Anyone raise Chickens, Ducks and Geese?

I have guineas but I have a hard time keeping them home. They tend to leave. I am thinking maybe geese would be better guardians.

I have just looked at a couple of different breeds of geese and was wondering how much work it is to raise them. I read that the goslings need lots of greens as they grow, and a variety of them. Is that so?

With my chickens and ducks, I put layer crumbles out and let them forage whatever else they want. They are locked up at night and I let them out anytime before noon. Would geese get along with that type of routine?

*Sigh* I feel so alone...

Sylviaanne said:

*Sigh* I feel so alone...

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Just saw your original posting. I have chickens, ducks and geese. They all require about the same amount of care and the care routine is about the same. The waterfowl do require a little more because of their pools needing cleaning, etc. Geese will provide a degree of alerting when there is something unknown to them but not to the degree that Guineas do. Also, geese are foragers, they need (must have) access to grass to eat. They are not as big on bugs as ducks and will pretty much ignore them in favor of grass. A balanced multi-breed poultry feed as a supplement will help but they will not eat much of that if there is the choice between it and grass. I have Toulouse geese and am very pleased with their personalities and behavior. You might check the various goose threads here on BYC for others opinions.

Oh, they wouldn't go hungry here. We have grass hip high and weeds taller than I am. We have 4 non working riding lawnmowers, one non working push mower and one working weed eater. That thing is heavy and it's a lot of work to use it on a yard as big as ours.

Thank you.

Sylviaanne said:

Oh, they wouldn't go hungry here. We have grass hip high and weeds taller than I am. We have 4 non working riding lawnmowers, one non working push mower and one working weed eater. That thing is heavy and it's a lot of work to use it on a yard as big as ours.

Thank you.

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Big hug. lol your not alone just busy time of year. you sound like you could use some geese, they would love to keep your grass cut for you, they shouldn't have thick blade long grasses because they can get bound up from it but short thin grass like fescues they can and would eat, so you may have to get someone to do initial cutting then let the geese keep it that way.

My geese keep the grass cut my chickens and ducks keep the bugs down. we sit around sipping ice teas and watching them all.

Sylviaanne said:

Oh, they wouldn't go hungry here. We have grass hip high and weeds taller than I am. We have 4 non working riding lawnmowers, one non working push mower and one working weed eater. That thing is heavy and it's a lot of work to use it on a yard as big as ours.

Thank you.

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You will need to cut it first. Geese will try to eat it if it is something they like and can not digest the long grass. 3-4 inches seems to work best with my geese. I have 3.5 acres and the geese get free range on about 2 acres. I just have 3 so I still have to mow. I was told that 20 geese can keep grass cut on 1-2 acres depending on what is growing on it. Best of luck if you do get them. Geese (at least mine) are a real joy. They trumpet when they see me coming and follow me around like puppies.

jtn42248 said:

You will need to cut it first. Geese will try to eat it if it is something they like and can not digest the long grass. 3-4 inches seems to work best with my geese. I have 3.5 acres and the geese get free range on about 2 acres. I just have 3 so I still have to mow. I was told that 20 geese can keep grass cut on 1-2 acres depending on what is growing on it. Best of luck if you do get them. Geese (at least mine) are a real joy. They trumpet when they see me coming and follow me around like puppies.

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Short grass is so important. Once it´s short they´ll keep it lovely. I have around 20, and they live on 2 acres of pasture with trees and a stream going through. They have their favourite places and keep the grass lovely there, but there´s lots of grass yet that they don´t touch. DH has to mow that. And we have to weed it too. Our geese are strictly grass-eaters, thank you very much!

livininbrazil said:

Short grass is so important. Once it´s short they´ll keep it lovely. I have around 20, and they live on 2 acres of pasture with trees and a stream going through. They have their favourite places and keep the grass lovely there, but there´s lots of grass yet that they don´t touch. DH has to mow that.

And we have to weed it too. Our geese are strictly grass-eaters, thank you very much!

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Sound like mine they stick their bills up at just about any weeds.

Miss Lydia said:

Sound like mine they stick their bills up at just about any weeds.

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And mine. Weeds are out. And, grass has to be a very specific blade out of thousand or it is on to the next bunch of grass.

LOL We have 8 acres. Sounds like I would have to pen the grass up until we could get it cut. LOL So, that is about 10 geese per acre? I'd need almost 80 geese?!!

I have been waiting for it to rain again, for a couple of days, before I go out and try pulling those weed trees.

I just need my guineas to stay so that the chiggers quit eating me up. I can't go outside without something biting me. Usually, it's mosquitos but not this year. I have a 3-4 inch rash of bites around my ankles, bites up my arms, bites under my clothes. I really hate biting bugs. I just started letting my keets out of their cage because guineas in my area tend to come up missing. Apparently, a neighbor way out back of us, more than 5 miles, has guineas and when I have guineas, they want to be with other guineas. Maybe those people have moved or gotten rid of their guineas since last year. I can only hope. LOL BTW, I guess chiggers taste bad cause it doesn't look like the ducks eat them.

jtn: do you have more than just geese? How do you like their eggs? Better or worse than chicken eggs?