r/geese

Saw this greylag gosling a few days ago at the park. Why is it so cute??

my darling friend made me this, figured y’all would appreciate

In the fall, I noticed a trio of swan geese showed up at the lake in our small mountain town. I’m guessing they were dumped. Unfortunately, the trio became a pair pretty soon after they arrived but the two remaining geese were together throughout the winter.

Maybe a month or so ago, I noticed that only one goose remains. He seems so lonely — he follows people around when they come to the lake and even paddles around with them when they go swimming.

I know his chances aren’t good as a solo goose but I don’t really know what to do. I’m going to try to find rescues willing to help. We get a lot of tourists over the 4th of July and I’m really hoping that no one is mean to him.

If anyone knows of a farm or bird rescue in San Bernardino mountains area, please let me know.

I live in a townhouse complex in Minnesota and while walking found a gosling around 6-8 weeks old alone at a pond that its family frequents. There are three flocks of geese with babies that live around here and I saw them. A few houses over by another pond (there are a lot of ponds here). The poor thing keeps trying to make noise but nothing is coming out 😢 Is it likely its family will find it? I’m so sensitive about animals and can’t help but worry.

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How does one keep the water safe (health wise) for 3 x 4 week old Chinese geese who use a 713 litre kiddy pool to swim and splash in for 1h per day. I’ve been using small amounts of household bleach (50-75 ml) which I pitch right after they’ve had their swim and, by the smell, the majority of it off gasses within the 16 hours when they are in their indoor enclosure. My gut says I can do this for a week (along with skimming the top and syphoning the fecal matter off the bottom daily) before an entire water change is needed - maybe even 2 weeks. So far, I’m only 3 days in with this “pond”
</TLDR>

So…. I filled a kiddie pool that holds this much water:

0.7137m3 - 713.7 litres - 156.99 gallons

Draining it and filling it daily would be expensive and a lot of work. It would easily triple my water use thereby doubling my water bill which is already $225-$250/month (damn - I remember when rent with water included was $500 and it doesn’t feel like so long ago - and now that could be my water bill).

I have experience managing pool chemicals; chlorine and bromine are excellent anti water born pathogen, while being very safe in small amounts. What I’ve been doing so far is adding 100mL of bleach to the pool when they finish their daily swim, and I don’t let them back in until at least 16 hours has past. If I calculated things correctly, this gives a chlorine level of a public swimming pool when being used (not in “shock”) and by the time they get back in, it should be within standards of drinking water (here I’m refering ONLY to chlorine levels, not bacteria, amoeba, viral etc levels. I grew up spending 3 months of the year at the family cottage where our well water smelled more strongly of chlorine than the pool water does when my little guys are in it. Even if the chorine does take care of the nasties at some point the nitrate level is going to be too high for their kidneys - though they’re only in it for an hour a day and they drink litres and litres of water in their indoor enclosure which should flush their kidneys pretty well.

I’ve ordered some test strips to check chlorine levels, but I’m pretty sure I’m OK - I worry more about bacteria, protozoa, and viruses which the chlorine may mitigate, but it’s no guarantee. On the other hand, I’m a stone’s throw from a park with a man made lake in the centre that’s positively OVERRUN with Canada geese - the grass banks are SLICK with goose poop, and they’re constantly pooping in that water and drinking from it and they’re as healthy and reproducing every bit as good as, if not a fair bit more so, than any other group of animals I can think of. The nitrogen and possibly other substances that build up in the park are somewhat mitigated by plant and algae growth, which my kiddy pool doesn’t have.

How often do you goose moms and dads drain/fill their swimming/splashing pond? Please include number of geese using it and the aprox volume of water or dimensions of the container.

Thanks for all your help!! Everyone in this sub has been AMAZING!!

This is one of the three teens who I visit. I saw them fly briefly the other day. Soon they'll be off with their folks to see the world!

Hello, some of you might have remembered my last post but the video admittedly wasn't that good so here is hopefully a bit better video. I personally am thinking male but I am not 100% sure. They are the only one in my flock that I don't truly know so it's driving me nuts lol. So if anyone may have a clue please let me know what you think.

they grow up so fast🥹

I'm looking for advice on what to do for this goose that showed up this morning. It has been following my chickens around all day but doesnt seem like it trying to harm them. I know nothing about geese. I set out a small kiddie pool to help it cool down because it is blazing here . Anything I should or should not be doing?

Also can anyone yell me anything about it from just a picture? Type? Gender?