What kind of geese are these? Sex?

[STEPHANIELAUREN]

Hi all, I have someone who bought chicken eggs from me who has these two baby geese that he wants to give me and I have questions!!! Before I agree to take them (never had waterfowl before)
Does anyone know what sex these are? He doesn’t know they got them at the feed store
What breed?
What kind of coop do they need? No way are they going in my chicken coops.
How hard are geese to take care of? I’ve always heard geese are mean but he says they follow you around and are friendly

We have 5 acres. Horses, dogs, about 50 (give or take) chickens, and we have a pond that wild ducks frequent. What the heck do I do with geese though? Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Goosebaby]

It’s too soon to tell what sex they are, very young goslings can be vent sexed but these babies are a bit too big squirmy for that.

Once they’re adults males will have a slightly longer neck in proportion to their body than females, females have a slightly more squat frame usually. It can be a subtle difference though.
Males once mature will be more inclined to want to be between a female and whoever else at all times.

Where things get confusing is if you have two females or two males, the more dominant of the two will act protective of the other regardless of what gender they are.

As for breed, I don’t know, they’ll be white geese is all I can say for sure, if they’re pilgrims they’ll be males (sex linked breed) but they could be embdens, Romans, or even a mixed breed.

I like to keep my geese in a 6 x 10 ft to 10 x 10 ft roofed dog kennel at night to keep them safe from predators or in bad weather, mine will use dog travel crates or dog igloo houses as nest boxes when they’re laying too.
generally geese like to be out and about grazing during the day, fresh grass takes up a large portion of their diet in the growing season, but regardless they should have access to a good feed all year round.

At this age they need to be on a waterfowl starter feed, something around 20%/ 22% protein that’s formulated for waterfowl as chick start doesn’t have nearly the concentration of B vitamins that waterfowl require.

Throughout their lives waterfowl need more niacin and other B vitamins so a multi flock, flock raiser, or all flock type feed with about 17% to 20% protein. 20% if they’re a larger breed or when molting or in cold weather, or year round if they get out and about to exercise regularly.
Geese also love different kinds of treats, like romaine lettuce, cabbage, tomateos, peas, corn, apples, peaches, pears, cucumber, melons, grapes, berries, carrots, and a number of other things, geese are highly individualistic though so not all of them like the same things.

Geese can be wonderfully sweet if you make an effort to maintain a relationship with them, they might be skittish at first but if you spend time with them like you would a pet, or even a child they’ll love you with all of their being like most birds, but if you neglect them they’ll only see you as a possible nuisance when they’re older, anyone who spends less time with them they’ll regard as a nuisance or even a potential rival, most of the time this isn’t that big of an issue, but when breeding season comes “winter/spring” this will be an issue if they’re trying to defend their partner, or anyone they consider part of their flock from you or others.
It’s better to be friends than enemies with a hormonal gander(s).

If you end up with a same sex pair, that isn’t an issue, they’ll bond with each other and whoever spends a lot of time with them wether they’re two girls or two boys.

Geese do prefer the company of other geese and humans, but they can do well with ducks, but not always. Most of the time they just don’t like ducks or other birds getting in their personal space so they should have their own area at night, or be in a large enough pen that the other birds can keep out of their way.

Geese are not good predator patrol. Geese are smaller and more fragile than they advertise themselves to be to others, they’re easy prey to any coyote and even a bold enough fox or raccoon that figures out a goose isn’t so frightening. What geese are good at deterring is hawks to some extent. Size is everything to birds, and most hawks just don’t want to approach something as big as a goose, or try for a chicken or duck in the presence of a goose. I’ve heard of young inexperienced hawks being more of an issue though, but I haven’t had that happen, Eagles are not intimidated whatsoever.

What geese excell at deterring is humans, personally I see this as a plus but everyone has their opinions.

 

[STEPHANIELAUREN]

It’s too soon to tell what sex they are, very young goslings can be vent sexed but these babies are a bit too big squirmy for that.

Once they’re adults males will have a slightly longer neck in proportion to their body than females, females have a slightly more squat frame usually. It can be a subtle difference though.
Males once mature will be more inclined to want to be between a female and whoever else at all times.

Where things get confusing is if you have two females or two males, the more dominant of the two will act protective of the other regardless of what gender they are.

