Are geese a good fit for my family?

[JeanLynott]

My 10-year-old daughter, Sarah, would like to raise 2 or 3 goslings this spring. I'm hoping you can help me with some questions before we decide whether this is a good idea.

Some background: We raised 6 straight run chicks and 6 straight run pekin ducklings last spring. With the chickens, we ended up with 3 roosters and 3 hens. One of the roosters became aggressive and we culled him. We re-homed another rooster, who was good-natured, and kept the third one. With the ducklings, 5 out of 6 were males so we re-home for the female.

I wish we had done more research before we got the chicks and ducklings. It was traumatic to cull the rooster and give away the others, though I'm sure these were good life sessions for Sarah. She's done a great job of caring for the ducks and chickens and likes to handle and play with them. She'd give the goslings a lot of attention. We have plenty of room for them inside our barn and outside, too.

Here are my questions:

• Do you think geese could be a good fit for us? I would hate to go through having to cull or rehome them if they turned out to be aggressive.
• If you think we should give geese a try:
  • What breed would you recommend?
  • Would they likely get along with our ducks? How about the chickens?
  • Is it best to get males vs. females?

Thank you in advance!

 

[Mogul Moonshine]

i want geese to but i dont think my neighbors do

 

[Cindarelly]

Geese are amazing birds that aren't for everyone. Each goose has their own personality. We don't own two that are alike.

Some breeds are more docile than others. We have Pilgrim and Chinese. The Pilgrim are quieter and mostly well mannered, but we've worked with them since they were hatched.

Our geese get along with our ducks. Some others may not.

Males can become very aggressive during breeding season, but our males enjoy being touched more than our females. If just getting a few, it would be better to have females. One male is enough for 4 females.

Also during mating season, the geese should not be locked up in the same area as the chickens.

 

[Cassandra Lana]

My 10-year-old daughter, Sarah, would like to raise 2 or 3 goslings this spring. I'm hoping you can help me with some questions before we decide whether this is a good idea.

Some background: We raised 6 straight run chicks and 6 straight run pekin ducklings last spring. With the chickens, we ended up with 3 roosters and 3 hens. One of the roosters became aggressive and we culled him. We re-homed another rooster, who was good-natured, and kept the third one. With the ducklings, 5 out of 6 were males so we re-home for the female.

I wish we had done more research before we got the chicks and ducklings. It was traumatic to cull the rooster and give away the others, though I'm sure these were good life sessions for Sarah. She's done a great job of caring for the ducks and chickens and likes to handle and play with them. She'd give the goslings a lot of attention. We have plenty of room for them inside our barn and outside, too.

Here are my questions:

• Do you think geese could be a good fit for us? I would hate to go through having to cull or rehome them if they turned out to be aggressive.
• If you think we should give geese a try:
  • What breed would you recommend?
  • Would they likely get along with our ducks? How about the chickens?
  • Is it best to get males vs. females?

Thank you in advance!

Maybe girl geese (I am no expert )

 

[LadyWolf44005]

I have just recently started owning geese. I have had them since may 2020, got them when they were only a day old. So I will not say I am a expert. (I highly recommend trying to ask @Goosebaby she has been a huge help to me and many others) I can tell you what I have learned thro books, from others from this site, and personal experience. Make sure you get them YOUNG! Max is 4 days old. As far as breed I recomand any Roman. (Tufted Roman/Classic Roman) they tend to be friendly and quiet temperament. Or a Large Dewlap Toulouse. They tend to be friendly as well. But reamber! Personally plays a big role! So might not always meet breed description! An make sure you get females! For example I have 2 Male Tufted Roman's. I didn't get females becouse of the money. Dont get me wrong I LOVE my boys! Marcus is a devoted bird, he is the one I have a close bond with, but he can get aggressive even with me. An when he does my other male Tyrion my sweet one will back up Marcus. Dont let the money make you deside to get males.

As for geting along with the other birds. Again personally plays a big part. But for the most part it seems like they should not be mixed together. Expeshly if they did not grow up together, but even then not really a good idea. I have no idea how farmers get their geese to watch over chickens. For example I got my geese around the same time as my chickens. Marcus is interested in the chickens but not Tyrion he would rather kill them but by god if those chickens are in danger my geese will rush to the chickens defence!!

A book recommendation I highly would recommend you read is 'Keeping Geese Breeds and Management By Chris Ashton'

 

[iturnknobs]

My 10-year-old daughter, Sarah, would like to raise 2 or 3 goslings this spring. I'm hoping you can help me with some questions before we decide whether this is a good idea.

