How Do You House Your Geese?

[3xhhheather]

Has anyone here started geese inside and transitioned them outdoors? And did you do it with a single goose?

We got one gosling (intended to be a chicken guard when he's grown), and put him in a crate indoors. He's about 6 weeks now and I worry he's become a full-on house goose! He loves his outside time, but only if a human is with him. Otherwise it's all shrieking. He gets uneasy when it starts getting dark and he's eager to come in the front door and go to his room.

We started him in a 35-gallon tote without the lid. He's really too big for it now but he hates change and when I tried to move him to a larger, different crate he flipped out. Now I've reached the point that I've ordered a large pop-up playpen and hope he will be happy in it. I'm also trying to get him adjusted to wearing diapers so he can be out and about in the house with us all the time, as he wants.

I'm starting to think he's going to be that 30-year-old kid who never moves out of my basement. Just wondered if anyone had similar experience.

Sounds like your goose needs a friend like @The Dim Side said they're flock animals, that normally have a big mom/dad around to help comfort them. So if they don't have a goose friend they'll be 100% dependent on you for that companionship.

Are you not introducing him to the chickens yet? I would be worried about throwing a full-grown goose outside with chickens, and even if they did grow up together I wouldn't count on that relationship totally working out.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

Thanks! Yeah, I was thinking hardware cloth windows for ventilation would be good but worried about snowy weather! But I was also worried about making sure they can breathe still, haha, but if the roof allows it in as well, then that helps.

Did/do you have any issues with them eating pine shavings? I don't know if the second one would eat them as much, as I switched it out before we got him. But the first one had munched constantly, and I was worried for health reasons, lol.

No, they noodled the shavings as goslings, but didn't really eat them.

 

[BrandySC]

Sounds like your goose needs a friend like @The Dim Side said they're flock animals, that normally have a big mom/dad around to help comfort them. So if they don't have a goose friend they'll be 100% dependent on you for that companionship.

Are you not introducing him to the chickens yet? I would be worried about throwing a full-grown goose outside with chickens, and even if they did grow up together I wouldn't count on that relationship totally working out.

Yes, he is consistently socialized with all of our animals. Several hours each day he is with 13 chickens, a turkey, two rabbits, three cats and three dogs. (One particular cat is the only one he doesn't like.)

 

[3xhhheather]

Sounds balanced, hopefully, it all works out when he's older.

 

[The Dim Side]

Thanks! Adding linoleum on top would make cleaning easier, I don't have a shop vac right now so it's a lot of sweeping to get all the dust that settles along the wire. With that though, I went a bit overboard and did a skirt of hardware cloth that ran through the bottom of the coop over the flooring, but eh peace of mind.

Yep, ventilation through the rough and the windows are not a perfect seal, just enough to stop a total breeze from blowing in. The inside stayed 100% dry all winter and everyone snuggled up.

Ah, okay! Yeah, easier cleaning would be nice, and do you keep water and/or food in there with them? I was assuming they should have water at the ready at all times, but my boyfriend didn't think so.

And I'm pretty concerned about their safety, too. We ended up raising them the opposite of how we intended. My boyfriend had told me that we weren't supposed to treat the goose as lovingly as the chickens because it needed to be trained to know it was responsible for the chicks and becoming a guard to them.

But I didn't count on the first one being very needy for comfort and attention and crying like a human baby. So those initial rules just went out the window, and I babied the heck out of her, haha. So now I can't not see them more as pets rather than just livestock. Since they're more affectionate and attentive than the chickens, it was hard not to get so attached! I'd rather just put their pen in the mud room of our house, where I can keep an eye on them more easily, lol.

 

[The Dim Side]

Yes, he is consistently socialized with all of our animals. Several hours each day he is with 13 chickens, a turkey, two rabbits, three cats and three dogs. (One particular cat is the only one he doesn't like.)

We keep trying to socialize our geese with the chicks, but they just keep biting them. XD I don't know if it's a pecking order thing, but the bites seem pretty aggressive, and I worry they'll hurt a wing or something!

 

[3xhhheather]

Ah, okay! Yeah, easier cleaning would be nice, and do you keep water and/or food in there with them? I was assuming they should have water at the ready at all times, but my boyfriend didn't think so.

