House Goose Thread

[kukupecpec]

I think we need a house goose thread!
If you google House Goose there is VERY little information out there. I don't know just how popular having a house goose really is, but I would love to get in touch with some other people who have pet geese living in the house with them!
Let's see if we can't share our stories and knowledge and make this a fun place for us house goose owners to chat and swap info and of course pictures!

This is my House Goose (Gosling) Trina
She has a medium sized dog crate with pine shavings, and her food and water. This is where she hangs out when I'm not home and where she sleeps - I'd rather only diaper when I'm home to change it as soon as she messes =)
She currently has 3 diapers (two of which I made, and will hopefully be able to make for her in the future), two pink with white polka dot and one blue patterned one.
She has outgrown the smallest, almost outgrown the second, and the third is much to big LOL
She loves to go to the Feed Store down the street and visit all the people. She has also just recently started visiting Bookmans! She's not big enough to put a leash on and keep people from stepping on her though so she rides in my purse until someone wants to hold her.

Ones week old, first day we brought her home


2 weeks old - first diaper


3 weeks - largest strap setting on her baby diaper


First day outside running around free - mostly following me around lol - she found a nice spot to crash after all that playing


Post daily evening bath


First trip to Bookmans!



Hope to hear from others soon!!!!

 

[The goose girl]

My gosling, faster Anna (auntie Anna), is a house goose right now, although we spend most of the day outside on the lawn. She only wants in for some of her naps. When she grows up she'll most likely spend more time outside and sleep in the goose house, but as for now she sleeps in my bed.

She's one month old now and she doesn't wear a diaper yet. I keep paper and wet wipes handy everywhere inside the house and mop up poops as they land. I've had a diapered gosling/goose before, so this time I thought it was way too much work to diaper her and wanted to try a different way. My floors are hardwood and granite, so they're easy to clean. I'm planning on diaper training her soon, but at her poop rate it's going to be a while before she'll wear it "seriously".

In bed I have a waterproof sheet protector laid out for her.


The green towels are for when she sits in my lap or lies in front of my book when I read in bed. They have a liner of the waterproof sheet protector underneath, and I wipe up poop immediately.

In the morning it looks like this, so I change it daily:



I keep her food, her water and her fresh grass sod in the bottom half of a dog carrier. She already considers it "her box" and her safe place, and I always place it where she can find it. She rides the car in it, too. I'm hoping she'll sleep in it when she gets older - right now she wants to snuggle up in my face at night.

She has never been alone. If I'm not with her, her goosesitter John takes care of her. He usually spends 4-8 hours with her every day, so I can do my stuff.

I took a lot of videos of her, you can see them here. You probably won't understand what I say - I'm from Denmark and I speak Danish. But Goose is a universal language!

 

[kukupecpec]

Woo hoo!!!! I'm not the only one haha.

She is super cute!! What breed is she?

What made you decide not to diaper this time around? Is it easy to pick up after? I would like to help her socialize more but I have to keep control of the stinky mess.

Your goosey videos are adorable!

 

[The goose girl]

Faster Anna is a White Danish Goose aka White Italian Goose.

When I diapered my previous gosling, Keld, it seemed like I did nothing but diaper changing, diaper washing, and gosling cleaning for three months.When Keld grew up to be an adult, it was much less work diapering her. This time I just figured I'd try something else. Up until now it has been working fine. Mopping up the mess takes seconds, but I have to keep an eye out for the poops, or faster Anna will step on them and make messy little footsteps. I just use tp and a wet wipe.

One of these days I'm going to start diaper training her. I hope she'll be ok with it. She generally adjusts to new stuff very quickly, so I guess diapering won't be a big problem.

Faster Anna is growing up so fast I can hardly believe it. She doesn't just follow me around now - she has a mind of her own. If she wants to go outside, she'll go to the door and start calling for me. If she wants to sleep on my lap, she'll pull at my clothes and make whiny sleepy noises. I'm constantly goose proofing her surroundings - it seems every day she's able to reach something new she's not supposed to chew.

Here she is trying to wreak havoc at a friend's house:

How old is Trina? Faster Anna is from April 10th. And what breed is Trina? She's looking sooo cute in the bag on her way to Bookman's.