Some background: We raised 6 straight run chicks and 6 straight run pekin ducklings last spring. With the chickens, we ended up with 3 roosters and 3 hens. One of the roosters became aggressive and we culled him. We re-homed another rooster, who was good-natured, and kept the third one. With the ducklings, 5 out of 6 were males so we re-home for the female.

I wish we had done more research before we got the chicks and ducklings. It was traumatic to cull the rooster and give away the others, though I'm sure these were good life sessions for Sarah. She's done a great job of caring for the ducks and chickens and likes to handle and play with them. She'd give the goslings a lot of attention. We have plenty of room for them inside our barn and outside, too.

Here are my questions:

• Do you think geese could be a good fit for us? I would hate to go through having to cull or rehome them if they turned out to be . laggressive.
• If you think we should give geese a try:
  • What breed would you recommend?
  • Would they likely get along with our ducks? How about the chickens?
  • Is it best to get males vs. females?

Thank you in advance!

I blindly hatched 3 out of 6 eggs. I ended up with a bonded pair(M/F) and 3rd wheel gander that almost was killed a few times by the other gander. All boys(maybe). All girls(likely). One boy, 2 girls(likely). Rehomed my favorite bird for his own safety. Once I rehomed the "minor" gander, I took his place in the gaggle. I am a tolerant adult male, but having a 30lb bird coming after me is BARELY doable. My wife would not be able to fend for herself(fortunately he LOVES her). No chance for a child and I would assume a large gander could "de-glove" a small child's fingers(beware if you search that term). Just be prepared to rehome come mating season.

 

[Goosebaby]

@LadyWolf44005 is right, it largely depends on personality and there’s no way to predict that, my most docile geese are my buffs and my one Classic Roman female, the rest of my geese are production type Toulouse, some are high energy troublemakers, most have more moderate temperaments, a few are super mellow sweethearts.
If you want fertile eggs get a male + females, if you just want eggs, just females, if you want some bros hanging around your barnyard get ganders, gender doesn’t really matter too much with geese, they’ll bond regardless.
During breeding season geese get horomonal and ganders become touchy and quick to anger, if you don’t have a good relationship with them it can be an issue. The best way to avoid it is to be proactive when raising them and to spend as much time with them like you would any pet dog, if you’re around them a lot you’re their family, if you’re only around part time you may be seen as a potential rival in breeding season, this goes for any member of your family.

If you do end up with an aggressive gander the best method to deal with an attacking goose is to say NO and to pick them up and carry them around for a few minutes, it snaps them out of it for awhile, they’ll learn what no means. The best way to pick up an attacking goose is to grab their head just firmly enough that they can’t get away and bite you and scoop your other arm around their torso to pin their wings and lift, bites can be painful but from what I’ve expierienced from my one gander “Leo who doesn’t like me too much” is that wing beatings are worse.
Overall don’t let all this scare you out of considering ganders, until recently the majority of my geese were ganders and other than Leo who wasn’t socialized well I haven’t had any that were too nasty towards me. Usually just holding a broom or some sort of staff is enough to keep a raging gander away anyway.

Geese if raised around other birds can get along with them, I haven’t had any luck with that personally, I had ducks living with two of my ganders fine for a few years until the geese got sick of the ducks constant sexcapades one year and resorted to plucking the ducks to get them to stop. The other geese turned aggressive towards the ducks after the ducks kept bullying the only female goose I had at the time. Now the ducks cannot be around the geese or there will be blood. Getting females won’t make a difference in this regard, my female “Friday” who was the one being bullied is the one who nearly killed my drake when she got sick of it.
Currently two of my ganders can be around my newer ducks, “welsh harlequins,” they tolerate them as long as they don’t get too close, but they still hate the pekings.

 

[JRies]

I do agree about depends on the birds. I started with geese to protect my ducks from hawks in the area. Unfortunately I raise runner ducks and when the geese at 2 month old found out they could bully the runners. Dosnt take much to bully a runner duck. anyway they got separated. Im trying something new this year since its the fear of my ducks not the aggregation on the geese that was my problem. I have new baby ducks coming first of the month and one gosling hatching at the same time. My crazy thought is if the ducks can bond just a little before my new goslings come in April well you get the picture. Really its all guess work and up to the birds not us.

 

[406curious]

She sounds passionate. I would suggest starting small. Get 2-3 female goslings. Get a small breed like romans or Chinese. You may need to gradually introduce them to the other birds. In other words have a fenced in enclosure where they can see each other but can’t get to each other for like a week. Also come up with a plan for handling an aggressive goose and teach your daughter the decision tree for that. Chris Ashton’s book has a good summary of this. If you get all females and she spends time with them daily they should be pretty well behaved.