Book of Geese by Dave Holderread

[elenamia]

The Book of Geese - online version...

https://fdocuments.in/document/the-book-of-geese.html?page=1

Is there any way to post this in the page files?
it's a time tested, still sought after book, & i think it's a sound reference.

 

[hickok55]

Is there any way to post this in the page files?
it's a time tested, still sought after book, & i think it's a sound reference.

whats the page files

 

[casportpony]

My six geese have done nothing to keep the foxes, skunks, opossums, & raccoons away.

 

[yesterDAYNE]

my geese attack the chickens if they come to close, and they get into altercations with the duck gang lol. one of our ganders tries to kill our older rooster and any of my turkeys if he's able to get ahold of them. they've all lived together since they were little, too. (the turkeys had to be separated from the geese for this reason though, and also because they kept wandering off and disappearing in nests)

my chinese and african goose are both good for alerting if they see something scary, but if only because they're louder than the ducks or chickens or turkeys. they'll usually just make a short loud quickened honk and then go quiet and stare.

 

[3xhhheather]

My six geese have done nothing to keep the foxes, skunks, opossums, & raccoons away.

Might be better off getting a LGD if your predator load is that high.

 

[Waterfowllady]

I don’t have the book but BirdsBeesTrees is right, geese don’t make good guards, they do just guard themselves and their nests.

The ones that saved Rome from the Gauls were probably nesting females that started cackling when they heard something is my guess, otherwise geese actually tend to become very quiet if they’re scared. They’ll only make a racket if they think they hear someone they know coming.

As for flock guardians geese are more fragile than they advertise, they can’t protect themselves let alone others, their main defense is to fly away or bluff if they can’t fly away.
They will scare away hawks just because of their size but not eagles or most land predators.

My African Greys never seem to cower, which can be a pain to me sometimes but they do guard. It's true that geese viciously guard their nests and each other the most, but they will nip at anything they see as dangerous and definitely make a lot of noise. You can't expect a goose to guard in the same way that a donkey can but at least the African Greys will definitely try to defend themselves if they are able to (ex. if they have to 'fight' a bear you're out of luck) and will make a racket. The thing with geese though is that if you have an outgoing breed you need to assert your dominance with them sometimes because Ganders constantly size each other up and will see if they can be dominant over you. Really all you have to do is just pin them down (to sit) if they are biting you or pretend to spread your 'wings' out at them and honk if you're feeling up to it. Geese are my favorite birds and are rather similar to dogs, but they aren't for the faint of heart. It is of note that my African Greys are true Africans and are not the typical Chinese cross that most call African geese. Mine are like 30lbs and show quality birds. Geese won't defend against most of the things you probably want protection from for your flock, but they are definitely bolder than other species. The most useful part of the geese I've experienced so far was them teaching my dogs to respect the birds (they'll try to grab, bite, and whip the dogs with their wings, especially during nesting but ultimately neither get hurt because the dogs get the memo very quickly)

 

[Goosebaby]

My African Greys never seem to cower, which can be a pain to me sometimes but they do guard. It's true that geese viciously guard their nests and each other the most, but they will nip at anything they see as dangerous and definitely make a lot of noise. You can't expect a goose to guard in the same way that a donkey can but at least the African Greys will definitely try to defend themselves if they are able to (ex. if they have to 'fight' a bear you're out of luck) and will make a racket. The thing with geese though is that if you have an outgoing breed you need to assert your dominance with them sometimes because Ganders constantly size each other up and will see if they can be dominant over you. Really all you have to do is just pin them down (to sit) if they are biting you or pretend to spread your 'wings' out at them and honk if you're feeling up to it. Geese are my favorite birds and are rather similar to dogs, but they aren't for the faint of heart. It is of note that my African Greys are true Africans and are not the typical Chinese cross that most call African geese. Mine are like 30lbs and show quality birds. Geese won't defend against most of the things you probably want protection from for your flock, but they are definitely bolder than other species. The most useful part of the geese I've experienced so far was them teaching my dogs to respect the birds (they'll try to grab, bite, and whip the dogs with their wings, especially during nesting but ultimately neither get hurt because the dogs get the memo very quickly)

I’ve found with mine that it’s better to pick them up than pin them if they’re agressive. Pinning them involves squatting down to their level and they then seem to view one as an equal challenger. Picking mine up really seems to show them who has the real advantage of size and strength and how small they really are.

 

[m1chelle1]

When I think of “guard geese” I really think more of “alert geese” & “deterrent geese”.
I’ve seen hawks swerve and fly away due to our geese size and the flock movement (I have 11 geese), which has def been a deterrent to some areal predators in our areas. Our chickens can and have used the larger gaggle as their personal cover in these instances. Works well for us in certain cases. Although we seem to not have an issue with the larger areal predators, either. I’ve experienced our geese being good alerters to strange animals and activities and larger birds swooping in. It does help, we have every kind of domestic farm type bird on our property and they feed off the different alerting. That really seems to help with predation in general.
Do geese “guard” in a traditional sense, no, generally not. I mean, some will attack strange creatures, absolutely. But it’s essentially sacrificing itself, likely will get severely hurt or possibly die, especially with canine type predators. The gooses attack can allow the rest of the flock to escape/hide (if there’s anywhere to hide) or a chance to get away at least, until/if help comes. There is value in that, potentially, but I love geese so this scenario is sad, still.
I always talk to our customers about how it really does depend on how your yard or farm layout is, is there other protection from predators or are you solely trying to just rely on one thing for protection? Do you have multi layered protection in place? Are there places to hide? Will your animals hide, do they even have good instincts? Mine do, some don’t for their own good, lol. It’s really a take everything into account scenario.
We have emu to protect from the ground standpoint (coyote, dog, raccoon, anything that doesn’t belong), they’ll stomp anything strange to death, just yesterday went after a poor egret that decided to land in our front pasture. Hell ours even chase squirrel away! Multi layered protections like this, on a property that is designed for success, can work well.
Anywho. That’s just my 2c

 

[Goosebaby]

When I think of “guard geese” I really think more of “alert geese” & “deterrent geese”.
I’ve seen hawks swerve and fly away due to our geese size and the flock movement (I have 11 geese), which has def been a deterrent to some areal predators in our areas. Our chickens can and have used the larger gaggle as their personal cover in these instances. Works well for us in certain cases. Although we seem to not have an issue with the larger areal predators, either. I’ve experienced our geese being good alerters to strange animals and activities and larger birds swooping in. It does help, we have every kind of domestic farm type bird on our property and they feed off the different alerting. That really seems to help with predation in general.
Do geese “guard” in a traditional sense, no, generally not. I mean, some will attack strange creatures, absolutely. But it’s essentially sacrificing itself, likely will get severely hurt or possibly die, especially with canine type predators. The gooses attack can allow the rest of the flock to escape/hide (if there’s anywhere to hide) or a chance to get away at least, until/if help comes. There is value in that, potentially, but I love geese so this scenario is sad, still.
I always talk to our customers about how it really does depend on how your yard or farm layout is, is there other protection from predators or are you solely trying to just rely on one thing for protection? Do you have multi layered protection in place? Are there places to hide? Will your animals hide, do they even have good instincts? Mine do, some don’t for their own good, lol. It’s really a take everything into account scenario.
We have emu to protect from the ground standpoint (coyote, dog, raccoon, anything that doesn’t belong), they’ll stomp anything strange to death, just yesterday went after a poor egret that decided to land in our front pasture. Hell ours even chase squirrel away! Multi layered protections like this, on a property that is designed for success, can work well.
Anywho. That’s just my 2c

 

[Miss Lydia]

Are Emus good as protectors?