Going into the backyard with geese....

[greenscape]

Naw geese poop is just easier to see. Birds of all kinds poop constantly. I have Call Ducks, Geese, Guineas, all kinds of chickens, Parakeets, finches,Doves and Pigeons. Not to mention Dogs, Cats, goats, frogs and a few mice. I spend a lot of time shoveling poop. Got a heck of a garden though.
Get some geese and go for it!!

 

[BooBear]

Growing up mom bought 4 white geese. My sisters and I loved picking them up and cuddling them. The geese were all girls that did not mind the attention and they ravaged mom's lily bed. That was mom's main fuss cus she really liked the lily bed. But she adored the ladies enough to forgive them.


Their names were Holly, Molly, Dolly, and Polly.

 

[bayyjayy]

Quote:
I love watching my ducks! They are sooooo funny. I can't wait until we move our pond and the ducks to the other side of the pasture...I am going to be watching for any benches on clearance and buy one so that I can sit out there and just watch them. My favorite thing is to watch them batheing and dunking over and over and over and over and.....you get my drift. When they start dunking under the water and come up on the other side of the pond....oh my! It is one of my VERY favorite things! When I am on the computer I will hear them start spashing and I will jump up to go watch them.

The other day some bird...I think it was a crane or....crap, can't think of the name now.....landed next to the pond for a drink....the ducks set up such a ruckus. We went to see what was going on and when we opened the door, the bird flew to the other side of our pond....what was funny was the noise one of my ducks made and how they all took off across the pond because they were afraid. They then started creeping back to take another look when the bird decided to take off for good...again, one of my ducks made that sound and they all took off. SOOO funny! The day before yesterday all the ducks were on the shallow end of our pond, a plane went overhead and ALL of the ducks took off across the pond, including one of my mallards flew across.

I seriously LOVE them......I think I need a goose, but I am scared that I will get one who is gonna make me regret my decision.

Thanks for your wonderful post.

 

[aineheartsyou]

I love my geese and plan on getting more

 

[zzGypsy]

Quote:
in my experience, not more than ducks on a pound-per-pound basis, but they are bigger birds, so more poop.

they *are* different personalities than ducks. if you handle them a lot, and have the kids do so also, or if you treat them a livestock but are *always* the dominant goose, and teach your kids to do so also, you should be fine.
however.
keep in mind your kids may not be effective in maintaining the dominant goose behavior. and their friends are less likely to, especially if they haven't been trained in what to do.
if your geese are respectful of people's dominant position, then you'll have few issues, but if they aren't your kids or their friends will likely get nipped.
I think it's a LOT knowing how to interact with livestock in a way the animals naturally understand, a little proper training of the livestock, and a bit roll-of-the-dice on the personality of the individual animals.
my suggestion would be
- spend a little time with someone else's geese and your kids, see if they're likely to do well.
- set up a containment pen where the geese can be herded up when your kids have friends over that aren't goose-compatible.
- get a garden hose with a really good sprayer on it for the poop.
then feed your goose obsession...

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
in my experience, not more than ducks on a pound-per-pound basis, but they are bigger birds, so more poop.

they *are* different personalities than ducks. if you handle them a lot, and have the kids do so also, or if you treat them a livestock but are *always* the dominant goose, and teach your kids to do so also, you should be fine.
however.
keep in mind your kids may not be effective in maintaining the dominant goose behavior. and their friends are less likely to, especially if they haven't been trained in what to do.
if your geese are respectful of people's dominant position, then you'll have few issues, but if they aren't your kids or their friends will likely get nipped.
I think it's a LOT knowing how to interact with livestock in a way the animals naturally understand, a little proper training of the livestock, and a bit roll-of-the-dice on the personality of the individual animals.
my suggestion would be
- spend a little time with someone else's geese and your kids, see if they're likely to do well.
- set up a containment pen where the geese can be herded up when your kids have friends over that aren't goose-compatible.
- get a garden hose with a really good sprayer on it for the poop.
then feed your goose obsession...

Another point also is kids will tease, and that is a big NoNo with geese, so early on the children need to be taught that. I am still working on it with my grankids, it's just something some kids really enjoy doing and can backfire on them with geese.

 

[greenscape]

I let the geese teach them not to tease. Does a really good job. The kids get over it in a while. Also my RIR Rooster is good at it too

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
My 8 year old granson needs to be taught that lesson, so next time he visits I'll let my goose teach him instead of me having to constantly be after him not to tease the goose. My grankids say their dog hates him too.

very sad.

 

[Olive Hill]

Well, a few things.

1) You're probably going to have trouble buying sexed, JUST female, goslings. Most are sold either straight run or in pairs.

2) Ducks are not geese. I know! Newsflash! But seriously, handling and raising them is apples and oranges to one another. They are both waterfowl, but that's where the common denominator ends. Their diet is different, the amount the eat is different, the amount they poop is different, they way the interact with each other and people is different, so on and so forth.

3) It is NOT a good idea to imprint ganders onto people.

4) The notion that geese will be "fine" with children if they're raised with them is absolutely false. In fact, come breeding season, the closer they were to the children while raised the more likely they are to attack.

5) Just because your geese learn to respect your children does not mean they are trustworthy with other children. Geese are strong, they do not stay cute, fuzzy goslings very long and they should be taken seriously as juveniles and adults. The damage they can do to a small child is no joke. Last time I, as an adult woman, broke up a gander fight I walked away with a bruise the size of a salad plate on my lower leg from one hit by one of the ganders.

6) Know that your geese learning to respect your children is a BIG "if". Especially during the breeding season. Especially if your children are young, small and/or timid.

7) Obsession is a very bad place to be coming from to purchase an animal. Geese can live upwards of 20-25 years. This is not a snap judgement to be made. It is a long term commitment. Do some more reading and research. Read credible sources, not just message boards where you get to fill up your hopes with funny anecdotes. Do those things happen? Of course, but those stories leave out all the pragmatic, day-to-day responsibility of goose ownership. You're excited on your own, you don't need help with that. You need help seeing the reality of keeping geese in your backyard.

Good luck!

 

[Oregon Blues]

Here is my problem with geese around small children:

Geese have extremely long memories and they are not forgiving by nature. They can hold a grudge for a very long time. Some children are very well behaved and good around animals. Many are not, or seem to be incapable of controlling their wild loud quick movements. Some children are good around animals while the adults are watching and not good around animals when nobody sees what they are doing.

A big gander is just about eye level to a small child. A goose bite really hurts and the serrated bill can tear human flesh and give a really nasty cut. Geese are very strong, and I've heard that the blow from the leading edge of the wing is strong enough to break small bones.

If a timid child is seen as subservient, the child will be bullied and frightened, but probably not badly injured. But if a child teases the geese, or tries to chase a hatch of goslings, the child is going to be very badly hurt. It's difficult to get it through to a 4 or 5 year old that they are absolutely not to get close to the darling fluffy goslings, or to try to give them treats.

That's why I say that geese might work with some children and not with others. The problem is that you can't know if it will work or not without doing it, and I would hate to hear of a child injured, or even badly frightened, as the means that you discover it isn't working for your family.