Geese breeds & temperments

[sydney13]

tufted romans would make a good pick

they are small, friendly, quiet, and very productive

 

[sianara]

Quote:
I, personally, would never pen geese where they would have no access to grasses and weeds. Not only do those things naturally play a very large role in their diet, foraging for it occupies most of their day. They have a instinctual need to do it. Without grass and weeds and being in a wooded area they will resort to chewing and eating the trees, bark, sticks, etc. (More so than they would anyway). If you absolutely must, I would recommend growing greens for them and keeping alfalfa/grass mix hay available free choice at all times.

Given this suggestion, it would appear that for the well being of the geese it's best to have grassland for them. If they in fact do eat the tree bark, small sticks etc. it's probably not the best thing for their digestion

This is the kind of info I was looking for when I mentioned "personal experience". I've asked here before about housing them in wooded areas but never got a definitive response

so I was unsure if it was a viable option. I do know people that don't have their geese on grassland but I always wondered how good it was for them.

 

[sianara]

Quote:
Of course.

Just keep in mind "personal experiences" may differ widely from what you were originally looking for according to your OP.

I'm not sure what you meant by "just keep in mind personal experiences may differ widely from what you were originally looking for according to your OP". My OP requested personal experiences. How does the OP differ from my above quote of "I'm still looking for personal experiences to decide the best breed for me"? I'm confused...

What I thought I conveyed in my OP was I wanted a calm breed but I was also looking for other peoples experiences with the breeds they have/had. Just because a chart may say a breed is "calm" if 20 different people then reported to me that one of those "calm" breeds was in their personal experience NOT calm it would make me think twice about that breed. Does that make sense?

Charts are a generalization of any breed. I am aware within each breed specific strains can vary widely in temperment. That said, when I requested personal experiences I was looking for personal experiences of those that have or have had geese in the past. I don't want to rely solely on charts for this information.

When I first got into chickens 8 years ago I went by what a chart suggested and got 2 white leghorn hens. According to the chart, they were prolific layers (which was good) but they were also high strung and pecked the other chicks until bloody. In fact, that practice lasted on and off until they both died. That kind of info wasn't in the chart

. I would never get another white leghorn based on my personal experience.

 

[sianara]

I guess I should add another few questions to this thread...

Do you now or have you ever housed geese on wooded land or NOT on grassland?

If yes, did they thrive with 24/7 access to layer feed and other suggested geese feed?

What's the suggested minimum square footage for foraging area per goose?

Guess I should get a book on geese. Any suggestions?

 

[sianara]

Quote:
I liked the description of this breed on Metzers website
http://www.metzerfarms.com/RomanTuftedGeese.cfm?Breed=Roman Tufted&BirdType=Goose&ID=ROM&CustID=131783

How much do they weigh approximately?

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have 1 emden gander, although I'd not trade him for anything, he is very loud and tempermental. I have heard the American buffs are the best. Thats what I want next.

 

[DaveK]

I have Sebastopols which while very self assured are NOT quiet. They like their people and have plenty to say when we are out and about. And they like verbally fussing with each other when we are not available. A bunch of Chatty Cathys they are. Geese worse for noise, overall, than the guys are. Oh I know. "The internet says..." but the internet is not an authoritative body. It is the most unedited thing in the world where we can all just dump our stuff and act like we know what we are talking about. That does include me by the way. But I do seriously mean to warn that the hype about Sebastopols being a docile, quiet breed just isn't the case with mine nor with other flocks of other strains that I have been exposed to. They TALK a lot. One of the truly quietest breeds I know from my own experience is the Tufted Romans but I could believe that they might vary a lot as their breeding varies a lot as well. During the breeding season they shriek and squeal quite a bit but otherwise are very quiet, at least the ones I knew. For an egg decorator though they may not be the absolute first choice as they don't lay as well as the medium breeds tend to. I will second everything Olive Hill has said about not keeping geese on grass. Not only are they grazing animals designed to graze for nutrition and activity. They are also not animals that usually like to get into something where they cannot easily see around them. Wild progenitors of most of our domestic breeds come from terrain that consists of grass, water and sky. Nothing is more individual than goose personality and many adapt to some pretty amazing circumstances. But keeping a grazing animal in a wooded section of the property completely negates their natural, inbred biological functions. [email protected] www.sebastopols.freeforums.org

 

[sianara]

Quote:
This is EXACTLY what I was referring to by "personal experience"

, thank you.

At this point, I've decided that geese are not in my immediate future because of the lack of grass problem. However, a few years down the road when other projects are completed I've got some land that can be cleared and grass planted for their foraging delight.

As far as the egg decorating goes, having two females that lay 25-40 eggs a season each will be more than enough for my needs.

I'd still like to continue this discussion on the best breed for me so please keep your suggestions/experiences coming.

eta: I added four new ducks to my two existing large ducks this year. They are 2 cayugas, 1 chocolate runner & 1 welsh harlequin. The first few months they were incredibly LOUD and I was concerned that their noise would tick the neighbors off even though no one complained. After about 2 months though they quieted down quite a bit. That's not to say they don't make noise from time to time but for the most part I think they are now comfortable in their surroundings and the two flocks have merged successfully so there is less stress for them all. I'm so glad because I was worried I'd have to get rid of the new girls! BTW, I've read many "charts" that say the runners and WH are a quiet docile bird. Not true with my two

 

[sianara]

Quote:
This is good to know about the emdens. Are male geese as loud as females in general? As far as ducks go it tends to be the females that are the loudest while the males are much quieter.

 

[Omniskies]

Yes, I consider a 10 the calmest, with 1 being the most loud/nippy (and reserved for those pesky Chinese

. Also, both males and females are chatty. Males sound the alarms more often, but females will get excited and start cheering on the boys when they rush to the defense. Remember, even though geese may be extremely quiet - that's extremely quiet for _geese_. Pilgrims, Sebastopols, Dewlap Toulouse, Giant Dewlap Africans, and American Buffs will still get excited and chatty, just nowhere near as bad as some of the other breeds.

Geese do fine with trees. They were traditionally kept in orchards to keep the weeds down and fatten up on windfallen fruit. They will chew on the bark of saplings, but they usually don't bother mature trees. From my experience, geese that eat bark are _extremely_ bored geese, or extremely hungry geese. Why would they eat bark if they have grass, weeds, and actual food? Bark, for most animals, is starvation-food.

If you have a heavily wooded area they would probably gnaw away at saplings and seedlings, which would help keep the area from becoming choked over.