Splitting up males/females -- Goslings arriving soon!

[jollygreen23]

We have recently moved and are rebuilding our flock from scratch. Our plan is to have two flocks of chickens, each with a male and female goose for protection. We also want a separate flock of just geese.

We've ordered: 5 female goslings, 2 male goslings, and 3 unsexed goslings, plus all of our chickens.

We currently have one enclosure for just geese and a large chicken coop that can house chickens as well as some geese as needed. Eventually, we will have third structure for a second flock of chickens (plus two geese) and we can split our chickens, but for now all the chickens are combined.

I've heard that you shouldn't put more than 2 geese with your chickens or they might ignore the chickens and only protect themselves. I know geese mate for life and I'm aware that having too many males in one space could be bad.

My question is: how should I split up the geese (males/females) before the 3rd structure is available?

I was thinking of maybe putting two female geese with the chickens, then splitting them when we divide our chicken flock. Then we could add the males in later? That way both chicken flocks have a goose that's "a part of the flock." But then we could have too many males in the goose enclosure.

Or maybe put a male/female pair in with the chickens that will stay with half of the chickens, and then pull another goose pair from the goose flock once we have the third structure, to guard the second chicken flock?

Sorry if I'm not making any sense. I think the ultimate solution is to get the third structure asap....

but any information you can provide on having multiple guard geese, when geese select a mate, when males get aggressive, or having a mixed flock of geese is much appreciated!

 

[Mo_fawaazzz]

They should be able to stay together until the breeding age comes in.

What type of geese are they. Depending on the species and amount of space you have, you could keep them together.

If they are free ranged or at least have half an acre it should be fine.

If they are in pens or aviaries then that is a different story. Having a proper male to female goose ratio (1 gander for 3-5 hens) could be ok, but having too many males could go wrong. Fights are brutal when it comes to geese, and if the loser has no place to run or fly away, he could die.

 

[jollygreen23]

They should be able to stay together until the breeding age comes in.

What type of geese are they. Depending on the species and amount of space you have, you could keep them together.

If they are free ranged or at least have half an acre it should be fine.

If they are in pens or aviaries then that is a different story. Having a proper male to female goose ratio (1 gander for 3-5 hens) could be ok, but having too many males could go wrong. Fights are brutal when it comes to geese, and if the loser has no place to run or fly away, he could die.

Females are Toulouse, males are African, unsexed are white Chinese. The chicken yard is about 0.4 acres and the goose pasture is about 0.8 acres.

So we could wind up with 2-5 males and 5-8 females. If we wind up with more than 3 males, we’ll remove the extras.

 

[Goosebaby]

Even with a single goose it will not protect your chickens. Geese have no ability to protect themselves let alone others from predators. They can bluff fairly well but that bluff only works until it doesn’t. In the wild a goose’s primary survival strategy is to fly away or swim to the middle of a large body of water when molting. Geese will protect their mate and nests with their lives but the key words in that are “with their lives.”

What geese can do is be alarm geese, meaning that they are an extra set of eyes to alert the flock to danger, greylag derived breeds tend to make a low “heh heh heh” sound when they sense danger so you may not hear it from inside but the flock will hear it and take cover, Chinese type geese tend to be bolder and more vocal about intruders, including predators.

Geese are also excellent at deterring hawks due to their large and intimidating size to other birds.


This is what happened when a mink entered a coop with two geese and their chickens, Be warned, it’s sad.

 

[AGeese]

We have recently moved and are rebuilding our flock from scratch. Our plan is to have two flocks of chickens, each with a male and female goose for protection. We also want a separate flock of just geese.

We've ordered: 5 female goslings, 2 male goslings, and 3 unsexed goslings, plus all of our chickens.

We currently have one enclosure for just geese and a large chicken coop that can house chickens as well as some geese as needed. Eventually, we will have third structure for a second flock of chickens (plus two geese) and we can split our chickens, but for now all the chickens are combined.

I've heard that you shouldn't put more than 2 geese with your chickens or they might ignore the chickens and only protect themselves. I know geese mate for life and I'm aware that having too many males in one space could be bad.

My question is: how should I split up the geese (males/females) before the 3rd structure is available?

I was thinking of maybe putting two female geese with the chickens, then splitting them when we divide our chicken flock. Then we could add the males in later? That way both chicken flocks have a goose that's "a part of the flock." But then we could have too many males in the goose enclosure.

Or maybe put a male/female pair in with the chickens that will stay with half of the chickens, and then pull another goose pair from the goose flock once we have the third structure, to guard the second chicken flock?

Sorry if I'm not making any sense. I think the ultimate solution is to get the third structure asap....

but any information you can provide on having multiple guard geese, when geese select a mate, when males get aggressive, or having a mixed flock of geese is much appreciated!

I think the word on the street is not "2 geese", but 1 goose, and I don't recommend it outside of a rescue situation or outside of keeping a separate flock of geese.

Reason being is even if they imprint with your chickens you raise them with, they're apt to bully and dominate them later because they also have a pecking order and the chickens will be subordinate to a goose.

If you get 2 geese they will be bonded as a pair and in the best case not care about your chickens, but in the worst case could kill your chickens once they start becoming territorial, and their hormones kick in.

You could end up with docile geese (though I wouldn't bet on it), but the docility could very well translate into a non-protector or scared of their own shadow (I have a couple of these.)

I recommend you build your flock of geese separately from the chickens. The chickens will benefit from being around the geese, just not in their way.

Edit: You've probably seen the video about Larry the Goose? Well he's retired from that flock. A gander has needs and may end up trying to mate with the chickens which could be a bad deal. Even females can act out when their hormones start kicking in.

 

[AutumnSol]

We have recently moved and are rebuilding our flock from scratch. Our plan is to have two flocks of chickens, each with a male and female goose for protection. We also want a separate flock of just geese.

We've ordered: 5 female goslings, 2 male goslings, and 3 unsexed goslings, plus all of our chickens.

We currently have one enclosure for just geese and a large chicken coop that can house chickens as well as some geese as needed. Eventually, we will have third structure for a second flock of chickens (plus two geese) and we can split our chickens, but for now all the chickens are combined.

I've heard that you shouldn't put more than 2 geese with your chickens or they might ignore the chickens and only protect themselves. I know geese mate for life and I'm aware that having too many males in one space could be bad.

My question is: how should I split up the geese (males/females) before the 3rd structure is available?

I was thinking of maybe putting two female geese with the chickens, then splitting them when we divide our chicken flock. Then we could add the males in later? That way both chicken flocks have a goose that's "a part of the flock." But then we could have too many males in the goose enclosure.

Or maybe put a male/female pair in with the chickens that will stay with half of the chickens, and then pull another goose pair from the goose flock once we have the third structure, to guard the second chicken flock?

Sorry if I'm not making any sense. I think the ultimate solution is to get the third structure asap....

but any information you can provide on having multiple guard geese, when geese select a mate, when males get aggressive, or having a mixed flock of geese is much appreciated!

My Geese do not protect my chickens at all. They only alert to danger and only seek safety for themselves. The chickens know to hide when the geese hide.