Are Geese Underrated?

[Dinosaur Village Keeper]

Kirstens book & instagram are why I started with geese! Her book is definitely more like a beginners guide, giving great overviews to behavior and preparation. It made me feel confident that they were the right bird for me. I think anyone who is more experienced with raising waterfowl (and even chickens) would find it a bit basic though.

I thought the book by Kirsten Lie-Nielsen contained worthless information and did nothing to help me know how to take care of my new goslings. I was going to throw it away but the breeder wanted to read it. I find it annoying when books about Geese talk about slaughtering them, and then include 100’s of pictures of adorable little goslings, beautiful geese, and of course, people loving these animals. You don’t see books about dogs include the added benefit of using them for meat production. What is the difference? Someone earlier posted the negatives about having Geese:
Very noisy
Poop everywhere
Very messy
Bigger than chickens
Aggressive to strangers sometimes

And you compare that to dogs:
Very noisy
Poop everywhere
Very messy - hair everywhere!
Bigger than chickens
Aggressive to strangers sometimes

Geese have every benefit that Dogs do including companionship and entertainment. Dogs are lacking in that they do not generously give back eggs, nor do they mow or fertilize the lawn. You step in dog poop, your shoes get thrown away. If you step and goose poop, you wash it off. Dogs are way bigger and would provide much more meat. Just call them “meat dogs” and it will all be ok. I realize that sounds truly sickening, but so does eating geese. Sorry for going off on a tangent just to say that Geese are indeed underrated!

 

[JRies]

I thought the book by Kirsten Lie-Nielsen contained worthless information and did nothing to help me know how to take care of my new goslings. I was going to throw it away but the breeder wanted to read it. I find it annoying when books about Geese talk about slaughtering them, and then include 100’s of pictures of adorable little goslings, beautiful geese, and of course, people loving these animals. You don’t see books about dogs include the added benefit of using them for meat production. What is the difference? Someone earlier posted the negatives about having Geese:
Very noisy
Poop everywhere
Very messy
Bigger than chickens
Aggressive to strangers sometimes

And you compare that to dogs:
Very noisy
Poop everywhere
Very messy - hair everywhere!
Bigger than chickens
Aggressive to strangers sometimes

Geese have every benefit that Dogs do including companionship and entertainment. Dogs are lacking in that they do not generously give back eggs, nor do they mow or fertilize the lawn. You step in dog poop, your shoes get thrown away. If you step and goose poop, you wash it off. Dogs are way bigger and would provide much more meat. Just call them “meat dogs” and it will all be ok. I realize that sounds truly sickening, but so does eating geese. Sorry for going off on a tangent just to say that Geese are indeed underrated!

Thank you for loving your geese so much. Mine are family also. My dog takes allot less time from me than my geese. My geese go to bed every day wake me up every morning. my dog is next to my bed and waites for me to get up. If she is snoring all I have to do is say Kate your snoring and she goes to the couch so I can sleep. Geese are incredible but please dont compare apples to oranges. Yep all animals poop. Just saying a bad comparison. Geese are underrated. But also allot of work.

 

[Dinosaur Village Keeper]

Thank you for loving your geese so much. Mine are family also. My dog takes allot less time from me than my geese. My geese go to bed every day wake me up every morning. my dog is next to my bed and waites for me to get up. If she is snoring all I have to do is say Kate your snoring and she goes to the couch so I can sleep. Geese are incredible but please dont compare apples to oranges. Yep all animals poop. Just saying a bad comparison. Geese are underrated. But also allot of work.

It’s actually a perfect comparison! The reason we got Geese is because we don’t care much for dogs, but we wanted the benefits of having dogs without the huge amount of negatives. Dogs have to be taken outside many times a day to go to the bathroom, regardless of what terrible weather you have to go out into. Dogs come with huge vet bills as well. They are known to attack and even kill children and adults. Dogs are often in the house, creating a terrible odor that their owners don’t even recognize. You can’t go on vacation for more than 12 hours without a baby sitter with a dog. Dogs and geese are both in the animal species, are both pets, and both have charm and personality, and yet one is horribly mistreated and routinely slaughtered, and the other is held in high esteem (by many). It’s very rare to see a dog as well behaved as yours seems to be. Most are just horrible to be around. An example of comparing apples to oranges would be comparing wolves to domesticated geese, or domesticated dogs to Canadian geese. I did not compare those 2. No one should ever suggest someone’s pet is for meat. I would never suggest that maybe you could eat a dog.

 

[AKMommaF8]

To be honest there’s something satisfying about the screams of a young child being preyed on by a large bird

In my case, I would change that statement to read, "my daughter-in-law!"

 

[addctd2plnts]

In my case, I would change that statement to read, "my daughter-in-law!"

Yeah, I have a son-in-law I'd love to see attacked.

 

[AGeese]

It’s actually a perfect comparison! The reason we got Geese is because we don’t care much for dogs, but we wanted the benefits of having dogs without the huge amount of negatives. Dogs have to be taken outside many times a day to go to the bathroom, regardless of what terrible weather you have to go out into. Dogs come with huge vet bills as well. They are known to attack and even kill children and adults. Dogs are often in the house, creating a terrible odor that their owners don’t even recognize. You can’t go on vacation for more than 12 hours without a baby sitter with a dog. Dogs and geese are both in the animal species, are both pets, and both have charm and personality, and yet one is horribly mistreated and routinely slaughtered, and the other is held in high esteem (by many). It’s very rare to see a dog as well behaved as yours seems to be. Most are just horrible to be around. An example of comparing apples to oranges would be comparing wolves to domesticated geese, or domesticated dogs to Canadian geese. I did not compare those 2. No one should ever suggest someone’s pet is for meat. I would never suggest that maybe you could eat a dog.

Different needs for sure. I don't have to clean up my dogs bedding every day and being a dog he's a much better watch dog than my geese even though my gander got his number now and give him a nip in the butt a couple of times when he wasn't expecting it.

I do see what you're saying, I considered what I might do with goslings down the road should I let them do their thing and I'm not sure I would be interested in slaughter without a super quick method and I don't think there is one with geese. But mainly because they are far more personable than my chickens.

Don't get me wrong I love my chickens, but they really don't want much to do with you, where as the geese want to have a chat and hang out.