[gracy]

Hi I am a poultry farmer. I have decided to get geese as we have a half acre pond just sitting there. What I wanted to know is whether our current fencing etc. will be adequate.

The area I have in mind is Half acre of pond with half acre of pasture subdivided by drainage ditches leading to said pond. The whole thing is enclosed with 3 foot perimeter fence and there is an island in the middle of the pond ( pond is ex quary 12 foot deep sheer on 3 sides but only 2 foot water year round) .

We will be erecting a Fox proof & otter proof inner fence around a section of the pond and island (with the goose house on top) as we have had problems with these in  past winters.

But that is expensive on a large scale so for the pasture (and rest of pond) I was wondering ......

Would the 3 foot fence keep a heavy breed such as the Embeden from wondering off? Do they (if not spooked) like heavy poultry avoid flying? Would the geese attempt to cross the ditches? (1 meter wide by 1/2 meter deep sheer sides)

We were thinking of having draw bridges, driving the geese from the house to pasture in the morning (over said bridges) and pull the bridges up as we leave . With geese happily staying put until we turn up in the afternoon.  Or is that wishful thinking? 
 

[shygirl]

not sure. we kept geese successfully in a small pond by our house. we tried to relocate them to a huge wildlife pond with island down the bottom of the farm but they hated it, walked home  and we lost some to the fox.

[Possum]

I'm afraid that heavy geese, if spooked or excited, can fly over a three foot fence. I would say four foot is the minimum you would need. I suspect that one or two of them might have a go at the ditches as well, particularly if they fill with water.


On a brighter note, I think your drawbridge plan would probably work, once you have trained them. Patience will be needed initially! We always walk ours from the orchard where they sleep, down the drive, across the lane and into one of the paddocks. After a month, they are running ahead of me and skidding to a halt in front of the gate. The paddock has a 4ft 6in stock fence which keeps them contained quite happily. You do have to make sure that they can't get underneath the field gate though.Some of them seem to have an instinctive ability to limbo dance.

[hughesy]

Our Embdens can get up to about 20 feet in the air with a favourable wind but can only stay there for a few seconds. We just let them roam wherever they want they never go far.

[Hevxxx99]

My geese never go far either.  It was only a problem when they first moved in - I kept them in a small enclosure for a week so they learned where they were fed and that was all that was required.  My fences are fairly ropey and they do go out sometimes but always come back. 

The only exception was when they were chased by a dog on a very windy day when they took off, went about 40ft up, looking very surprised, swung round to land back in the field, lost the uplift and landed all over the moors.  Took blimmin' ages to collect them all and carry them home. 

[gracy]

Thanks that's a weight off my mind.

20-40 foot ! gee they can jump. Fingers crossed they wont get too spooked once they get used to the post man. We are surrounded by a 1000 acre nature preserve (peat bog) on one side and miles of sheep farms on the other so if they do jump the fences its not a big problem just a pain in the neck rounding them up.

Though I shall still see if we can afford to raise it up a few strings, get it up to that 4 foot. Would be best if they didn't get mixed up with the chickens.... They are meat chooks aside from the potential for cross infection they aren't built to last, I think a surprise raid on their pasture would result in heart attacks. We had a heron turn up once just out side their perimeter fence, one of the girls who was overdue for the chop by only a few days keeled over!


Glad you like the draw bridge idea. Hubby's stroke of genius that one. again not a big deal if the odd one tries to cross the ditch. I guess with their teratorialnes if I shoo them back over enough times they will get the picture. 

Thanks again.

[shygirl]

is the draw bridge over water or dry ditch?
my geese were free range during summer and always came back to our house pond at night. safety was in numbers. maybe our dogs kept the fox away.
I loved my embdens. only sold them as they bit our children whem they were wee, and a goose bite is painful.
good luck

[devonlady]

Gracy, I shouldn't think your geese would be scared of the postman, probably the other way around!!

[hughesy]

That's the great thing about geese. Some people are absolutely terrified of them. It can lead to some very funny scenes indeed.

[gracy]

Dry in hight of summer few inches most year but winter is any ones guess. we are in flow country all the local flood water ends up in my pond ..... last year pond was 2 foot all year with dry ditches exept for one memorable week was it storm hernry??? any way over night  the pond filled up by 10 feet the ditches were full to the brim and we were preparing to move livestock then within an hour or two the overflows and burns ran dry the ditches subsided and the pond was down to 5 foot by night fall. 

Yes i was once terriified of geese then i took my daughter to a fishery (she wanted to know where fish came from) and i saw a goose, graylag i think, tangled up in fishing line it was so hungry it had forgoten to be scared didnt even hiss it happly ate bread from DD hand while i got it untangled enough to lift it out of the shallows. went to find the warden couldnt give a monkeys  RSPCA turned up poor goose ended up lame. wont forget the trust though made me realise they wernt the big baddies, we are.

Our last postman was scared of the cat ! we keep her on a long lead to avoid poultry related accidents (they pecked a stray to death before) postman startled her so she ran up his leg he saw leed thought she was a dog the yellling and hissing and dancing had to collect my post from the gate after that.

[Hevxxx99]

20-40 foot ! gee they can jump.

Mine didn't "jump" they FLEW. BEAUTIFULLY, like a squadron of dambuster planes.  I almost saluted.  Once they landed though, they had no clue how to take off again.