About the Geese

We have three geese, of unknown gender until a few days ago. A visitor stopped by to ask us about our geese. Since he seemed to know about geese, we asked him to sex them for us: we have a mated pair, and a lone gander. He also said that the hen is ready to lay. That immediatly got my attention.

The geese have been a pain for quite a while, mostly because they keep stealing the feed from our layer. But recently, they have stepped us their disturbance to our hens by taking over the hen house. Two of the 3 geese (the mated pair) kept getting in there. I had to get them out and was not happy at all about the mess they put in there. Now I understand they were simply looking for a place to lay.
I setup an unused dog house, which got their interest for a day or so, but they didn't seem to like it much, so I made them a bigger shelter with two pallets and a tarp.


They seem to like it better than the dog house (the Dogloo on the left), and the three of them can fit in, while only two could fit in the doghouse.
I approached to get a better shot, but they were getting defensive, so I didn't insist. This is the closest shot I could get:


I also had to feed them grains, since the snow is covering the grass. They are very hungry.

We used to talk about have a goose dinner one of those days, due to their behavior toward our hens (or even toward us sometimes, they are very defensive). Now that I know they are mated and ready to lay, I love my geese.
As always, it is just a matter of mutual understanding...