if they would be a good investment as watchdogs. We do have tons of owls, hawks, kestrel, and other birds of prey around here. I would not want to be setting them up as just another food source for the big birds. And not sure if they could stay here and sleep in the trees, or if they would need a particular shelter.
We really want chickens (we have been wanting to get some Campine, Catalana, Lakenvelder, or the likes (some of the threatened breeds) just to have around and maybe share with other chicken keepers, to help keep those breeds in circulation a bit more.

When I was growing up, we did have tons of chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, guinafowl, guina pigs, rabbits and SO much more we even had peacocks! My mom loved having that sort of stuff (even though we had a large lot in the city) lol Drove all the neighbors crazy!!
But in the city, we really did have any major issues with things killing our critters. They were in a chain link fence, and the biggest predator was my mom and a frying pan!! hose
I would love to have to have tons of those sorts of things around here, and that is why I bought the 23 acres, but I am just not sure I want to see stuff being killed all the time.

 

[GuppyTJ]

Yup, it's tough on us backyard hobby farmer types. I'm maybe like you this way, somewhere between treating my chickens as pets and production farm animals. I have gotten as far as preparing 6 extra cockerals for the dinner table which I wasn't easy but I was determined to do it. We've eaten 5 of the 6 so far and I can honestly say I've never been more appreciative, grateful or understanding of what an animal gives before.

Every day, when I lock the chickens in their secure coop at night, I think to myself, "Today was a good chicken day. No one died." EVERY night I think this. Whenever anything happens to one of my chickens (like illness), it's a terrible chicken day. And predators are a constant risk. Sooner or later, I know in my heart, it will happen. I free range on the edge of 3,000 acres of forest with my closest neighbor a mile away. I have 3 dogs that are outside most of the day but the chickens and barn are about 1/4 mile from the house. So, the chickens are by themselves for a several hours at a time. Sooner or later... I'm just hoping for later.

I free range which is a choice, no fence, no run, just the secure coop at night. I try to run the dogs around the barn regularly and even cut a trail just above it so we can walk it regularly. I just last week rescued an Anatolian Shepherd mutt from the kill shelter and he's a HUGE help. But, still, I worry and try not to because I try to face the facts.

Anyway... it's hard to accept but predator loses are a part of the choice when we free range. We can just do what we can to deter predators (guineafowl, dogs, guns, etc.).

Guppy

 

[tatum123]

Yeah, I do free range on the geese. I got them from a dog rescue group on petfinder. I was really clear when asking her if they were predator wary, and telling her there are tons of coyotes where we live and that they would be living on the lake, and the lady said yes, that they live around tons of rescue dogs and that they have made it just fine even with the aggressive dogs around. She said that all she asked of me was that I not eat them. I told her not to worry, I would never eat my pet geese.
I feel horrible that we have lost two of the five in just over a year. Both to predation.

I am currently making my second (they would not use the first one, but the turtles love it) floating platform to try to get them to stay in a safe place at night. They will probably not use it either, but this time I am trying to make it a bit different, using pea gravel and quickcrete to give it a gravel floor feeling (then I will add some dirt to the top to make it feel a lot more like land). I figure that when the husband did the last one, it probably set too high off the water, and also it was just too open. This one will feel much like a piece of floating land when I am done with it, and I will tie it off in the area where they like to hang around, keeping it secured out there in the water. Not sure it will work, but it is worth a try.
I have added outdoor lighting that keeps the lake a bit brighter at night, so they can at least hopefully see what is lurking out there in the wooded area.

Guns so far have not been very effective, (can't see them hiding in the thick brush to get a good clean shot) but everyone in our home are great with firearms, even my daughter who I started taking to the range with me when she was just around ten. Actually her high school sport was marksmanship! So we girls are pretty prepared if the hubby is at work. The only thing we have seen that needed removing so far was a copperhead on our trail.

I think the next thing to maybe try to add is the gunia's maybe they will be loud enough to scare stuff off. Having said that, I am going to be heartbroken if they become just food for hawks and owls.
I wish there was something I could use that I knew would keep the geese more safe. I thought about adding a fence with a coyote roller http://www.a1steelfence.com/coyote-rollers.html
but then I know I will be keeping the other wildlife from having access to the lake, so that does not seem ideal either.
It seems it is just a loosing battle, and I have not figured out a way to beat the odds of loosing pets yet.