And I'm pretty concerned about their safety, too. We ended up raising them the opposite of how we intended. My boyfriend had told me that we weren't supposed to treat the goose as lovingly as the chickens because it needed to be trained to know it was responsible for the chicks and becoming a guard to them.

But I didn't count on the first one being very needy for comfort and attention and crying like a human baby. So those initial rules just went out the window, and I babied the heck out of her, haha. So now I can't not see them more as pets rather than just livestock. Since they're more affectionate and attentive than the chickens, it was hard not to get so attached! I'd rather just put their pen in the mud room of our house, where I can keep an eye on them more easily, lol.

I haven't left water in at night, but I'm probably going to change that this summer now that the geese and ducks are housed separately. Geese are nowhere near as messy as ducks when it comes to their water buckets, so it's a personal choice if you do or don't.

With how you raise them, I think it's important to build a bond. I snuggled the crap out of my gander when he was little (still do!) and he does an excellent job at protecting the ducks from aerial threats. Doing all that when they're little isn't going to change how they guard their flock. Though whether or not they accept an animal into their flock is totally up to them. The issue with them pecking at the chickens might get better as they get older, once they're something that is around them 24/7 the interest will probably fade.

 

[The Dim Side]

I haven't left water in at night, but I'm probably going to change that this summer now that the geese and ducks are housed separately. Geese are nowhere near as messy as ducks when it comes to their water buckets, so it's a personal choice if you do or don't.

With how you raise them, I think it's important to build a bond. I snuggled the crap out of my gander when he was little (still do!) and he does an excellent job at protecting the ducks from aerial threats. Doing all that when they're little isn't going to change how they guard their flock. Though whether or not they accept an animal into their flock is totally up to them. The issue with them pecking at the chickens might get better as they get older, once they're something that is around them 24/7 the interest will probably fade.

Thanks! If the space allows for it, I'll probably have water for them. I know they like to get drinks throughout the evening and night, so I'd feel better having it for them just in case, lol.

And yeah, at first I thought the second gosling was going to want nothing to do with us. He'd get scared and run away when I tried to reach for him at first. He still doesn't like being cuddled as much as the first one, but he enjoys us being around him more. I do have a question though, does your goose like to chew on your things a lot? My first one always tries chewing on my hair, and my second one picked up the habit, too. So they both try and chew on my hair and chew/yank on my clothes constantly. I have to hide my hair (it's very long) and move them away when they get so chewy, lol. Is excessive chewing a gosling behavior, or is it something that they'll just always want to do? It's not so bad if I have loose clothes, but it's when they pinch the skin that it hurts, haha.

And the geese and chicks have been in the same room since they've been here, but they've been in separate brooders/pens and had gotten some time together here and there. Now that the weather has been nicer, we've started putting them outside during the day in a fenced-in area. So the geese chase after them a bit, but I think they'll at least be able to ignore each other if not eventually get along!

 

[BrandySC]

A problem with mine is that he hates change. I do too, so I don't judge him too harshly, but it makes growing housing with him a challenge. He is really too big for his tote now, but I tried moving him to a roomier crate and he freaked. He'll actually run down the hall into "his room" and try to jump in his tote because he wants it over something else. I have finally gotten him adjusted to a play pen but having a 5'x5' pen in the middle of the room is not always convenient. I would prefer to just have him loose but our efforts with the diapers have NOT gone well.

 

[Isadora]

Hi, I have two Roman Tufteds, one almost 8 weeks and one a little over 6 weeks old. I was just curious what everyone uses to house them at night, and how much ventilation/what kind they need. If they get along well enough, we'd like to keep them around our chickens during the day, which will be fenced in around a mobile coop to move around our land.

So we were thinking of doing something mobile for the geese, too. But then I thought that they could also be led to go to bed wherever, so we could instead house them in a permanent location elsewhere, and we have multiple outbuildings and could build a shed or something, too.

One design I saw online had a hardware cloth bottom and front and back, I think, and corrugated panel top and sides. And I believe this was for the mobile one. But I wasn't sure if that type of bottom would be warm enough and if they needed hay bedding or something, too. I've seen different ideas online but am not sure what's generally considered the most comfortable for them. So any advice is appreciated, thanks!!

This is what my husband built for our geese. Movable hoop coop. Ideally we want to put wheels under it at some point so it's easier to move, but right now we just pin up the hardware cloth that's on the sides and drag it.