Embden Geese Arrival Imminent: Please Help!

Tomorrow six adult Embden geese will arrive from Holderread Farm (3ganders/3gooses). David said on the phone two things that scramble my mind: #1 that the geese do NOT need to be housed in raccoon-proof housing because they are large enough and aggressive enough to fight them off. And #2 that if I do attempt to confine them in a 10 foot x 12 foot wooden shed overnight I will find one live gander in the morning. That they will fight to the death in such close quarters. This seems to conflict with what I have read here on both points. Tomorrow they will be here, do I confine them overnight or not? Brother-in-law's chickens were all killed by racoons in the last three months. Lancaster County, PA. Please advise...

Right now during breeding season YES Ganders will fight when stuck in small quarters plus they more then likely will go after one goose and over breed her kind of like "the favorite" ducks do this also.

I actually just took in a embden in a terrible situation bad living quarters to many ganders to goose. They also were locked up in a shed at night one gander I saw that the lady had, had a huge nasty wound on its chest which she said was from another gander. I got pretty blunt with her and told her that if she was going to breed animals to do it properly. I would have taken him but I know I can't do any other ganders at this time.

Here is a picture of our sweet embden Suzy who will live her days out on our farm. She is very overbred as you can see by her head. IT has many horrible cuts that I had to tend too. She is also underweight and looked like she hadn't had a bath in MONTHS... She already after 4 days that I have had her is growing feathers back on her head and is so much happier!!!



If it was me I would be right now splitting the geese into pairs and seperating. It is a pretty vicious thing to watch ganders attack each other. Once breeding season is over, they all can live happily the rest of the year together.

As for racoons the only think I would be worried about is them taking eggs. Geese are pretty big but I am sure it has happend that a raccon has injured a goose. But its not as easy as chickens that become prettty "out of it" when its dark. Geese aren't like that.

Good luck! they are lots of fun!

markt1 said:

Tomorrow six adult Embden geese will arrive from Holderread Farm (3ganders/3gooses). David said on the phone two things that scramble my mind: #1 that the geese do NOT need to be housed in raccoon-proof housing because they are large enough and aggressive enough to fight them off. And #2 that if I do attempt to confine them in a 10 foot x 12 foot wooden shed overnight I will find one live gander in the morning. That they will fight to the death in such close quarters. This seems to conflict with what I have read here on both points. Tomorrow they will be here, do I confine them overnight or not? Brother-in-law's chickens were all killed by racoons in the last three months. Lancaster County, PA. Please advise...

Click to expand...

They DO need raccoon - proof housing, especially since there have already been poultry losses to them in your area. Another BYC member lost 3 of her geese to a raccoon recently.


As far as putting them in the shed, you can, but the pairs should be divided, better if its something that they can't see through. I saw a good example, I'll try to see if I can find it & paste the link on here...

• example of geese paired & seperated http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/4/48/48bdaf15_photo5.jpeg

but someone made this good observation, "If your ganders are too interested in what's going on in the other pen, you might want to put some tarps up between them. Looks like they could get their heads in between that wire and still fight."

• example of visual barrier https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/445537/lightbox/post/10514157/id/5540783
• example of another division & barrier https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/445537/lightbox/post/10514368/id/5540811

Very interesting information from Dave H. I agree 100% that if you confine embden ganders in small space, the top gander will kill the rest. I have a friend whose embden killed his 45lb turkey at the beginning of fall breeding season last year. It was very sad. As for whether they can handle raccoon, it would not surprise me. It would have to be an extremely desperate raccoon to attempt to make an embden a meal. For what it is worth, my Africans have free ranged my horse property 24/7 for over a year now and have not had any losses. My neighbor, on the other hand, loses chickens (in a locked up coop/run) every few months to coons or foxes.

Going Bhonkers said:

They DO need raccoon - proof housing, especially since there have already been poultry losses to them in your area. Another BYC member lost 3 of her geese to a raccoon recently.


As far as putting them in the shed, you can, but the pairs should be divided, better if its something that they can't see through. I saw a good example, I'll try to see if I can find it & paste the link on here...

• example of geese paired & seperated http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/4/48/48bdaf15_photo5.jpeg

but someone made this good observation, "If your ganders are too interested in what's going on in the other pen, you might want to put some tarps up between them. Looks like they could get their heads in between that wire and still fight."

