Raising geese in the city

[wendigo]

So yeah. I have a few questions. They aren't exactly about how to raise them but about how it is to do it. We initially bought 2 gooslings but we ended up having 6. My grandmother got a little carried away considering we live in the middle of the city. We have a decent backyard and a pond. They are 2 months old now. My main concern is noise. At what age do geese start honking? How much and how loud do they honk? How well do they resist during the winter? We are afraid that we will have to put them on the Christman table when the cold comes. There are no laws against raising fowl in urban areas so at least we are ok on the legal part. I'm reading that some breeds are louder than others. Most of them started turning white so I suspect they are embdens. The other 2 started growing some brown feathers. If anyone can identify them I would be grateful. I'll upload a pic of one of them.

I hope you can help me with my problems. Thanks.

 

[larkflying]

They should start honking soon -- I think my oldest goslings are just starting to make the honking noise, and they get louder rapidly. One thing to keep in mind is that geese are active 24 hours. So, they will often be up socializing in the middle of the night. This could be anything from a full on party, or just a few muttered comments.

They will be quieter if you have a shed to shut them into (and safer) during the night. They are louder during full moons (more light) and if they see something new in their area. Fewer geese are quieter geese, especially during the breeding season - if you have more than one gander they could fight causing more honking at random times . . . Six might be a lot for an urban backyard . . .

It will depend on your neighbors, and how tolerant they are of noise at night / random times during the day. If you know them well enough, have them come over to feed the geese, talk to them about the wonderful lawn mowing abilities of the geese, and their funny personalities . . . the more they are interested in them, the more they are likely to mention to you that they can' t sleep before they call animal control. In my opinion they are way better than the perpetually barking dog tied up in the back yard - or traffic by a busy road -- or trains going by . . .

My geese make about the same noises during most of the year -- possibly they are louder during the breeding season but not too much more so . . . the shed/enclosure would help a lot, especially if it was well away from the fence line.

They will love your pond!

 

[wendigo]

They have a shed where they sleep so I hope they will be quiet at night. One more thing I forgot to ask. I read that geese have great memory. If we take away one or two (we will leave only one gander) will the other geese remember that one of them is missing? Will they start avoiding us because they sense that something bad happened? I know that when you kill a goose you have to take her away so the other ones don't see because they understand death.

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: Taking away the geese to cull them did not work with us, therefore we no longer keep geese. They are intelligent and have strong family bonds and great memories and they most certainly did 'twig' on to what was happening, and became constantly distressed. We are firm believers in animals having great quality of life, being well handled and tame, and only being culled in the most calm and peaceful and humane of ways. We make sure they don't see it happen to others or see it coming. And still it didn't work for us. They just knew. We'd need to be harder farmers to use them as livestock, or get dumber geese. Or cage them permanently which we don't want to do.

I think you will most likely have noise issues, they like to be deafening. If they were traumatized or depressed they'd be quiet but happy geese like some other animals like to 'party' as larkflying said. And night time is often the time they choose. In our flocks as well as the other flocks I've had experience with, they often go for night time flights, and smash into things. We lost two geese that way, and I rescued another person's gander after he flew through several barbed wire fences and into trees in the middle of the night. They are no longer able to migrate but retain some instincts; often a plane going overhead makes them call out and try to follow. They are descended from long-flight birds with almost no steering capacity so once they're airborne they can't do sharp turns. The tail/rudder's too small. They get excited and scream and run and fly and crash and haemorrhage slowly to death, if not restrained, so it's great you're putting them in a shed at night. Also they love to scream ear-splittingly over food. They can be trained out of that one though. In fact you could possibly train them to be quieter, but I don't know.

 

[wendigo]

Do mute geese exist? Next year we are planning to get some of those. I know that mute ducks are a thing so they are also an option.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Do mute geese exist? Next year we are planning to get some of those. I know that mute ducks are a thing so they are also an option.

I've heard of mute swans but not geese, mine are far from it. mute that is.

 

[chooks4life]

I know some breeders de-voice their babies when identified as males, via red-hot wire in the throat. That's terribly cruel. I think it's akin to desexing via testicular crushing.

 

[RURU]

My sebastopols are quiet most of the night unless a dispute happens then there is the noise or a predator comes around they sound off. But pretty good at night since penned up. Now in the morning when they see me coming to let them out that is honking time to meet and greet each other and food call. Off and on during the day they will honk like when running with excitement with wings out. But usually they are pretty good. But we have 8 acres so if they bother the neighbors so we have enough land.