How long should I keep them in?

[mswendeu]

The geese have been here I think 4-5 days now. I have a couple questions.
- How long should I keep them penned? Since there is no fence keeping them where we want them except the dog kennel. I don't want them to escape if I let them loose. I also don't want them wandering all over the other neighboring properties. So what can we do until we have our fence?
- How to keep hay dry? Can we cover in a tarp and put on a pallet? We don't have any outbuildings yet. So pretty much everything is out in the open.

Still wondering also what sexes we have here? I mean obviously in the spring one may lay an egg. But what about before that?

 

[mswendeu]

Before I knew it my hubs had the wood off the doggy door and they were flying & swimming.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

They should see your area you had them confined to as their safety area. They may or may not go in at night on their own.
You may want to get some solar lights to encourage them to go back in at night.

 

[mswendeu]

They should see your area you had them confined to as their safety area. They may or may not go in at night on their own.
You may want to get some solar lights to encourage them to go back in at night.

Yes we already were discussing purchasing solar motion lights to attach to the kennel. It's a great idea. He wanted to line the whole fenced in enclosure but I'm thinking just putting them on the kennel will be much better.

 

[Percheron chick]

Geese are fairly easy to train to return to the pen at night. I just herd them like cows then only feed them at night in the pen. A head of lettuce is a good training tool. They just can't resist it.
As far as hay, just store it on a pallet with a tarp over it. They will eat about 1# each a day so one small square will last 4 geese about 2 weeks. Tie a milk crate a few inches off the ground or find a horse hay rack.

 

[Goosebaby]

I would advise using the hay as feed and not as bedding, wood shavings would be better for your setup unless you’ll be removing the hay daily. Hay rots and molds fairly quickly with any kind of moisture.