 

[kukupecpec]

Oh wow she is getting big! How cute!!!
I'm still trying to perfect my diapering. I live with my mother in law and she is fine with Trina as long as she is diapered so she can't make a mess. I am working on developing my OWN version of the goose diaper trying to make it easier. I need to come up with something good for overnight so she doesn't have to be locked up in her crate.
I'm so glad Trina is not the only one that gets into EVERYTHING lol. What do you do to goose proof?

Trina is 4 weeks old and she is a Toulouse. I can't wait to see her start to have her own personality! It's super cute that she follows me around, but I would like her to be comfortable exploring too.

Do you let Faster Anna chew on your fingers and toes? I try to discourage it, but I don't really know how to reprimand her for doing something she isn't supposed to do. She doesn't respond to a strong "NO" like a puppy would so I'm at a loss.

 

[The goose girl]

Quote: Nothing wildly technical - I just remove anything she gets into. In a few months it won't be a problem anymore.


Quote: The safer she feels, the bolder she gets. I know from Keld that you can't force or train a gosling to explore - if she's stressed out or nervous, she'll stick close to you.


Quote: Keld went through a period of incessantly chewing anything within reach - also fingers. It got to a point where I had to wear leather gloves around her. Faster Anna doesn't chew fingers - yet, at least. I don't think she's going to. In retrospect, I think Keld did it out of boredom and frustration. She wasn't stimulated enough, whereas faster Anna spends almost all day outside grazing and exploring. She gets really tired around six or seven and naps most of the evening.

Geese seem so intelligent because they communicate so much with us verbally. But really their brains are tiny and they're almost pure instinct. You can't teach a gosling not to chew fingers - unless you want to make it afraid of fingers. And that's probably not a good idea.

All you can do is keep your fingers and toes out of reach as much as possible and encourage Trina to chew something else. Faster Anna really enjoys her "activity center"; an astro turf door mat with my shoes on it.



Keld gradually stopped chewing fingers when she was 2-3 months old. It's just a phase, although a rather annoying one.

 

[kukupecpec]

Nothing wildly technical - I just remove anything she gets into. In a few months it won't be a problem anymore.


The safer she feels, the bolder she gets. I know from Keld that you can't force or train a gosling to explore - if she's stressed out or nervous, she'll stick close to you.


Keld went through a period of incessantly chewing anything within reach - also fingers. It got to a point where I had to wear leather gloves around her. Faster Anna doesn't chew fingers - yet, at least. I don't think she's going to. In retrospect, I think Keld did it out of boredom and frustration. She wasn't stimulated enough, whereas faster Anna spends almost all day outside grazing and exploring. She gets really tired around six or seven and naps most of the evening.

Geese seem so intelligent because they communicate so much with us verbally. But really their brains are tiny and they're almost pure instinct. You can't teach a gosling not to chew fingers - unless you want to make it afraid of fingers. And that's probably not a good idea.

All you can do is keep your fingers and toes out of reach as much as possible and encourage Trina to chew something else. Faster Anna really enjoys her "activity center"; an astro turf door mat with my shoes on it.



Keld gradually stopped chewing fingers when she was 2-3 months old. It's just a phase, although a rather annoying one.

I try to keep garbage off the floor so she doesn't totally eat anything, but I don't mind her chewing n things that she can't swallow.
I just don't want her to learn that chewing on fingers is ok, because once shes full grown that would really hurt!
Do you have any ideas for toys for Trina? I wouldn't doubt that she's bored! I wonder if that's why she chews my hair. If she sees my hair, she goes after it like mad! And it actually really hurts lol. She eaves my husbands hair alone butI have long hair that I like to leave down at home and she thinks its there for her to yank!

 

[kukupecpec]

Trina decides she would prefer to SEE while we drive lol
Here she is in DH's face

 

[RURU]

You do take your goslings outside to eat grass or whatever they like outside right? They only have a mouth and they use it as their fingers and that is why the beak chews on everything in sire!!!

 

[kukupecpec]

I don't have any grass, but I did just start a fodder system so in about 5 days I should have some wheat sprouts for her!
She does get to go outside whenever I'm outside, but now that school has started back up that will be only a couple times during the week and on Saturdays. The rest of the time she is inside with us. The rest of the family likes her and all, but she is MY pet and so is MY responsibility so no one else is willing to take her out to play, they just let her run around the house trying to eat the dogs long ear fur =P