• example of visual barrier https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/445537/lightbox/post/10514157/id/5540783
• example of another division & barrier https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/445537/lightbox/post/10514368/id/5540811

Click to expand...

Please, give your geese secure housing...I do not want anyone to go through the heart ache of loosing three precious geese, like I did. Like Bonkers said, you'll need to separate your three pairs of Embdens..otherwise the ganders will fight to the death.

Here is a picture of my Goose House..right now I have one stall, and a large dog cage in the building. I have three sets of geese in this building, one in the stall, one in the dog cage, and the other set loose in the building.

Dog house



View of the Goose House and runs from the backyard



Inside



One of the stalls




Good Luck

~ Aspen

Bless you for taking in this sweet little girl. I can't understand anyone ever letting something like this happen in the first place.
Good luck to you and her both !

Sorry I took so long to get back to the thread. Overtime at work... All of the gooseys are fine. They nibble slightly at the feed I put out for them (Purina Layena Plus + a little cracked corn). I've been leaving out three five gallon water buckets cleaned and filled to the top twice a day. So far I've taken my chances with them being outdoors in the 1/4 acre fenced-in area and nothing has bothered them. They cluster near the fence-line section nearest the back deck flood light left on at night. Plus a 175-watt mercury lamp stays lit about 50 feet away. The presence of my German Shepherd dog just on the other side of the fence-line may also be helping to keep nasties away. I plan to electrify the fence within a few weeks and totally give up on locking them up for the night. Even if the shed were sectioned off, I wouldn't be able to identify each goose's mate to funnel it into the proper section. And the next door neighbor woman who babysits my dog (and now geese) while I'm on vacation isn't going to want to be bothered with rounding up geese at sunset. So no night lockups. My immediate concern is the nesting arrangements. Don't know whether I should build three little hutches for the girls or section off the 10ft x 12 ft shed into three parts using 4' x 8' plywood sheets. Would the gander each is "married to" stay within their own mate's section? Four foot high barriers should be high enough to prevent fighting shouldn't it? I lean to doing that rather than hutches because any goslings would need the shed's protection from the elements anyway. Any advice on shed nesting arrangements vs the ganders getting along at the shed nesting site would be much appreciated! Will try to get some photos of them soon...

markt1 said:

Sorry I took so long to get back to the thread. Overtime at work... All of the gooseys are fine. They nibble slightly at the feed I put out for them (Purina Layena Plus + a little cracked corn). I've been leaving out three five gallon water buckets cleaned and filled to the top twice a day. So far I've taken my chances with them being outdoors in the 1/4 acre fenced-in area and nothing has bothered them. They cluster near the fence-line section nearest the back deck flood light left on at night. Plus a 175-watt mercury lamp stays lit about 50 feet away. The presence of my German Shepherd dog just on the other side of the fence-line may also be helping to keep nasties away. I plan to electrify the fence within a few weeks and totally give up on locking them up for the night. Even if the shed were sectioned off, I wouldn't be able to identify each goose's mate to funnel it into the proper section. And the next door neighbor woman who babysits my dog (and now geese) while I'm on vacation isn't going to want to be bothered with rounding up geese at sunset. So no night lockups. My immediate concern is the nesting arrangements. Don't know whether I should build three little hutches for the girls or section off the 10ft x 12 ft shed into three parts using 4' x 8' plywood sheets. Would the gander each is "married to" stay within their own mate's section? Four foot high barriers should be high enough to prevent fighting shouldn't it? I lean to doing that rather than hutches because any goslings would need the shed's protection from the elements anyway. Any advice on shed nesting arrangements vs the ganders getting along at the shed nesting site would be much appreciated! Will try to get some photos of them soon...

Click to expand...

Would the gander each is "married to" stay within their own mate's section? - not sure about this one.

Four foot high barriers should be high enough to prevent fighting shouldn't it? - It should be high enough. Some people have had to put some kind of visual barrier to, as some ganders will fight through the fence (you might not have to, just keep it in mind).

Any advice on shed nesting arrangements vs the ganders getting along at the shed nesting site would be much appreciated
Ive read geese like to nest in corners. Also, make sure ganders have a lot of space!