Neighbor bought Geese?

[ColbyNTX]

My neighbor bought 10 geese today. I am not a goose man because I don't have a pond so I have never raised any. The geese are all 3-5 months old. The lady he bought them from said to take them to your pond and throw out some food and turn them out. They did and when I came home this evening I saw them all in another neighbors field about a mile from there place rounding up geese. They found 8 of 10. They brought them back home and keeped them penned. How long should they keep them penned? Sorry I don't know the breed. 2 are Africans and the other 6 are white.

 

[FarmGirl01]

We had some neighbors that did the same thing. Those geese roamed the whole neighborhood. None of us living on the street were happy about the wandering geese. Finally he penned them up after a few complaints. Its been months and they have not been out. I don't think they will ever be allowed to roam. I wander myself how long it would be for your neighbors geese to call the pond home.

 

[JROOSTER]

You know I dont know of any animal that you could just take home and throw out and it will stay around where you want them to stay.
You have to teach them where home is. Go take some pics so we can see what they look like and what the pond looks like.

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

I kept my goose in the pen/run for 4 days... feeding her there regularly... now she wanders all over my yard, and in the woods, and sometimes in the pond, and always comes back.

 

[ColbyNTX]

We all live way out in the country and there is no houses within 500 yards of eachother. The pond is a nice 3/4 ac pond that is many years old. The geese took off through his neighbors hay field. He doesn't have internet so I thought I would ask for him. JROOSTER asked for pics, if I get by there, I will take some but remember this is rural Texas and he is my neighbor but he is 6 miles down the road! There is only about 6 houses between him and I.

 

[Goosehaven]

The geese took off because they have no idea that this is their new home. Geese become very nervous in new situations as we quickly found out when we bought three females last year that were around 15 months old. We had to fetch two of them out of the woods the first day two different times because we didn't realize that they would take off either. They need to be penned up for a few days until they get used to their new environment. Once they get used to their new home and they free range during the day at the pond they probably want to teach them to come back to the pen at night to be protected from predators. If they get used to be fed at night in the pen it usually isn't too hard to round them up. Did your neighbors ever find the other two that were lost from the flock? Do you know what they plan to feed them and do they know that geese need a waterer that is deep enough that they can submerge their entire bill into?

 

[ColbyNTX]

They didn't find the other 2. They may turn up on a pond near by if the varmints don't get them. I think they planned on keeping them in a pen for 4-5 days. I hope this is long enough. I raise everything I have from eggs, so I never have this problem.

 

[smoothmule]

Adults will need to be penned up at least a few weeks. They need to know where they live and eat and they may still be wanderers. Sometimes that is the reason they were sold, someone having trouble keeping them at home.
I think younger geese should have the same amount of time, just so they don't develop bad habits. I kept my sebbie goslings in a 6 by 10 dog kennel with a dog house for several weeks. They got to come out every evening after I got home from work for a few hours then I herded them back into the pen. It only took a couple of times herding them in for bed till they figured it out and were putting themselves in the pen about dark and all I had to do was close them up. They had a large, shallow, tupperware storage bin for water and all the starter crumbles they would want plus, it took them a while, but they totally cleaned up all the grass growing in the pen and growing around the pen, weed eater style

They are loose and on their own now. Amazingly, they figured out they should sleep in the barn and put themselves to bed everynight on their own, find their way to the ponds during the day and wander over the yard and into the pasture to eat grass all day. They just get feeding of crumbles in the evening now and they are growing like crazy and seem very content. I think they all need to be given a period of adjustment to be settled and happy in a new home. They need good shelter and fresh food and water with some time out of the pen when you can watch them and keep them where they belong. They seem to learn amazingly fast.