Housing/Coops for Geese?

sandijoco · Jul 25, 2019

bluemerle said:
Have you looked on Craigslist/FaceBook to see if anyone in your area is selling custom coops? There's usually a couple of handy people who like making them, and they would probably deliver & set it up for you, too.

If not: I'd vouch for the XXL plastic dog crates (the kind they use to fly dogs on airplanes). They come with a door and plenty of ventilation. But I would suggest getting a small roll of hardware cloth and attaching it to the doors and windows, just so a raccoon can't get his tiny paws through the holes.

Ok, thank you for your time!

sandijoco · Jul 25, 2019

The goose girl said:
Those eglu houses are way too small for a goose. It wouldn't be able to stand up inside.

Grown geese don't seek or need housing the way chickens do. They're pretty much weather proof (with the exception of extreme conditions), and they're active during the night. So a goose house is mainly for protection against predators - and for nest building.

Also, a goose run should be much larger than the ones shown with the eglu houses. Geese primarily eat grass and other weeds, and one goose could weed down those tiny run areas in less than half an hour.

If you're planning on getting only one goose, please reconsider. Geese (and especially goslings) get lonely and scared when they're by themselves - even for a few minutes.

This may sound odd coming from someone who keeps only one goose. But my goose didn't spend even one minute on her own until she was about six months old. She slept in my bed every night until she started laying and she decided she wanted to sleep in her goose house at night. To this day, she hasn't been alone during the day for more than 8-10 hours accumulated. There's always one of us out there with her (we are two people sharing her).

This is the goose house I built for my geese - I had two back then, and they were four weeks old at the time:

A house this size will hold two grown geese for nighttime protection, but they shouldn't be kept there during the day - they'll get insanely bored. My geese free range in my yard, which is about 4,000 sq. ft. The opening faces north, and the hedge behind the house provides shade during the day.

This is the house my current goose sleeps in:

In the picture it's decorated for her 1st birthday. She built her nest behind the window area, and she loves being able to watch out through the window while she's on her nest. The ramp is also the door, and we close it only at night. This house is built on a pallet out of scrap wood, and the window used to be a cupboard door. The roof is some leftover metal roofing.

The opening is facing west, which creates some problems with rain and sun. I've recently bought small overhang (2' by 3'), that I'm going to assemble over the door.

I just wanted to show you the one I've been looking at. It is X-Large, 41"x38"x39. I thought about the crates used for airlines but there are a lot of ventilation holes and with the amount of rain we get here in FL, it would always be wet. Any way, thanks again!