Anyone know if Geese will protect chickens?

[tberggren]

Hi I read where someone wrote that Geese will protect chickens and was wondering if anyone else has found this to be true?

 

[roosters97]

i have read that too.

 

[deeszoo]

Mine did. He was killed in action a couple of weeks ago. Since then, I have lost several more birds.

 

[greyfields]

I have up to 30 geese and 150 chickens running around the place most of the time. The geese don't 'protect' the hens meaning herd them around, or watch their back. Typically the two groups only come together near the waterers, where there is no conflict. The geese are obviously larger and get a wide berth.

Now, the geese always have several of them on 'lookout' duty. They're always watching way up in the air for predators. They have an 'alert' honk they make when anything flies near them. They also like to have lookouts for ME when they are into the feed or broken into the workshop, so they know I'm coming as they wander off with my hand tools and other shiney things.

So, I would say if you have your geese and chickens confined together, the geese would serve as protection in so much as they are very alert creatures. I also have seen them chase crows off the feeders.

In the end, it could work. It really depends how much space you have for your birds. The geese are very messy and confining them into a pen or small enclosure would get very poopey, very fast.