Housing question

[zooweemama]

I have a kennel that is 36 inches tall, 47 inches long and about 26 inches wide. My geese are almost 5 weeks old. They are outside all day long (about 40x12 feet I wanna say) in an enclosed yard- with a pool, fresh food and water. They are walked every morning around the yard (before walking them into their pen) and every evening (I mean outside of their pen) and we bring them back inside and put them in a large tote with fresh bedding, food and water until morning and we start it all over. I've decided I do not want to put them the ducks. We will be putting lay boxes in soon and that is going to take up some very valuable space.

They got a long fine with chickens but I do not want to keep them in there either. It's all dirt floor.

We have a fully enclosed back porch and this kennel (described above)- for night time only how long could they last in this kennel? We just finished the chicken coop and we have to finish moving out of our old house so we will be busy for the next couple of weeks- no time to build a goose house right now. We will but I am hoping to squeeze a month maybe out of this kennel? I don't mind changing the bedding and they don't mind walking up the stairs to the porch now as it is. It's already routine.

Thanks for your input!

 

[plantcityhomestead]

Geese grow fast, as you already know. You are not going to get another month out of that kennel without it being very tight. If it gets uncomfortable for them, I think it would be better to put them in with the chickens for a short time. They don't need water at night, so they should be OK on the dirt floor. When I only had 2 geese, I used a 4x8 dog kennel at night. If you can't get their house built in time, maybe you can use a dog kennel. It was the right size for 2 geese. My geese are 10 weeks old now and they are nearly adult sized.

cindy

 

[zooweemama]

Thanks Cindy!

Maybe I will buy myself 2 weeks while hubby gathers materials for the goose house. Out of ALL the birds we have so far I am most sad about them being away from me. They have been in the house for 4 weeks. I want them close by. What a ninny! Hubby said he can build something with some wood and we have some leftover hard ware cloth for venting. The tub they are in- this is their last night. I swear they have grown from this morning to tonight! And more feathers than this morning. I am not even kidding. I will miss seeing their sweet little faces when I get my coffee in the morning and they talk to me and then I walk them out in my jammies to their yard. LOL

 

[SummerChick]

Zoowee- I know how you feel! I love hanging out with my goosies! I hate to leave them to go to work each day. On weekends I get to spend more time with them! I know it's hard on you to move them outside and they are use to being inside so they might not like being out there at night until they realize that is where they should be lol.

Good luck

 

[plantcityhomestead]

Thanks Cindy!

Maybe I will buy myself 2 weeks while hubby gathers materials for the goose house. Out of ALL the birds we have so far I am most sad about them being away from me. They have been in the house for 4 weeks. I want them close by. What a ninny! Hubby said he can build something with some wood and we have some leftover hard ware cloth for venting. The tub they are in- this is their last night. I swear they have grown from this morning to tonight! And more feathers than this morning. I am not even kidding. I will miss seeing their sweet little faces when I get my coffee in the morning and they talk to me and then I walk them out in my jammies to their yard. LOL

Believe me, you will still get that kind of reaction from them, and they will stay close, even after they are moved outside. Mine still tell me about everything and I get to watch them grazing from the kitchen sink. Mine even knock on the back door when their feed bowls are empty. I think they are even more interesting now that they are older. You are definitely not a ninny. Geese are smart, pretty, interact with people, can be trained and are fun to play with. If it makes you feel any better, you will want them outside as they get older. The amount of poop increases with their size.

cindy

 

[1MrsMagoo]

zooweemama:

You are not a ninny at all. These little guys pull the heartstrings in a way that other poultry and fowl just can't manage. Since you have spent so much time with them, yours should always be friendly and consider you part of the flock. Having only the two of them will keep things like that and it shouldn't change much except maybe during breeding season.

Now, I have many geese and have found that even the most friendly of goslings become slightly distant when they join the older birds. However, I am still able to get right beside them and scoop them up without any fight at all. It will make me really sad when the two youngest, Shaazam and Bazinga don't let me cuddle them anymore, but I can always look forward to next spring and the next batch of babies.

Like Cindy said too....they are smart. Yesterday, somebody forgot to put the chain on the gate to the front goose field. So the horse pushed the gate open enough to fit (tight squeeze) and decided to eat all their feed. Within minutes of the invasion they had decided to tell on the horse. I had over a dozen geese at the front windows knocking with their bills. When I went outside to see what the issue was they all crowded around me and began chattering. Whenever they do this, I know they want more food. So, I went to check the feeders only to find the horse kneeling behind the feeding station with her big nose in the last feed dish.

The geese had what I can only describe as a look of extreme satisfaction as I herded the horse out and chained the gate. Rather than begin eating immediately, all the geese went to the fence to yell at the horse for a few minutes first though, as if to tell her, "Yeah, that's what you get for taking our food!"

 

[zooweemama]

Aww thanks guys! I like my ducks and my chickens. But my geese are our little pets. I do not want to actually have 'house geese' lol- so outside is inevitable. But their little meeps and cries- oh goodness. They know when we go down to the chicken coop area to work. Their meeps carry all the way down there (from their yard). They stand there staring at us meeping. I can't help it. I go up there and let them out and now they don't even follow me- they RUN ahead of me to get their first and they bum rush my husband with their heads low, meeping their hellos to him and nibbling on his shirt and shiny keys. LOL They go nibble on some grass and then lay nearby and snooze or watch a bit.

 

[SummerChick]

zooweemama:

  You are not a ninny at all. These little guys pull the heartstrings in a way that other poultry and fowl just can't manage. Since you have spent so much time with them, yours should always be friendly and consider you part of the flock. Having only the two of them will keep things like that and it shouldn't change much except maybe during breeding season.

  Now, I have many geese and have found that even the most friendly of goslings become slightly distant when they join the older birds. However, I am still able to get right beside them and scoop them up without any fight at all. It will make me really sad when the two youngest, Shaazam and Bazinga don't let me cuddle them anymore, but I can always look forward to next spring and the next batch of babies.

 Like Cindy said too....they are smart. Yesterday, somebody forgot to put the chain on the gate to the front goose field. So the horse pushed the gate open enough to fit (tight squeeze) and decided to eat all their feed. Within minutes of the invasion they had decided to tell on the horse. I had over a dozen geese at the front windows knocking with their bills. When I went outside to see what the issue was they all crowded around me and began chattering. Whenever they do this, I know they want more food. So, I went to check the feeders only to find the horse kneeling behind the feeding station with her big nose in the last feed dish.

The geese had what I can only describe as a look of extreme satisfaction as I herded the horse out and chained the gate. Rather than begin eating immediately, all the geese went to the fence to yell at the horse for a few minutes first though, as if to tell her, "Yeah, that's what you get for taking our food!"

Oh my gosh MrsMagoo that is adorable!!! I can hardly wait for something like that to happen, I can just see them chattering at the horse!! Too cute!

 

[bruceha2000]

I have a kennel that is 36 inches tall, 47 inches long and about 26 inches wide. My geese are almost 5 weeks old.

I don't have geese but I can't imagine you'll get much more time out of that amount of space unless there are only a couple of them. Our 12 chicks were raised in a bathtub about the same size and at 3 1/2 weeks were already spending more time around the top edge and on the 2 sticks running across the top than in the tub. There wasn't a lot of wing room with the feeder and waterer down there. I would imagine a gosling is lot bigger than a chick.

Bruce

 

[zooweemama]

There are only 2 goslings. They sleep in it only. From 8am to 9pm they are outside.


Excuse my typos. Sent from my iPhone.