Winter Goose Housing Advice

[GretaViolet]

Hello,
I live in western Oregon, where winter temps can occasionally get into the single digits but don't tend to stay there for long. Lots of days in the 30's and 20's during the chilliest months with a few colder outliers.

Our home came with a greatl long wire mesh coop, very secure. My geese are now around 7 months old and at night they happily go into this run with one cayuga duck and three chickens...all seem to cohabitate just fine.

The chickens have upper story nesting boxes so my question is, because the run is wire and thus open to the elements, do the geese need their own little private house within that space? Or would a few pieces of plywood up to protect from wind likely suffice? I've seen lots of cute geese huts online but I can't sort out if it makes sense in our situation, given that it's not terribly cold here and they're definitely protected at night, predator wise..

Thanks for any input!
Addie

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Giving them an area to get out of any winds is a good idea. Geese are really cold hardy. Blocking winds and perhaps some hay to sit on to get off the ground would help.

 

[AGeese]

Blocking wind is never a bad idea regardless. Those temps aren't terrible for geese, but you don't want them getting wet where they sleep. The barrier also keeps them out of sight from predators at night.

 

[GretaViolet]

Giving them an area to get out of any winds is a good idea. Geese are really cold hardy. Blocking winds and perhaps some hay to sit on to get off the ground would help.

Thank you! Apologies for the delay, didn't see this until now.

 

[PhantomSlayer]

Atleast creating a barrier for the wind is best. Even if you made a shelter its not guarenteed they'll use it lol. We have that problem. I blocked a west/south corner with a tarp and we made a wood frame around a dog crate and put up siding and a roof. It looks like a dog house tbh. They don't use it and sit behind the tarped corner with no roof over their heads in the rain and snow x.x When our temps drop to the teens I end up putting them in our chicken run at night because its got alot more tarps around it less wind and snow. Plus our chicken door is open 24/7 so they can go in into the metal shed made chicken coop.. They were raised with the chickens so they know how to get in there but I usually still find them out in the run at night.

We have a toulouse and a buff american. I heard knobbed breeds have risk of frostbite on the knobs but ours are knobless and seems it doesn't faze them as long as they can get out of the cold winds.