Hello!
I have owned chickens for a decade, and dabbled in muscovy duck keeping. I'm thinking about geese.
Now, I know that chickens are highly curious. They hate "boring" runs that only consist of a patch of dirt. Also, chickens have agoraphobia and like to hang out in bushes. Chickens naturally have a highly varied diet, a trait that brings forth exploratory behavior. And they like to fly up high and check out the surroundings every so often. All of this creates a need for the chicken run to be riddled with stuff.
What about geese?
I understand that geese have a very different feeding pattern from chickens. Geese are grazers. Also, geese are so big that many predators that present a mortal threat to chickens probably don't scare geese at all. This points to geese being happy with a huge patch of grass.
Geese, of course, can overheat like any animals, and probably don't care for exaggerated precipitation, so I take it they will want a shelter or two. And bedding, for laying eggs, and staying warm in winter. And then there is, of course, the ubiquitous pool. And the company of conspecifics. But apart from that? Will they do fine with a big lawn?
I'm drawing an analogy to sheep and goats. Sheep are grazers and are supposedly fine with just grass. Goats, naturally subsisting on a variety of plant matter and needing to use their brain to search for food, are very smart and need lots of enrichment. (Or so I've read. I've never owned sheep or goats either.)
A counter-argument to all this is that geese are supposedly smarter than chickens, suggesting that they need more enrichment than chickens.
I have owned chickens for a decade, and dabbled in muscovy duck keeping. I'm thinking about geese.
Now, I know that chickens are highly curious. They hate "boring" runs that only consist of a patch of dirt. Also, chickens have agoraphobia and like to hang out in bushes. Chickens naturally have a highly varied diet, a trait that brings forth exploratory behavior. And they like to fly up high and check out the surroundings every so often. All of this creates a need for the chicken run to be riddled with stuff.
What about geese?
I understand that geese have a very different feeding pattern from chickens. Geese are grazers. Also, geese are so big that many predators that present a mortal threat to chickens probably don't scare geese at all. This points to geese being happy with a huge patch of grass.
Geese, of course, can overheat like any animals, and probably don't care for exaggerated precipitation, so I take it they will want a shelter or two. And bedding, for laying eggs, and staying warm in winter. And then there is, of course, the ubiquitous pool. And the company of conspecifics. But apart from that? Will they do fine with a big lawn?
I'm drawing an analogy to sheep and goats. Sheep are grazers and are supposedly fine with just grass. Goats, naturally subsisting on a variety of plant matter and needing to use their brain to search for food, are very smart and need lots of enrichment. (Or so I've read. I've never owned sheep or goats either.)
A counter-argument to all this is that geese are supposedly smarter than chickens, suggesting that they need more enrichment than chickens.
