Geese Breed Focus - Pilgrim

[RezChamp]

LOL. Gossiping geese gaggle. Cool. Ya eh. They love that.
When I was a kid my g-parents had geese. Yes, Tulouse are very noisy but I always liked that little "churtling" whilst they gossiped. I've had White, Chinese, African,Hutterite, Wavys(Snow, Blue, Cackler and Ross's) and Canada(Honker, Intermediate, Western, Lesser & Aleut). They all have that chortling sessions.
I want Pomerainian, Tufted(all breeds&clors), and Nene, and Canada(any/all) and Wavy(all breeds) again.
And now Pilgrim.

 

[Lacrystol]

I hope this forum is still active, I have my FIRST GOOSE egg due this friday. The Father is a Sebatose (however you spell it) the Mother is a Pilgrim. I only have one egg left out of Five, Two were old, One quite early, the fourth one was fully form but had WAy to much water in his shell. I was having a humidity issue.

My question is can a goose live as a loner or does he need a partner? Second, since I have two different breeds would mine be considered a "mutt"? I have call ducks am I going to have a problem with the goose and my call ducks? My calls are usually "mind my own business" kind of duck. Will I have a problem with the Goose and my Chickens? Will the goose defend my flock? I heard geeses can get very MEAN.. Or since this one is my only one, will he be my new little baby??

I have a lot more questions if anyone wants them??

 

[Pyxis]

I hope this forum is still active, I have my FIRST GOOSE egg due this friday.  The Father is a Sebatose (however you spell it) the Mother is a Pilgrim.  I only have one egg left out of Five, Two were old, One quite early, the fourth one was fully form but had WAy to much water in his shell.  I was having a humidity issue.

My question is can a goose live as a loner or does he need a partner?  Second, since I have two different breeds would mine be considered a "mutt"?  I have call ducks am I going to have a problem with the goose and my call ducks?  My calls are usually "mind my own business" kind of duck.  Will I have a problem with the Goose and my Chickens?  Will the goose defend my flock? I heard geeses can get very MEAN..  Or since this one is my only one, will he be my new little baby??

I have a lot more questions if anyone wants them??

Hiya Lacrystol!

Sorry you lost all the other eggs, geese eggs are tricky. Did you read Pete's excellent guide to incubation in the goose section? If not you might want to check it out for next time.

To answer your questions, yes, he will need a friend. Ducks will provide some company, but it's not the same. They really do need a friend of their own species, so if I were you, I'd try to hunt down another gosling locally, or you could get some in from a hatchery - Metzer has a minimum order of two. I had one lone Roman Tufted goose for awhile (her intended mate died as a gosling in transit to me) and while the chickens and ducks kept her company, she was much, much happier when I bought some juvenile geese to be her flock. Even though she had never seen another goose in her life, she took right to them and they travel around together everywhere.

As for breed, yes, he's out of two different breeds, so he'd be considered a cross or a mutt.

You'll probably be fine with your calls, but they're little guys, so watch out that the goose doesn't hurt them entirely accidentally when it's fully grown, such as stepping on one or something. Ganders can also get protective of their mates and nests during the breeding season so you may want to separate them out at that time.

The goose and chickens should be fine, I've never had a problem. My geese will yank some feathers out of them if they refuse to yield or get too close to a nest, etc, but that's the extent of it.

In terms of flock defense, the goose will definitely alert if it sees danger, but that's likely to be the extent of it. They don't fight predators off or anything like that - if a fox or dog comes and attacks your birds it's going to run just like the rest of them.

Geese can be mean but I haven't had that experience with any of the ones I've raised. Breed plays a part, and Sebastopols are very sweet, so that's good. Pilgrims are pretty calm and docile, too. However, if it's a gander, there's always the chance it'll get aggressive during breeding season. You may want to check out the "Dealing with Ganders" post in the sticky section of the goose forums to prepare and learn what you'll need to do if it comes to that.

He will probably be very sweet and cuddly as a baby, most of them are. They do tend to grow a little more distant as they get older but mine are by far the most friendly of my poultry.

 

[Lacrystol]

Hiya Lacrystol!

Sorry you lost all the other eggs, geese eggs are tricky. Did you read Pete's excellent guide to incubation in the goose section? If not you might want to check it out for next time.

To answer your questions, yes, he will need a friend. Ducks will provide some company, but it's not the same. They really do need a friend of their own species, so if I were you, I'd try to hunt down another gosling locally, or you could get some in from a hatchery - Metzer has a minimum order of two. I had one lone Roman Tufted goose for awhile (her intended mate died as a gosling in transit to me) and while the chickens and ducks kept her company, she was much, much happier when I bought some juvenile geese to be her flock. Even though she had never seen another goose in her life, she took right to them and they travel around together everywhere.

As for breed, yes, he's out of two different breeds, so he'd be considered a cross or a mutt.

You'll probably be fine with your calls, but they're little guys, so watch out that the goose doesn't hurt them entirely accidentally when it's fully grown, such as stepping on one or something. Ganders can also get protective of their mates and nests during the breeding season so you may want to separate them out at that time.

The goose and chickens should be fine, I've never had a problem. My geese will yank some feathers out of them if they refuse to yield or get too close to a nest, etc, but that's the extent of it.

In terms of flock defense, the goose will definitely alert if it sees danger, but that's likely to be the extent of it. They don't fight predators off or anything like that - if a fox or dog comes and attacks your birds it's going to run just like the rest of them.

Geese can be mean but I haven't had that experience with any of the ones I've raised. Breed plays a part, and Sebastopols are very sweet, so that's good. Pilgrims are pretty calm and docile, too. However, if it's a gander, there's always the chance it'll get aggressive during breeding season. You may want to check out the "Dealing with Ganders" post in the sticky section of the goose forums to prepare and learn what you'll need to do if it comes to that.

He will probably be very sweet and cuddly as a baby, most of them are. They do tend to grow a little more distant as they get older but mine are by far the most friendly of my poultry.

THANK YOU FOR THE RESPONSE, OK, so my goose hasn't hatched yet, he was dued yesterday, WOW he's taken forEVER. I made him a safe hole just to be sure he didn't run out of air. I did read pete Link, It's a good one.

Someone mention that they don't chirp, Well HE"S CHIRPING. so that's a fib. LOL The shell is sooo HARD and thick, I don't know how they break it.?? I will post a pic once he's completely out.. WOO HOO The person I got the egg from told me he's got some girls sitting on eggs. I"M HOPING one of them hatches soon, he said he will grab a baby and send it my way if they do.... So IT"S possible I may have a partner for my little one

 

[Lacrystol]

HE"S GOT A BIG HEAD. LOL much larger then my calls. LOL