Geese: Pros and Cons

Hey guys, take me into the world of geese !!!

They are good grazers.

Can be loud.

Poop a lot.

Pretty.

Good nesters and mothers.

Which type of goose has the best temperment? How about flying and the height of a fence. I was thinking of making a portable pen to move around our acre, seperate from the chooks and goats.

Smelly, poopy, sometimes loud,...protective (which is a big positive and, sometimes, a big negative), great grazers, very efficient at gaining weight on good pasture, very low maintenance when on good pasture, high maintenance when kept in confinement/close quarters, fairly disease resistant, more resistant to mites than chickens. Beautiful feathers, entertaining, fun to watch, good eating, etc....

I would not recommend them for neighborhoods where the neighbors care about noise levels. I would not recommend them around small children without constant and closeby adult supervision (sorry, ganders are *not* predictable during breeding season- I have some good stories regarding this).

Before getting geese, I highly recommend you do your research. For less than $20 (through several poultry supply catalogs and holderread website) you can get Dave Holderreads "The Book of Geese" which is excellent. I refer to it often and keep it on my desk.

I have two Embden geese 1 male and 1 female and my female is very nice but the male is very mean and both of my geese are good free-rangers!

Hope this helps!

noahsgeese

Goose: (noun) perfection with feathers.

I am also considering geese. Are they louder than roosters? I live in a rural neighborhood. I have a couple reletively close neighbors but I have roosters and everyone has dogs here. Should geese be in pairs or have more than one female per male? Not trying to hijack, just want some help / enabling.

Geese will be loud at night if disturbed, I suppose that is the main noise level difference with roosters. A car pulled up our driveway last night late, and boy, the geese let me know about it.

I have Toulouse and they are just sweethearts. Sadly I breed them so I cannot keep them as complete pets (I've heard they'll think your their mate instead and ignore the girls. ) I breed the Large Dewlap/ standard version of the breed which is rare and very difficult to find. They can be very pricey to buy, spec. if you get them shipped because of their weight. They get fat easy too. They have a lower quieter honk then the chinese and africans though and I've never had them bite me. Only hiss and then run away.
You have to be willing to spend the cash, time, and special efforts towards the breed though, and they are not for first-time poultry-owners (found that out myself). They don't lay alot, they get alot of weight-related health problems (joints, ect) if you don't watch what they eat and they aren't very good with their eggs from my experience. Squashed 9/14 last year. But they make excellent meat birds. Take 3-5 years to mature. They can't fly though! They are too fat . You can expect to pay 50-100 dollars for an adult easily.

Though there is a production version that you can buy at hatcheries are much lighter and better at laying eggs and mommying them. I don't know them myself, but would assume they have the same personality. I've heard they can make great pets and are great barnyard geese. Those I would suggest as they are a good starter goose.
They are much cheaper and very easy to find. I don't know if they can fly or not, but chinese and smaller breeds can fly over fences but I'm not sure how high.
Also Pilgims are nice because you can tell their gender as soon as they are hatched and are pretty small. Goslings can be bought for around 8.00 for toulouse and I've seen pilgrims at around 11.00.

Geese are fun! They do have smelly poops like ducks, and do poop alot, and they can be bossy to other animals. But they are beautiful, stately, and are a great addition to your flock. Mine mind their own around the other birds and go everywhere in a huge group like a big gang. They are very loud though and talk all day long about everything. They love treats and grass and look lovely on water.

Yup I'm new as well and I wanna get geese educate me!!!