Geese and Chicldren...Help????

[tstilwell]

Quote:
If you have your gosling around the chickens at a young age, I would not worry too much about killing your chickens. The geese will consider the chickens as part of their flock, but I would still watch them carefully. I have had chickens around geese for many years. I have only had a goose kill a chicken once, but it was a freak accident (goose knocked of a piece of plywood which landed on the chicken, then proceeded to walk on the board. The chicken was a flat as a pancake!!! I would worry about ducks and chickens though...my ducks kept mating with all the chickens, even though there was plenty of female ducks.

 

[ultasol]

Quote:
I am not trying to be rude, but have you kept pairs during breeding season? I have with Buff Americans, Sebastopols, Dewlap Toulouse, and Embden and I can tell you I wouldn't trust a one with a small child during breeding season- not even the gentle giant toulouse. Considering that they can nip hard, flog hard, and can leave bruises inches in diameter on an adult I would recommend people with small children either not get geese OR
1) make sure NOT to hand tame them, they should see you as human and not a peer. They will respect your space more that way, and aren't as likely to come after you when they are an adult gander protecting a nest or new hatchlings
2) Make sure you have a dog kennel (chain link kind) or fenced area to keep them away from children during breeding season
3) consider getting sexed females, no males
4) teach children to stay away from nesting areas, to be slow and calm and quiet around geese (not run screaming)
5) have a place to rehome them should they become a problem

I *LOVE* my geese, and it makes me sad that there are some wonderful people with a lot of enthusiasm for poultry that won't keep geese because of awful childhood experiences. They are wonderful birds with interesting social lives and capable of reasonably intelligent interaction- but they can be intimidating.

 

[Oregon Blues]

I wonder what OP decided to do.

American Geese, buff or blue, are nice geese, but all ganders are protective of their goose and their nests during breeding season. It's their job, they are superb Dads, and they can be awfully scary if they think you are a threat to their unhatched babies.

I don't think geese are suitable pets for small children. If there are kids and geese in the same household, I advise having a secure pen for the geese during breeding season.

Geese are safer if you do not handle them and try to be their friend. Let them retain some respect and admire them from a distance instead of trying to pet them. If they think you are a flock member, they will treat you like a goose, which means they will flog the dogpoop out of you if they think you need some discipline for violating flock rules.

You don't want them to think you are a flock member. You want them to think you are a human being and have the potential to be dangerous, so that it is not a good idea to bite you.