Geese and chickens

[sarahconnor]

We have two baby goslings that are getting huge at 12 weeks, they are out all day but at night go back to their almost too small pen. The hens and rooster ignore them, and they have grown up with ten real pretty new babies who are also thriving. We want to to live in the fenced safe yard and hen house with the flock when we arent home to free range them. Will they be ok??? We love them, they are sweet but freak out when we pick them up to put them to bed at night. we want them to trasition safely and with the least stress possible.
THANKS!!

 

[ColtHandorf]

Good luck is all I can say for that. I have a pair of American Buff geese that I purchased as one year olds. They were okay with the chickens for the first couple of weeks when they came home but when they started breeding again they turned into dragons. The gander killed two started birds and mauled a hen so badly I thought she lost both of her eyes. They now live in separate quarters despite the geese wanting to go back in the other pen with the chickens. I don't trust them. Not even free-ranging as that is when he killed the two 3.5 month olds.

 

[sarahconnor]

Wow. That is horrible. We have to girls and raised them with chicks side by side so they could see one another. They don’t let the chickens come near them but they aren’t aggressive. I’m nervous now. Thanks and I am so sorry for your losses.

 

[Biddybot]

I've kept geese in the past, usually a gaggle of six to eight adults, augmented some years when I let them raise a batch of babies. You could probably get away with keeping your own goslings with the chickens for a few more weeks, but they really need their own space. The main problem with trying to keep geese with chickens is that, unlike land fowl, geese don't sleep through the night. They alternate periods of wakefulness and activity with napping, which, as you can imagine, would be very disturbing to the poor chickens. Geese also need a deeper water supply than do chickens, enough to submerge their beaks entirely, which can make for a wet mess. And as they age, your geese will become increasingly territorial and aggressive towards intruders of all sorts, yet another reason to get them their own digs as soon as possible. Their own fenced paddock with their own secure shed to shut them into every night and which you can leave open for them during the day to use as shelter and a nesting area makes geese happy and will keep your other birds safe. Once they have their own turf, geese are usually fine being let out to forage over a larger area alongside other species. My gang worked an acre of common ground along with lots of chickens, guineas, turkeys and ducks, and never bothered anybody. They did chase other birds out of their paddock, though, especially if they had a nest on the go...

 

[Biddybot]

Looks like my computer's going nuts. Double post. Sorry about that.

 

[Biddybot]

Argh, double double post. Sorry!

 

[ABS9590]

I had a pair of buff geese who lived in the chicken coop. Not raised together, I bought all of them as adults. They mostly ignored the chickens and chased out a skunk on more than on occasion. They would huss if anything approached their nest, but weren't excessively aggressive.
Also had 5 chinese geese, they were raised with chickens and ducks but absolutely horrible bullies. They never did much harm, just chased all the other birds and occasionally nipped at them.

 

[sarahconnor]

Thank you! Sounds like you had some interesting animals. Our two girls have settled in really nicely in the side yard with the chickens they’ll chase them away from their food bowl, but that’s pretty much it. They all seem to get along pretty well, but Mostly still sleep outside in the side yard. They don’t go into the henhouse to sleep at night yet.