Outgrown brooder...

[AUTZ]

So my 3 week old 5 American Buff goslings have outgrown their LARGE kiddie pool brooder we've had them in since they've arrived. Yesterday was our first outside adventure! It went off stunningly other than one of our juvenile ducks decided to be a bully... So the 20 juvenile ducks were banned from the kiddie pool party area until the Goslings came back inside.
My question is ... at what age is it okay to let them be unattended outside (in a small fenced lot outside my backdoor) and they can be moved outside for the day and at night put in a larger wooden brooder with a heat lamp outside?
I'll miss them inside, but the bigger the goslings, the bigger the mess and, clearly, I can't really go "larger" for indoor brooding for their size.

Any advice or suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance!

 

[duluthralphie]

I happen to have written everything you ever need to know about geese for a person on the Minnesota thread..

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/surviving-minnesota.1052702/page-3255#post-19696825

Just follow the links and you will become infinitely wiser in the raising of geese..

Good Luck!

BTW does the "run" have a cover? Raptors love the taste of baby goose...

 

[AUTZ]

Thanks for the response! I read your thread. Yes, we had a chicken hawk but no more. Between the guineas & the crows, he seems to have left.

No, it's not covered, but it's small confined between my house and the barn & the other bigger birds free range in Pasture.

 

[duluthralphie]

Thanks for the response! I read your thread. Yes, we had a chicken hawk but no more. Between the guineas & the crows, he seems to have left.

No, it's not covered, but it's small confined between my house and the barn & the other bigger birds free range in Pasture.

Crows are my favorite bird! They seem to keep the bad birds away. I do not mind throwing them a busted egg now and then to keep them around.

 

[AUTZ]

As many crows as we have around, you'd think we raised those, too!

The wildest thing was when the hawk did show up, the way the crew of crows reacted was nothing short of amazing. He definitely left having a bad hair day!

 

[Iain Utah]

Three weeks is usually the earliest I will leave outside unsupervised. Then, I use doggie portable fences, wrapped with chicken wire, as outdoor pens for goslings outside. I use an extra large wire kennel to bring them in at night. I line bottom tray with beach towel, and use binder clips to clip towel up onto the sides of kennel, to keep mess contained.

 

[AUTZ]

Three weeks is usually the earliest I will leave outside unsupervised. Then, I use doggie portable fences, wrapped with chicken wire, as outdoor pens for goslings outside. I use an extra large wire kennel to bring them in at night. I line bottom tray with beach towel, and use binder clips to clip towel up onto the sides of kennel, to keep mess contained.

Thank you for the advice!

 

[AUTZ]

Oh , my goodness! Tomorrow IS the day for outside move! They've just gotten too big & tonight I hear a clamoring of untold proportion to find my "leader of the pack" (Not sure if it's Goose or Gander. I purchased 3 females & 2 males from Ideal) had staged an "escape" !
Of course the others were looking over the edge of pool shouting for him (or her....I think I've decided it's a HE) to get back inside right away or Mom's gonna be mad!
So...yes, they've certainly outgrown the largest of hard plastic kiddie pools (I use doggie weewee pads to cover bottom) .. besides my nerves can't handle it ! It's like keeping up with 5 toddlers. They seemed to have grown from infancy to toddlerhood in a few days. They've grown so fast. Although you read it, nothing fully prepares you for it until you witness!

I love them dearly, but to keep loving them, they're going to have to "leave the nest" so to speak.

 

[AUTZ]

So, I'm FREE AT LAST!

The "little" Goslings *cough * are outside of my house, into their own outside....little free range area for day, nice toasty stall with heat lamp at night ... Hopefully, they'll get used to going in & out alone in a short time.

Now we've all got to get through today's stormy forecast & a few nights of cold temps and we should be good

On another note, I sure hope the "leader of the pack" (the one who gets into everything FIRST) is a Goose because I've taken to calling him "Homer". That won't really work for a Gander, but it's happened. It's the biggest of the 5 (I know that's not a reliable way of sexing), but, either way, it's Homer!

 

[AUTZ]

Here's the terrorists making there way to a "free range" little lot world!