Female guard goose?

[chickenweirdo1]

I would like to get a guard goose for my flock of chickens to protect against hawks and foxes. I want to get a female so i could also get eggs. So my question is will a female goose still protect my flock, and if so what is a good breed that will protect and have good egg production.

 

[Pyxis]

You need at least two geese. Forgive me, I keep having to reply to this same thing because there's a bunch of incorrect information out there that says it's fine to keep one goose, so I've taken to just copying and pasting my answer to this.

"You should never have just one goose, ever. They are flock animals and need at least one friend of their own kind. To do otherwise is cruel to them and would be akin to locking you up with just chimpanzees for company in the hopes that you'd get along with them and protect them because you have no other humans to be with and they're the best you can do.

I'm not even saying this just because I've heard it around, I experienced it. My first roman tufted grew up here without any other goslings or geese because her intended mate died in transit on the way to me. Sure, she hung out with the chickens and ducks, but she wasn't really happy. Once I got some more geese she immediately took to them and they are now an inseparable flock. I would never want to have another lone goose again because it's just cruel to the goose.

Many people are perpetuating the myth that it's fine to keep one lone goose, but if they'd think about it at all they'd realize that just as they wouldn't want to live with another animal species their whole life that can't speak their language, can't become their mate, can't raise young with them, and can't even participate in their favorite activities (swimming, in the case of geese) that it's not something that's okay to do to a goose either. They are innately flock animals, just as chickens are and just as we humans are.

That said, I raise Roman Tufteds, keep them in with chickens, and they do watch out for predators and alert to them. That's all they're going to do, and that's all any goose would do. A goose is never going to attack or try to drive off a predator, aside from perhaps a gander protecting his mate on the nest. Even then, he's probably still going to lose out to anything larger than a small fox.

So, what geese will do is watch for danger, alert if they see it, and their presence and size may deter small raptors from attacking. That's it. Don't expect to get a goose and have it attacking and chasing predators and driving them off, and please do not get just one."

Now that that's said, yes, two female geese kept together will still alert to danger when they see it. No geese really have good egg production. They are seasonal layers. They lay until they think they have a good sized clutch, somewhere around 7 to 9 eggs usually, and then they stop and sit on the eggs. If you keep taking the eggs each day you might get more from them but even then that's not a guarantee, one of my females just went broody after laying seven eggs even though I was taking them all from her as they were laid.

 

[chickenweirdo1]

Makes sense, thank you.

 

[itsasmallfarm]

am doing to same thing, but am getting 3 female geese for an alarm system with the hopes to scare off predators, (mostly raccoons is the hope/coyotes) or at least warn us that we have something in the area when where out side and can hear them. from reading it sounds like geese only lay up to 40 eggs a year if your lucky as pyxis said it could be much less. mine are going to be pets, so the eggs are an added bonus.

 

[member 104844]

@Pyxis I hope you’re still active even tho this is an older thread.
I have had turkeys about two years now and recently ordered Cayuga ducks. No chickens…they are not hardy enough and my husband dislikes eating chicken eggs. Expectation on my birds: eat bugs and weeds, don’t fly away. They live inside my barn, but can range the pasture freely during the day. I have not let the ducks outside yet until they get bigger (we have a long list of predators in the area). A snake has dispatched many of ducks at night inside the barn (we’ve ordered a trap and will keep it baited). I wasn’t sure what was killing the ducks since they were not mangled or injured, just a wet head and neck. Until one of my turkey poults vanished without a trace (happened from under two hens raising the same clutch).
So I started looking at guard goose ideas and settled on the Roman tufted for calmness/low noise and low flying ability (same reasons I picked Cayuga ducks). Plus I’m a super Roma fan so once I read the history/myths on the breed I wanted them. My question to you is, one female that has duck and turkey companions (and horses), or should I invest in a pair male and female? I don’t want to start a breeding operation, but am invested in the breed conservation aspect and healthy happy freeish range fowl. TIA!

 

[Pyxis]

@Pyxis I hope you’re still active even tho this is an older thread.
I have had turkeys about two years now and recently ordered Cayuga ducks. No chickens…they are not hardy enough and my husband dislikes eating chicken eggs. Expectation on my birds: eat bugs and weeds, don’t fly away. They live inside my barn, but can range the pasture freely during the day. I have not let the ducks outside yet until they get bigger (we have a long list of predators in the area). A snake has dispatched many of ducks at night inside the barn (we’ve ordered a trap and will keep it baited). I wasn’t sure what was killing the ducks since they were not mangled or injured, just a wet head and neck. Until one of my turkey poults vanished without a trace (happened from under two hens raising the same clutch).
So I started looking at guard goose ideas and settled on the Roman tufted for calmness/low noise and low flying ability (same reasons I picked Cayuga ducks). Plus I’m a super Roma fan so once I read the history/myths on the breed I wanted them. My question to you is, one female that has duck and turkey companions (and horses), or should I invest in a pair male and female? I don’t want to start a breeding operation, but am invested in the breed conservation aspect and healthy happy freeish range fowl. TIA!

Always at least two geese Doesn't have to be a male/female pair if you don't want, it can be two females, but always at least two. Three is even better, in case something happens to one.

If you do get a male and a female, likely the female will hatch her own eggs, if you let her.

 

[member 104844]

Thank you @Pyxis ! The hatchery did not have any more Romans for the rest of the year, so I settled on a male and female Pilgrim because of the auto-sexing and similar traits to Romans although bigger.
We’ve been closing the stalls completely at night and set several different traps. We have not lost any more birds even though the tom sleeps in the barn out of the stalls, I guess he’s too big even for an ambitious snake lol.
My goslings and ducklings will arrive together in May and I will keep them in the house for a bit to be handled by me and the kids, although the swimming bowl is in the barn (their favorite part of life!).
Will I need to plan on a separate nesting place for the geese? Turkey and duck males aren’t part of the sitting/nesting so can be blocked off, but male geese are? And if they nest separate, will they coalesce into a mixed flock again? TIA

 

[Pyxis]

Will I need to plan on a separate nesting place for the geese? Turkey and duck males aren’t part of the sitting/nesting so can be blocked off, but male geese are? And if they nest separate, will they coalesce into a mixed flock again? TIA

I build my geese separate nests. Just little A-frames made from OSB plywood. They have always used them. And so have the chickens and turkeys from time to time, haha.