Moving geese to pond?

[DanicaDream]

Hi Everyone,

I'm going to be your resident pest for a while... we recently purchased a new home and the previous owners asked us to keep their birds because they couldn't take them. So now, this crazy chicken lady has inherited new chickens, a couple of ducks, and some geese. I have no idea what to do with the ducks and geese, but I'm willing to learn. Well, okay, I initially wanted to rehome the geese, but now I've got a goose sitting on some eggs, and I'm having second thoughts. Plus, the geese are growing on me. (Shhh... don't tell my husband)

Right now, the geese and ducks are housed in a coop with the chickens. Their setup, not mine. We have two natural ponds on our property (though I understand one of them dries up on occasion). I asked the previous owners if the ducks and geese had ever been in the ponds, and they said no because they were afraid their birds would get diseases from wild birds. So, they just told me to put some 5 gallon buckets in the coop with water and that would be enough for the ducks and geese. And I'm sorry, but that really bothers me. It seems inhumane to make birds designed for the water "make do" with buckets when I have two lovely ponds they could use. I don't really want to do what my friend does and get a kiddie pool that she has to clean all the time. What do you guys think about moving my geese and ducks to the ponds?

I know that I need to figure out how to separate the geese from the other birds until the goslings hatch and get bigger (thanks Miss Lydia!), so maybe putting up something by the ponds would be a good solution.

Also, we live in the Colorado foothills, so I do need to make sure I have some kind of enclosure to keep them safe from predators at night.

And seriously, if any of you have advice for all these birds, I'd love to hear it! I've done pretty good with my three chickens, but adding 11 more chickens, 2 ducks, and 6 geese is going to be a challenge!

Thanks!
Danica

 

[Carrosaur]

Hi Everyone,

I'm going to be your resident pest for a while... we recently purchased a new home and the previous owners asked us to keep their birds because they couldn't take them. So now, this crazy chicken lady has inherited new chickens, a couple of ducks, and some geese. I have no idea what to do with the ducks and geese, but I'm willing to learn. Well, okay, I initially wanted to rehome the geese, but now I've got a goose sitting on some eggs, and I'm having second thoughts. Plus, the geese are growing on me. (Shhh... don't tell my husband)

Right now, the geese and ducks are housed in a coop with the chickens. Their setup, not mine. We have two natural ponds on our property (though I understand one of them dries up on occasion). I asked the previous owners if the ducks and geese had ever been in the ponds, and they said no because they were afraid their birds would get diseases from wild birds. So, they just told me to put some 5 gallon buckets in the coop with water and that would be enough for the ducks and geese. And I'm sorry, but that really bothers me. It seems inhumane to make birds designed for the water "make do" with buckets when I have two lovely ponds they could use. I don't really want to do what my friend does and get a kiddie pool that she has to clean all the time. What do you guys think about moving my geese and ducks to the ponds?

I know that I need to figure out how to separate the geese from the other birds until the goslings hatch and get bigger (thanks Miss Lydia!), so maybe putting up something by the ponds would be a good solution.

Also, we live in the Colorado foothills, so I do need to make sure I have some kind of enclosure to keep them safe from predators at night.

And seriously, if any of you have advice for all these birds, I'd love to hear it! I've done pretty good with my three chickens, but adding 11 more chickens, 2 ducks, and 6 geese is going to be a challenge!

Thanks!
Danica

Geese actually do fine without swimming water. As long as a bucket is deep enough to get their heads into and splash water around they're fine. I let mine swim on occasion in a big bucket, but they don't need water like ducks do, and even they don't NEED it. Think about house geese/ducks. And your geese probably won't get diseases from wild birds. Every couple of weeks the vultures come and sit with my geese and eat their food! Do mine are fine.

 

[8GeeseALaying]

Geese need atleast a kiddie pool for breeding

 

[Carrosaur]

Geese need atleast a kiddie pool for breeding

I don't think she's concerned about breeding.

 

[8GeeseALaying]

Even if shes not now she might be later on and other people read these threads for information.
As in her posts she states that she believes its inhumane to keep birds designed for water away from it. If she cant get them moved to the pond a kiddie pool is the next best thing.

 

[DanicaDream]

I think the geese are already breeding! We have a mama goose sitting on a bunch of eggs and our gander is mating like crazy! I really do want to try having them in the pond, so if it's safe disease-wise, I'm going to give it a try!

 

[8GeeseALaying]

They can breed without it but it helps with fertility.
Anyways mine are on a pond , had one bull dozed out for them a couple years ago. No diseases occurred.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I think the geese are already breeding! We have a mama goose sitting on a bunch of eggs and our gander is mating like crazy! I really do want to try having them in the pond, so if it's safe disease-wise, I'm going to give it a try!

They really do need to be housed in a safe place at night you probably have predators like we do lots of them water fowl have no means of protecting themselves against anything with teeth and claws. Is your pond stagnant or feed by stream or under ground springs. also you need to check for snapping turtles before releasing the water fowl onto the ponds they will kill and eat goslings and ducklings and bite feet off adults. They will need to be taken care of before putting the water fowl on the pond. You can look up online how to bait a pond to see if you have any,.

 

[DanicaDream]

They really do need to be housed in a safe place at night you probably have predators like we do lots of them water fowl have no means of protecting themselves against anything with teeth and claws. Is your pond stagnant or feed by stream or under ground springs. also you need to check for snapping turtles before releasing the water fowl onto the ponds they will kill and eat goslings and ducklings and bite feet off adults. They will need to be taken care of before putting the water fowl on the pond. You can look up online how to bait a pond to see if you have any,.

Good to know, thanks! We were planning on building them a safe place at night. I don't think we have snapping turtles here. The previous owners told us a lot about the local wildlife, but did not mention the turtles. I know the pond has salamanders, because he told us to make sure we went and looked at them because they're so cool.

The first pond is fed by a spring, and then there is a stream that goes from the first pond into the second. Then the pond drains out via another stream that goes into a culvert and under the road. So I don't think it's very stagnant.

 

[The goose girl]

I think it's a great idea to let them use the pond(s) as long as they're kept safe from predators.

Of course you can raise ducks and geese without providing them with pool facilities - industries do it all the time - but of course there's also a reason they're called "waterfowl". They simply love water. Most ducks spend more time in the water than outside of it. And if you've just once witnessed a goose splashing around in water, you'll know that it's a display of pure joy.

As for the salamanders, the ducks will probably eat them

. Geese and salamanders go well together, as long as the water doesn't get too polluted. I've installed a pump and a filter in my little goose pond (6' square), and last summer I had hundreds of salamander offspring in it. My goose didn't touch them and, more importantly, since it's primarily a goose pond, they didn't touch her - as opposed to the horny male frogs who tried to mate with her feet one spring and thereby scared her off the pond for months.