As for breed, I don’t know, they’ll be white geese is all I can say for sure, if they’re pilgrims they’ll be males (sex linked breed) but they could be embdens, Romans, or even a mixed breed.

I like to keep my geese in a 6 x 10 ft to 10 x 10 ft roofed dog kennel at night to keep them safe from predators or in bad weather, mine will use dog travel crates or dog igloo houses as nest boxes when they’re laying too.
generally geese like to be out and about grazing during the day, fresh grass takes up a large portion of their diet in the growing season, but regardless they should have access to a good feed all year round.

At this age they need to be on a waterfowl starter feed, something around 20%/ 22% protein that’s formulated for waterfowl as chick start doesn’t have nearly the concentration of B vitamins that waterfowl require.

Throughout their lives waterfowl need more niacin and other B vitamins so a multi flock, flock raiser, or all flock type feed with about 17% to 20% protein. 20% if they’re a larger breed or when molting or in cold weather, or year round if they get out and about to exercise regularly.
Geese also love different kinds of treats, like romaine lettuce, cabbage, tomateos, peas, corn, apples, peaches, pears, cucumber, melons, grapes, berries, carrots, and a number of other things, geese are highly individualistic though so not all of them like the same things.

Geese can be wonderfully sweet if you make an effort to maintain a relationship with them, they might be skittish at first but if you spend time with them like you would a pet, or even a child they’ll love you with all of their being like most birds, but if you neglect them they’ll only see you as a possible nuisance when they’re older, anyone who spends less time with them they’ll regard as a nuisance or even a potential rival, most of the time this isn’t that big of an issue, but when breeding season comes “winter/spring” this will be an issue if they’re trying to defend their partner, or anyone they consider part of their flock from you or others.
It’s better to be friends than enemies with a hormonal gander(s).

If you end up with a same sex pair, that isn’t an issue, they’ll bond with each other and whoever spends a lot of time with them wether they’re two girls or two boys.

Geese do prefer the company of other geese and humans, but they can do well with ducks, but not always. Most of the time they just don’t like ducks or other birds getting in their personal space so they should have their own area at night, or be in a large enough pen that the other birds can keep out of their way.

Geese are not good predator patrol. Geese are smaller and more fragile than they advertise themselves to be to others, they’re easy prey to any coyote and even a bold enough fox or raccoon that figures out a goose isn’t so frightening. What geese are good at deterring is hawks to some extent. Size is everything to birds, and most hawks just don’t want to approach something as big as a goose, or try for a chicken or duck in the presence of a goose. I’ve heard of young inexperienced hawks being more of an issue though, but I haven’t had that happen, Eagles are not intimidated whatsoever.

What geese excell at deterring is humans, personally I see this as a plus but everyone has their opinions.

Thank you so much for all of the info! It is a lot to think about and a big decision to make, chickens are easy (to me at least) geese sound alittle less easy I feel bad because the guy really doesn’t know what to do with them and I am one of those suckers that has a hard time saying no but I really don’t have a setup right now to get into geese or the time to really bond with them like it sounds like they need, I think I may try to just help him find them a good home somewhere near us with someone who already knows geese. Unfortunately this is one of those situations I think where they were cute in the feed store and then got big and messy really quick….

 

[AGeese]

The beak on one of them is telling me it could be a White Chinese or cross. Also it almost looks like they have tufts, but no idea for sure. Any recent photos?

 

[Leftcrazybehind]

Thank you so much for all of the info! It is a lot to think about and a big decision to make, chickens are easy (to me at least) geese sound alittle less easy I feel bad because the guy really doesn’t know what to do with them and I am one of those suckers that has a hard time saying no but I really don’t have a setup right now to get into geese or the time to really bond with them like it sounds like they need, I think I may try to just help him find them a good home somewhere near us with someone who already knows geese. Unfortunately this is one of those situations I think where they were cute in the feed store and then got big and messy really quick….

I wish I had the acres you have. I 1 emblem gosling I incubated n hatched. I don't know the sex but for now we call him Leon for Leon goose goslin. Leon is adorably sweet, follows me, is funny. Right now I have him in a large dog crate in our shed. Im still trying to get him used to my 7 chickens n small rooster. He kinda ignores them except when they eat too much of his grain then he nips their butts. He also eats a ton of grass/weeds.We plan on converting a kids play house in the chicken run into his goose house. He's a character we've grown to love.