Chicken Guard Goose?

So, I'm looking at getting some exotic chickens that are good, hardy egg layers. I'm interested in the Cream Legbars and Bielefelder, maaaybe some Cuckoo Marans.

Now, I've had geese that picked on my ducks, but I can't help but wonder... If raised as a day old gosling, WITH day old chicks, one, would they get along, and, two, would they be good for protecting my chickens? If so, what type would be best for this that isn't SO loud, and good in most weather? We've had Africans before and they were LOUD and picked on the smaller poultry.

Thanks!

Well, if they are raised from babies, seems that is 'family', sometimes you can add some, but I have some that still are talk over the fence too, the birds they were raised with, be they ducks or another type of goose. That said, when mature sometimes, hormones can take over. I have geese that are turned out with my ducks daily. No problem, occasional ;" we want the pool/ water bucket now!" and a bit of chasing off can happen. They do have separate night pens next to each other, and I feed at night , in their pens. Geese will bully around food, as in 'we get it first!" and if they have enough, then they will let others. Some individuals are more "hormonally aggressive in the spring months or if their babies"; ie they protect their families. Quieter geese....probably something like Pilgrims, American Buffs, (i had some tufted buffs that were pretty quiet) maybe Sebastropols, I currently have Super Africans and Shetlands.... they sound off as 'greeters' or if any turmoil goes on, and if it is feeding time. We live next to a national forest in the country, and have every predator in the world, and in spite of having a large possum foolishly climb into the dog yard and get taken care of.....I have not lost a bird in 6 years here to predators...(they are in 2 types of fenced pastures in daytime and penned and hot wired at night.... but having lost full grown geese to raccoons when we lived in a subdivision area (no nightime hotwire)...and all our chickens during night attacks , this system has worked for me. I even have local hawk that nest on my pasture, and see him near the ducks, but he has never bothered , and we have tons of vultures, crows, and they even have Bald Eagles at Berry, about 15 miles away... so answer is probably do fine, but getting the right one may take one or more trys.

Okie dokie, I was just making sure before I buy. We have a lot of turkey vultures, red tail hawks, and sometimes Golden Eagles that will prey on a variety of animals like young geese, ducks, chickens, quails, and even small dogs on occasion, so I'd really feel a lot better if they had some form of protection/alarm with them. I don't want any breeding, that's why I'm not humoring a roo.

GiddyGoose, when you say "picked on", can you elaborate? I have a gosling th e same age as a bunch if Barred Rock chicks, and when I tried to introduce them as 2 week olds, the gosling (who I believe is the gander of the bunch) grabbed the first chicken he could find by the scruff of her neck like a kitten and it was aggressive looking, definitely NOT loving lol... I have never seen this and am now concerned about housing them together... Will the gander keep picking on the chickens or was it just a gosling/chick thing?

shortgrass said:

GiddyGoose, when you say "picked on", can you elaborate? I have a gosling th e same age as a bunch if Barred Rock chicks, and when I tried to introduce them as 2 week olds, the gosling (who I believe is the gander of the bunch) grabbed the first chicken he could find by the scruff of her neck like a kitten and it was aggressive looking, definitely NOT loving lol... I have never seen this and am now concerned about housing them together... Will the gander keep picking on the chickens or was it just a gosling/chick thing?

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I can say from experience geese need their own housing my geese 2 ganders 2 geese wouldn't tolerate chickens or ducks being housed or penned with them. Most likely I'd be finding dead birds. Just this morning my 4 had my Muscovy duck cornered inside her house when she was trying to lay and egg and my youngest gander had her by the neck, if they hadn't made so much racket screaming no telling what they may have done but I got out there and got them out. Maybe I just have the 4 from H but I would not rec having geese in with other birds. Oh and my 2 youngest who will be 1 yr old end of May started this when they were just babies maybe 3-4 weeks old. My 2 adults other than the lowering their heads down rarely grabbed anyone but since it's become 4 boy are they something.

We would(notice would) let them free roam around the pond together, but the geese really did not care for the ducks being around and would chase and bite at them. They're all clipped so they wouldn't fly off, but that made it hard for the poor ducks to escape. Since then we just keep the ducks in a large pen with a small pond we bought at Lowes and installed. They were introduced at around 4 months old. It wasn't too bad until breeding season came around. Still had some picking occasionally, but not nearly as bad as breeding season.

GiddyGoose said:

We would(notice would) let them free roam around the pond together, but the geese really did not care for the ducks being around and would chase and bite at them. They're all clipped so they wouldn't fly off, but that made it hard for the poor ducks to escape. Since then we just keep the ducks in a large pen with a small pond we bought at Lowes and installed. They were introduced at around 4 months old. It wasn't too bad until breeding season came around. Still had some picking occasionally, but not nearly as bad as breeding season.

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Breeding season is the worst.

You guys(gals) are making me seriously question my decision to use Africans as guards lol.... I got my 4 Africans with a group of chicks, as goslings...the gander has hated the chicks from day one... I still have hope that they and the 12 mallards I have on order can get along in 2 acres of grass as lonf as they are housed separately at night, otherwise I might have a lot of squabbling going on... I do have ONE BR chick that I think is a roo, and he's the only chick that will still go right up to the fence and challenge the gander. Breeding season with geese sounds just lovely haha

I purchased an American buff with the same intent, unfortunately he is very protective of any water and actually killed 2 of my silkies. I now have to lock up any smaller, less mobile chickens especially since breeding season is here.

shortgrass said:

You guys(gals) are making me seriously question my decision to use Africans as guards lol.... I got my 4 Africans with a group of chicks, as goslings...the gander has hated the chicks from day one... I still have hope that they and the 12 mallards I have on order can get along in 2 acres of grass as lonf as they are housed separately at night, otherwise I might have a lot of squabbling going on... I do have ONE BR chick that I think is a roo, and he's the only chick that will still go right up to the fence and challenge the gander. Breeding season with geese sounds just lovely haha

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happyappy said:

I purchased an American buff with the same intent, unfortunately he is very protective of any water and actually killed 2 of my silkies. I now have to lock up any smaller, less mobile chickens especially since breeding season is here.

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What we all are seeing is typical goose behavior and breeding season brings out the worse in them. They are just not meant to be guardians of anything other than their own. They can live on 2 acres with other birds but other than maybe loud honking don't expect much more in the way of alertness. When the red tail swooped in and killed my bantam hen my geese were up against the gate terrified as much as the ducks and chickens were. They have no way of protecting anything especially anything with talons or teeth. They'd put up a good fight it it was their goslings but would lose in the end. Go on you tube and see the falcon take down a Canada goose in mid air. Not pretty but shows how it's done. If we're going to keep geese we have to take the good with the bad. making sure the rest of the flock is safe but realizing this behavior is normal in geese. We can't let them injure us or any one else though so training is very important. Everyday I have to remind mine that biting is not acceptable here nor is grabbing a duck by the neck, I also drain pools before I go away in case my ganders gang up on a duck in the pool.. Which has been done here on occasion. So far no loss of life But i can see where it could happen And I am not letting my geese hatch goslings either 4 is enough. I love them but know my limits and what my flock can handle.