Adding geese to our flock?

[Jmiller820]

Hi all! I've been thinking of adding one or two geese to our flock. Currently we have 4 Rouens, one drake, and 8 chickens. We've also had broad breasted white turkeys, deciding we would get heritage breed in the spring so we don't have a deadline to harvest them. Compared to other birds, how do their personalities stack up? Our turkeys were so sweet and loving and our ducks are full of sass. Do they enjoy the water as much as ducks? Is it beneficial to the geese to get 2 instead of one or will they adapt into the duck pack? Probably getting two females to not compete with my drake. Interested in buffs or pilgrims as I see they are the most calm natured of the breeds. Any tips or advice would be much appreciated!

 

[GitaBooks]

Sorry it took so long to reply.

I don't personally have geese, but I hear they are a lot of fun. They do have both their ups and downs, as the females love to go broody and the males can be aggressive with painful pinching bites during the breeding season. However, they are highly intelligent, long-lived, great watch-"dogs" and are large enough to help scare away smaller predators. I would suggest getting a pair of geese (two girls or a boy and a girl) as it is unlikely they will interact with the ducks.
Geese love to graze on grass and will spend of a lot of time doing so, though they certainly enjoy the water as well. If raised from a young age with the other animals they should get along without a problem.

I hope this helps. Best of luck!

 

[Carrosaur]

Congrats on deciding to add geese to your flock!

Buffs and pilgrims are amazing starter breeds, I am biased towards Buffs because I owned them, but Pilgrims are cool too!!

Geese have HUGE personalities! I think they're the most expressive of the fowl. They can be sweet, temperamental, sassy, funny, especially when you get a few together in a kiddie pool!

Geese do not *need* water like ducks seem to, but they will be much happier with a small pool to play in. And yes they are much happier with their own kind, and if you expect one to just get along with the ducks it usually doesn't happen. Males will start to mount female ducks, and can seriously hurt them.
But two geese get along great together! Try and get two females or a male/female pair, because two males PLUS a flock of ducks can lead to fights.