Feeding geese in winter

[Goosebaby]

By the way a good way to get a goose to try a new food is to soak it in enough water to make a soupy mash, it encourages them to play in it and gets them used to the taste.

 

[Percheron chick]

A milk crate wired up to the fence works fine as a hay rack. You can pick up hay bags for $2-3 but I figured mine would hang themselves in it.
Mine love butternut but so do I so I'm not too eager to share. Mine love mango (probably the #1 even over lettuce) grapes, berries... I used to volunteer at a food bank and would pick through the pig bins. I swear the chickens and geese knew food bank day and would meet me at the car when I got home.

 

[Rjhp0524]

Thanks so much everyone.. I’ve have been feeding nutrena for the last few months, it was what I could get at the store. I love Purina duck pellets but it’s so rarely in stock I switched to nutrena. Getting it on line is not cii ohs effective as the shipping is outrageous. The geese hatched in June and have been raised with my meat ducks (mallards that I hatched this spring) at one point with 16 ducks snd 2 geese I was going through 50 lbs of feed every two ans a half weeks.. I always saw the geese in the food bowl eating but they aren’t now.. I work at a grocery store a d had access to the not good enough to sell veggies, so I’m going to try that to see if they will eat it. As well as hay..

 

[JRies]

I did fodder for mine last year and when things were all covered in snow they loved it but when dirt was visible the did allot of rooting. This year we had a severe drought so I raised it for them this summer and they wasted most of it and just wanted grain and Purina duck pellets. Then I read how geese love sprouts. So I gave them the grain on day 4 of sprouting for fodder they ate like ducks cleaning there bowls and looking for more. So now I have a 4 bucket system. 3-1/2 gallon pails with holes drilled in the bottom the set in 5 gallon buckets. for soaking and draining. takes 5 min 2 times a day. I sprout oats wheat and barley then every few days add black oil seeds in the mix and before I feed a sprinkle of brewers yeast then throw a few duck pellets in in the afternoon. Sometimes I will throw whole grain in there pond the love digging it out of the water. Also a little grass hay in the pond helps them get a little roughage. For a hay feeder in there inside night pen I cut slots in a 40 gallon trash can I can fluff 1/2 a bail in it and forget about it for a month the hay they dont eat I use in there nesting boxes.. Then another trash can with Alfalfa hay. they pick through it wanting just the little leave crumbles.
One thing i can tell you about my geese next year they will decide they like something completely different. And it seems if you can get one to eat it they all want it.
By the way Im in Colorado where it can be 70 degrees one day and a full 2 foot blizzard the next. So they do get shallow pond time quite a bit year round.

 

[Moments]

I added geese to my flock this year.. they have been on duck feed and grass all summer but now that it’s fall I’m starting to panic about what to feed them this winter. We recently culled our ducks (they were raised for food) and I’ve noticed just how little duck pellets they actually eat.
of course the internet is full of what to feed but it’s confusing. If they aren’t a fan of the duck pellets what should I offer. I have tried cracked corn but I’m not sure if the geese or the ducks ate them. That I will try again.
a few things
I am in the mountains of southern vermont in the snow belt we have snow of the ground from November till the end of April early May
I do not have an area to store a large quantity of feed (meaning a ton at a time)
I do have access to high quality hay
So help a woman who loves her geese out.. what to feed and how to get it!!

https://www.fresheggsdaily.blog/2023/12/what-do-backyard-geese-eat-in-winter.html

 

[Moments]

Cracked corn has hardly any nutritional value, all it is is a treat.

A 20% protein feed will do them well. Purina flock raiser, or nutrena all flock are good options that I know of with a good amount of niacin for waterfowl.
Mazuri waterfowl feed is one of the best but it’s pricey.

Cracked corn is a calorie dense treat that helps them gain weight and stay warm

 

[Goosebaby]

Cracked corn is a calorie dense treat that helps them gain weight and stay warm

Yes but it isn’t a great source of vitamins so it’s best to use it not as a main source of food and instead feed it as a treat. It is excellent for warming up the metabolism on cold nights.

 

[Moments]

Yes but it isn’t a great source of vitamins so it’s best to use it not as a main source of food and instead feed it as a treat. It is excellent for warming up the metabolism on cold nights.

yes, i agree, wasn't suggesting it be used as a main source but that it can help with keeping warm

 

[Goosebaby]

yes, i agree, wasn't suggesting it be used as a main source but that it can help with keeping warm

Yeah I just like to add clarification for lurkers, most people here I generally assume know what’s what but posts and random quotes from here sometimes pop up on search engines and then make their way to where brain cells go to die on the book of faces….after witnessing the kinds of people that take random comments with no context obtusely literal it’s turned me into an unasked for encyclopedia.

Like you see someone who heard spinach was a super food and now that’s all they feed their birds vs the “I heard spinach is bad” crowd and now they think if their birds eat it once their bones will disintegrate into dust.

 

[JRies]

yes, i agree, wasn't suggesting it be used as a main source but that it can help with keeping warm

So funny if you gave my flock a choice they would eat nothing but cracked corn. silly thing it its like raising kids. What they like is not whats best for them. Its like "french fries"
Always remember we are the keepers. Picking there feed even under protest from a young flock is our job.
Feed company's work hard at putting a feed together but the do forget to ask the birds if they are willing to eat it.
Every grain has its own input on what it can offer.
but getting there vitamins to them is really important. Grain dose not give them all there vitamins.
Every year is a new (now what to I do?)