Goose Keeping?

[BeckyLa]

At the end of the month the feed store will be getting in some Emden geese. I was considering getting a pair but have never kept geese and have no idea what their care requirements are. Do they eat flowers? Roses? What about housing? Like my chickens? I'd love some advice.

 

[BeckyLa]

Aw, come on folks. You mean no one on this board raises geese??

 

[TheBigWRanch]

I've had two geese one when I was a child, and lived in town. It was gag gift for someone else, but they were not happy about it! So we took her. She lived in our back yard. I don't remember her eating any flowers, but she loved the grass. She didn't have a house. The second one was a few years later when I moved to the country. She lived at my barn where there are no flowers, so she just ate grass and chicken food. I never saw her go into the hen house, she always slept outside. I do know that they are supposed to have at least a small pool that they can get into everyday. Both of my geese made a HUGE mess of tons of slimy poo. MUCH worse than a chicken. Mine were both very friendly, but I only had one at a time. I knew someone else that had a small flock and they were extremely mean, so mean that he got rid of them. Also they are very loud, especially if you have more then one. I loved mine, but I don't think I would ever get one again, it's just too much care.

 

[silkiechicken]

Compared to chickens, waterfowl are big sloppy wet buggers. Only fun thing about them is they follow you around everywhere if you hatched them in your own incubator and that they are chubby little buggers.

 

[CarriBrown]

A good friend of mine had geese (they had up to four at one time). I don't know squat about breeds... They were the really big white ones.
Anyway, they lived next to the chickens and liked to come out onto the lawn to do whatever it is that geese do. I remember that they were pretty messy and my friend's mom cleaned out their kiddie pool at least once a day.
They were also bullies but this was when Holly and I were very young and scared of them. I'm sure they knew we were scared. They were friendly to her mom, though.
Oh! And they were loud!!! The honking is a lot louder than a chicken bakock.

 

[BeckyLa]

Well, I don't know. I'm beginning to wonder about geese. So messy, loud, and perhaps even dangerous. I seem to be hearing more bad than good. I thought they might make a good pet, weed eater, and driveway and preditor alarm. Maybe I'm wrong? Maybe they're not worth the trouble?

 

[shemarie]

Last spring when we got my chickens....I took my kids with me and they talked me into 3 ducks and a goose to go with them. We absolutely loved them, but we ended up giving them to some folks who had a pond. We did not have a pond except for a decorative one...which they ended up fouling pretty much. If we had a real farm pond I would keep them..but without that, it is hard to do because you do have to change the water all the time, even though people say you can have them without it, I wouldn't recommend it. Our goose was very friendly, but we spent a lot of time with him...and he really bonded with us. He did chase our dog, which was actually kind of funny. They can be aggressive unless you really work with them, but they are good "watch dogs" The biggest problem we had with them was that they would sit on the patio and look in the window and Poop all over the patio..and that was icky. If you had a place for them away from your house and had a water supply for them they are lots of fun. Let me know what you decide....If you got a pair they would be happier and probably not pick on the others. We really did like ours so much..but decided it would be better for them all to be somewhere they could actually swim all they liked.

 

[frelima]

i have two emden ganders that I raised from day old goslings from the feed store. I have a fenced acre with gardens, trees and lots of weedlawn. There is a winter creek, and I keep childrens pools with water in three locations in the summer. I also have a few ducks.
The geese are beautiful, they are great watch dogs, honking at people on the road, hawks overhead, nighttime predators stalking, harley motorcycles, and at me whenever they see me from afar- and yes they come running.
Are they mean, yes, they are, they can be threatening, and some people are afraid of them. But the trick is not to show fear to them, to greet them noisily and let them know YOU are a bigger meaner goose. Some breeds are less aggressive than emden.
I don't have to feed them, although I do give them grain scratch 2 or three times a week. They forage for grass. And in season they get lots of downed apples etc from my trees. They are three years old and are very healthy.
Their poop does not bother me, unless I leave a gate open and they spend a lot of time on the front driveway. It is like tubular grass and is very good fertilizer!
They nibble and should be kept away from the house and lawn furniture.
They look great walking around the yard, they get along with the chickens and ducks, and over all are well worth having!
There is a good book called Domestic Geese, it is english and I learned a lot from it. Also Barnyard in Your Backyard has some good info about geese too!

julie

 

[tnokie]

I had some when we lived in the country. DW made me get rid of them because they liked to sit on the carport. If you can keep them out of the yard they are a lot of fun to mess with. I really liked the crosses,but not the chinnese. Go for it they will be sure to keep you entertained.

 

[kris10]

My parents had a couple geese at one point. They'd bought them for the pond; however, they liked being by the house. Still, they never bothered anyone too much until they started chasing cars. Unfortunately my parents got a couple female friends for them only to have a fox discover, and then eat, all four of them over a period of about a week.