Chinese Geese a Good Choice?

[Lorettawyandotte]

I have Brown Chinese, 2 pair of adults purchased as adults...I adore them...I love the honking and the chatter and they are not overly noisey...they fire up when they see something odd...they do not want to be held and it took the a while to realize I was the owner of the water hose and the cleaner of the pool...and the blue bucket is mine and it contains incredible edibles...at first they would run away from me but over time they get closer and closer...they are very curious about everything and seem fairly intelligent...Fred is the head of the group and he is hilarious...sometimes when I turn to leave their area, he will lower his head and make threatening gestures toward me but I just turn around and say, "Knock it off Freddie." He turns away immediately...he is all bluff and bravado...

I have two babies from Fred and Wilma, Betty has not started laying yet as she is younger...I have 3 more eggs under a chicken hen as I type...so the family may increase once again...the babies are mine...I take them for an afternoon walk about the yard and they follow and chatter away...they have imprinted on myself and always talk talk talk when they see me...

I love the long, elegant necks and the manner in which they strut their bananas...very pretty geese...had I wanted birds for the table, I would have chosen a heavier breed...my darlings are not destined for the table...

 

[kenman]

I have four geese, a breeding pair of Pilgrims and two white Chinese. I would choose the Pilgrims any day over the Chinese. I hand raised all four of them, gave them all the same care and attention. The Pilgrims love me and my family and the Chinese turned out loud and obnoxious.

 

[Windchyme]

Quote:
They were my starter geese. I moved on to other breeds because mine were very loud and slightly aggressive (the people that gave them to me did not spend any time with their birds and I think that was part of the aggression problem) If you do go with geese of any breed please get at least two. A lone goose hanging out with a bunch of ducks is lonely and unhappy. It knows it is missing something even if it doesn't know what it is. By instinct they are flock animals and much more family oriented than ducks. Good Luck!

I too have the hatchery African (which is essentially the chinese in show terms I guess). She was my first goose. She can be louder then the other geese. I havn't found her to be more shrill but she honks like canadian geese....loud, but she doesn't do it often, more when she is calling for me or her friends. She was hand raised with extensive socialization in the home and away from home and is very friendly, even coming up to say hello to strangers (but not too close). She is the BEST foster mom to babies I am raising and if she sees us with a baby she tries to herd it off and call it to come with her. In fact I let her 2 years ago with my dewlap toulouse babies. She took them and raised them as her own but they didn't turn out nearly as tame because of the lack of human interaction. While she is not aggressive with anyone or anything here I see it in her that she could be if need be. And she is just beautiful with her long neck. She also is a big talker, we have whole conversations me and her, I'll talk to her and she'll make sounds back to me. She's also fairly intelligent.

I wouldn't get them unless I was ready and willing and able to intensely hand raise them and I am imagining the males are much worse with aggression then she is. And the noise factor would be increased with many of them. As it is if I am not up early enough to let the babies out for her to be with, she comes under my bedroom window and honks at me until I get up and let them out- more of them would be even louder. I am pleased with my one, not sure I'd be pleased with a whole flock.

 

[brodysam]

Thanks so much for all of the responses!

Someone gave me some adorable white chinese goslings today. One is a few days old and one is about one week old. They rode all the way home in the front seat with me and "talked" to me the whole time.

My hope is that with lots of interaction and playing, I can make these my pets. I won't be getting anymore chinese, these will be my only two. I'll post pictures as soon as possible.

How long before I'll be able to tell gender? Can I feed them duck or gamebird feed? I think I read that they need more protein and I was wondering if the gamebird feed would be alright.

 

[Windchyme]

Quote:
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO no extra protien. BAD! Feed them start to finish feed cut with 20% oats or feed them duck feed which is even closer to what they need- nutritional brewers yeast in their food is really good for them too, I put wheat germ when they are babies in their food and give them cooked malt o meal and give them whole oats when they are bigger along with the oats. If you give them too much protien it can trigger a wing deformity when they are older. The sooner you can get them grazing as well the better for them - I put my babies out with a bottomless cage over the top of them that I can move around and let them graze that way while I do yard or housework. Handle them everyday alot, take them with you to places to meet strangers...socialize them like you would a puppy. This is your best chances of making them really tame. They start showing gender at about 6 weeks to the very careful observer. Males are a little more bold and unafraid and when they think their is a threat they will come in front of the females and snake out their necks toward what they think is the threat...in adults they hiss but in babies they do more of that baby chatter- I see them as babies do this to cats, dogs, other geese that aren't part of their little flock. This progresses as they get older to become very clear and pronounced. Some say they can tell by voices...I havnt done that I just watch for behavior. Certianly by 6 months you can tell.

 

[DuckLady]

I have a brown chinese. SHe is a doll. We adopted her when she was about a year old and she decided I was HER human.

See my avatar. Bella La Goosie can be loud, but she is also very snuggly when she wants to be. She will stand on my feet and honk until I pick her up and set her on my lap so she can preen my hair and look into my eye with her eye about 1/2 inch away.

 

[brodysam]

Ok, no worries as I have duck feed and have not given them any gamebird feed.

I LOVE the chatter and I know I looked like an idiot as I was talking to them all the way home. I'm sure the folks at the red lights thought I was crazy.

I have a pasture for my horses and donkey and have considered letting them free range during the day. However, I have to wait and see how my donkey will handle that. I also need to add another wire to the electric fence to make it more predator proof.

They are too little to graze without any cover as I also have a resident hawk that would love them too. I have considered making the bottom-less cage for some chicks but didn't think about it for the goslings and ducklings. I may try to make one for them too. Thanks so much!

 

[brodysam]

How much wheat germ do you add?