Opinion on letting my geese roam a little outside of our garden?

[ElGoose]

So ever since they were young, my two bonded geese have had a lot of contact with the land around our garden including the canal and river. They are both very well behaved and come back when called - they are also both very healthy and have never shown signs of disease, the most we’ve had is bumble foot which came from a little splinter.

The land around our house is very private and the canal and river are very clean with hardly any activity whatsoever, there also used to be domestic geese that were here before us that roamed around too and never got infectious diseases.

I mentioned this in passing in a server and immediately am under fire because apparently im going to kill my flock by doing this and they’ll all die because my geese had a swim in the canal - is it really so awful or is that an overreaction? I personally think it’s done wonders for their immune system to be exposed to land outside the garden, I’ve never had any bird deaths or diseases but it looks like a lot of these people who are incredibly over protective are always dealing with large bouts of flock disease and having to cull half of their birds because of something which I often wonder is it maybe due to over sheltering?

I should also mention that one of our other geese lived here before us and is old, strong as an ox, and has gone wherever he pleased without ever showing signs of injury or disease either.

I’d love to know peoples thoughts on this as I’ve never been criticised before over letting them out sometimes.

 

[Tonyroo]

I don't think they will pick up anything based on the location you described. It's just the predators and migrating birds who might carry the avian flu. That's something I would consider, I would say foresee possible problems and weigh the risk.

 

[Jenbirdee]

Hi @ElGoose how are ya
i don’t have any advice in this matter but i’m interested in following to hear what others have to say
i think it would be nice to let them have a little more freedom but also can be a bit scary . for me i worry about loose dogs perhaps.

 

[ElGoose]

I don't think they will pick up anything based on the location you described. It's just the predators and migrating birds who might carry the avian flu. That's something I would consider, I would say foresee possible problems and weigh the risk.

We’ve never had to worry about predators thankfully, the last time we saw something concerning (we thought we caught a glimpse of a mink over a year ago) it was before wed properly moved in and we have automatic lights and cameras around the house too to catch anything (so far haven’t seen any surprisingly!)

We also are subscribed to an RSPCA thing that lets us know if there’s avian flu going round!

I feel like it’s also worth mentioning that we do supervise them when they go outside the garden and we’d never leave them out until dark

 

[Tonyroo]

We’ve never had to worry about predators thankfully, the last time we saw something concerning (we thought we caught a glimpse of a mink over a year ago) it was before wed properly moved in and we have automatic lights and cameras around the house too to catch anything (so far haven’t seen any surprisingly!)

We also are subscribed to an RSPCA thing that lets us know if there’s avian flu going round!

I feel like it’s also worth mentioning that we do supervise them when they go outside the garden and we’d never leave them out until dark

If your doing that, it should be fine.

 

[ElGoose]

Hi @ElGoose how are ya
i don’t have any advice in this matter but i’m interested in following to hear what others have to say
i think it would be nice to let them have a little more freedom but also can be a bit scary . for me i worry about loose dogs perhaps.

I’ve been good thank you! And yes they really do enjoy going out and having some freedom and more running/swimming space.
We also do supervise them and have told many people to keep their dogs on leashes (especially as they are walking beside a canal you’d think it should be common sense!)
I think also because of how the area is laid out, the geese are usually on the canal edge or in the canal so if a loose dog does come running they should be able to just jump in (especially as the canal runs between our house and the towpath, so the dog would have to run around to the bridge first before being able to get to the geese)

 

[JRies]

So ever since they were young, my two bonded geese have had a lot of contact with the land around our garden including the canal and river. They are both very well behaved and come back when called - they are also both very healthy and have never shown signs of disease, the most we’ve had is bumble foot which came from a little splinter.

The land around our house is very private and the canal and river are very clean with hardly any activity whatsoever, there also used to be domestic geese that were here before us that roamed around too and never got infectious diseases.

I mentioned this in passing in a server and immediately am under fire because apparently im going to kill my flock by doing this and they’ll all die because my geese had a swim in the canal - is it really so awful or is that an overreaction? I personally think it’s done wonders for their immune system to be exposed to land outside the garden, I’ve never had any bird deaths or diseases but it looks like a lot of these people who are incredibly over protective are always dealing with large bouts of flock disease and having to cull half of their birds because of something which I often wonder is it maybe due to over sheltering?

I should also mention that one of our other geese lived here before us and is old, strong as an ox, and has gone wherever he pleased without ever showing signs of injury or disease either.

I’d love to know peoples thoughts on this as I’ve never been criticised before over letting them out sometimes.

I appreciate how much you love your geese. But Is the open water your providing them also used by wild waterfowl. Just things to think about. If it is you are opening them up to Avian Influenza. I think that's what folks are trying to tell you not that your a bad goose lover just that your opening a door that could be harmful to them.

 

[ElGoose]

I appreciate how much you love your geese. But Is the open water your providing them also used by wild waterfowl. Just things to think about. If it is you are opening them up to Avian Influenza. I think that's what folks are trying to tell you not that your a bad goose lover just that your opening a door that could be harmful to them.

The only other wild waterfowl here are a family of 5 wild geese but they live here and we’ve known them since they were babies, we actually don’t let our 2 out when they show up around the front but they rarely go in the canal or river, if I see them in the water it’s usually in a different stretch of water that’s kind of between the two.
We have another goose that’s kind of ours but also lived here wildly years before we moved in and he’s actually bonded with those wild geese, he’s a domestic goose but basically lived his whole life going wherever he pleases

 

[JRies]

The only other wild waterfowl here are a family of 5 wild geese but they live here and we’ve known them since they were babies, we actually don’t let our 2 out when they show up around the front but they rarely go in the canal or river, if I see them in the water it’s usually in a different stretch of water that’s kind of between the two.
We have another goose that’s kind of ours but also lived here wildly years before we moved in and he’s actually bonded with those wild geese, he’s a domestic goose but basically lived his whole life going wherever he pleases

Just always keep in mind wild geese can carry AI but never show a sign of it. It is carried through there poop so even if they are gone from sight they can leave it behind. Domestic geese can also carry it with no visual problems. But when exposed to other birds will take a flock of land birds out in 24 hours. So exposure to wild birds is always risky. Just my thoughts.

 

[ElGoose]

Just always keep in mind wild geese can carry AI but never show a sign of it. It is carried through there poop so even if they are gone from sight they can leave it behind. Domestic geese can also carry it with no visual problems. But when exposed to other birds will take a flock of land birds out in 24 hours. So exposure to wild birds is always risky. Just my thoughts.

Thank you, I really do appreciate the advice. I ended up leaving the server that criticised me as instead of being normal about advice they let one of their mods openly mock and belittle everything I said and then they claimed I was being too defensive for explaining my situation even got to the point where apparently I was abusive for not having wire boxes around every bird because a sparrow might poo in my garden or something lol