Goose Advice

[ebianc89]

I am interested in adding a goose pair to my flock. What breeds do you like (I have my opinion but I want to hear yours), do they need to be in pairs, how do you intergrate them with ducks?

 

[gooselove]

I am interested in adding a goose pair to my flock. What breeds do you like (I have my opinion but I want to hear yours), do they need to be in pairs, how do you intergrate them with ducks?

I have Toulouse geese-I raised them from goslings and they both follow me everywhere-if I'm not outside and they are looking for me, they honk for me to come out of the house. I absolutely adore these geese, they are both very sweet, intelligent waterfowl. I know there are many other breeds to choose from-check out each breed to see what type is best for you.

You probably would do best to add a pair of geese to your ducks. Let the geese see the ducks but not have direct access to the ducks until they can get along together through the fence-you don't want them to fight.

If you want to start with goslings, you can do it the same way once the goslings are old enough to stay outside.

Have fun with your geese! They are amazing!!

 

[HeyHouse]

My only experience is with Embden and Pilgrim, and I would say I prefer Embden, but it's not a strong opinion.

Some people say 1 male to 2 female, but I think 1:1 works fine and mine seem to be happy in pairs.

The difficulty you might have with integrating with your ducks is that geese can be quite aggressive. I don't have ducks, but I integrated my geese with my chickens. At first, they seemed to be establishing a pecking order just like you'd expect with a pure chicken integration. The only problem is that the geese are really rough! They don't just give a little peck, they latch on and won't let go. I was really afraid my chickens would be killed, but after about a week the roughness ended and they started getting along.

At this point, the only time they fight is at feeding time. The rooster in particular can get very aggressive with the ganders.

I recommend that you feed them separately but at the same time and make sure they get used to the routine. The geese will be busy eating their pile of food, and the ducks will be busy with theirs and they won't fight over it. I also put out multiple piles of food for each pair of geese because they will fight each other. In my case, I have 3 pairs, so I give them 3 meals.

 

[Gray Farms]

Pairs and trios work best for small, mixed flocks. Something small would be better to start with. Sebastopols are hands down my favorites. I've raised them for 12 years now. But Toulouse, Pilgrim, and Romans are also good, small, docile breeds.

 

[flyingfinn]

Could anybody help me with this: we got a small flock of Emblems for free last winter, three ganders to one female, she paired off with one of them and the two ignored ones seem to have formed a couple, always hanging out, very closely bonded. Issue here is, they don't mate with the female but don't let the partner do it either, they'll noisily interrupt them. One of the bachelor boys behaves like an alpha, noisy and aggressive toward us and the pair. The husband won't defend his right to mate the goose, only yields..any good ideas? If free ranging, goose will follow and hang out with bachelors. Does anyone else have experience on this scenario please?

 

[Gray Farms]

Options are...

Need to get more females.

Need to get rid of the two extra males.

Need to separate the pair from the extra males.

 

[flyingfinn]

This has been going since last year..no-one buying the males, not enough grass for more females, separation working to a degree..all eggs infertile last year..ouch.

 

[flyingfinn]

Cannot bring ourselves to kill the boys.. and fox has stayed away over a year!

 

[StarKees]

Sorry but this post just begs the response: "Gay as a goose." That just might be their problem as folks have gotten that saying from somewhere. Please don't be offended to my LGBT friends but I just HAD to say it.

xx
RS

 

[flyingfinn]

We call them our gay boys although their behaviour is far from that

was actually going to offer them to some well to do human male couple, they would love their utterly devoted demeanour..