Goose Talk: Let’s Chat About Geese in the Flock!

[BYC Project Manager]

Geese are more than just noisy lawn guardians—they’re smart, social, and surprisingly useful additions to a homestead. From natural weed control to their legendary protective instincts, they definitely bring personality (and plenty of honking!) to the yard.

Let’s stir the conversation:

1. Guardians or bullies? – Do your geese protect your flock, or do they sometimes cause more trouble than help?
2. The lawn crew – Have your geese lived up to their reputation as expert grazers, or do they still sneak feed from your chickens’ bowls?
3. Raising goslings – Have you ever hatched and raised goslings? Was it easier or more challenging than chicks or ducklings?
4. Geese & family bonds – They’re famous for forming strong attachments. Do your geese have a “favorite” person in your household?
5. Seasonal honking – Does your gaggle get louder in certain seasons, or are they the neighborhood’s year-round noisemakers?
6. Eggs and more – Have you tried goose eggs in cooking? Some swear they’re richer and fluffier for baking—what’s your take?
7. Best breeds – If you keep geese, which breed do you have? Are they calm Pilgrims, elegant Chinese, or bold Africans?
8. Funniest goose moment – What’s the most hilarious (or outrageous) goose story you’ve got?

Jump in and share your stories! Whether you love their sass, rely on their protection, or just admire them from afar, geese always seem to spark strong opinions.

 

[Rabbit chicken]

my Gesse are gardens of my farm. They help keep away predictors and people! My Geese love grass but where I live they need to stay in a pen they cant get out of! but they do sometimes spend time in the goat pen I have. I have hatched goslings in the past it was hard but intertaining the problem I had was The goslings where imbread... and didn't survive long.My geese only really like me! They are my babies!My noisemakers are Loud year round but get louder during summer/spring. I have 2 Chinese and 1 unknown and the Other is a mix bread.

 

[Goosebaby]

1. Guardians or bullies?

Geese are naturally protective of those they consider a mate, those they consider their babies, their nest and territory. However geese have no instinct to protect a flock as a whole or ability to actually protect against a determined predator, such as a fox, raccoon, or especially anything larger. Geese are large and imposing but far more fragile than they let on, they’re mostly bluff and when a predator or person calls that bluff the goose can’t do much about it.

Some breeds make better alarm geese than others, breeds that are typically more vocal like Chinese geese are better suited as they’re more likely to make a ruckus if someone or something they don’t recognize is approaching. Other breeds “such as my Toulouse, American Buffs, and Classic Roman” get very quiet when they see danger, at most making a low “heh heh” sound repeatedly. In nature being quiet when they sense danger is often a more effective survival strategy.
This as well as their posture is more than adequate at being a warning sign for the rest of your flock but it’s unlikely you’ll be able to hear if you’re inside.
Geese are highly individualistic so breed isn’t always an indicator of being an excellent alarm goose.
Geese are excellent hawk deterrents as most birds don’t want to approach a yard with a considerably larger bird in view.

Geese for the most part won’t bully another bird, person, or animal unless they see it as a rival or invading their space. Geese naturally fear things they haven’t seen before, this goes for strangers also, but if it’s someone they know but who doesn’t interact with them they neatly file that person, child, cat, or dog, whatever into the “nuisance/ rival” category.
Geese tend to mostly tolerate other flock species like ducks, just as long as the ducks don’t invade their personal space. Fast flighty behavior around them seems to irritate geese the most. This goes for dogs and cats also.
I’ve actually had geese get bullied by ducks, with birds energy often matters more than size, however this can be incredibly dangerous as a bullied goose can only take so much. One of my female geese nearly beat one of my drakes to death because she’d finally had enough.

Geese get hormonal in breeding season which means that they become more irrational and quick to anger. They can’t help this or control this. This is just something you have to be aware of and learn to live with. If you’re closely bonded with them you specifically won’t usually have any problems, though you’ll be propositioned fairly often. Anyone else outside their circle will need to be more careful around them though.

The best way to deal with an attacking goose is to just pick them up. You grab them gently but firmly by the head so they can’t bite, and you scoop them up in your other arm. Geese are generally between 8 lbs to 22lbs so this isn’t too hard. Carry them around for a minute and then set them back down. It snaps them out of it and aserts your dominance in the most humane way that doesn’t reinforce their aggression.

1. The lawn crew

Geese thrive when they have areas to graze, however domestic geese are larger than their wild counterparts and require a balanced feed on top of grass to keep in good health. Wild geese also travel to find new pastures as well as sources of algae and other sources of vitamins and minerals which are opportunities which most domestic geese lack.
Geese are very good grazers, they’re also very inquisitive and like to sample everything. If you have saplings they can get chewed up, if you have newly sprouted plants or newly planted plants, don’t be surprised to see them get pulled up. Seeing you handle a plant is plenty of encouragement for them to go and “investigate” it. If you have potentially toxic plants it’s best to not handle them in front of geese or restrict their access to them.

1. Raising goslings

I’ve raised numerous goslings and ducklings over the years. Ducklings I would say are messier than goslings, though personality and set up are strong contributing factors to mess. Goslings emotionally are easier to deal with because they’re less likely to spontaneously decide they don’t like you once they’re physically mature like ducks are prone to do sometimes. This depends on being very hands on with the goslings though. If they only see you when it’s time to feed them they’re not going to form a strong bond with you. If you know what you’re getting into with ducks and know not to take it personally ducks can be quite a bit more comical than geese for this reason though. Goslings and geese can be incredible snuggle bugs, ducks are just absolutely hilarious.
I don’t really have experience with chickens.

1. Geese & family bonds

I’ve raised or basically been a co-parent to pretty much all of my geese, so I’m either mom or nanny to mist of them. Geese form incredibly deep bonds and they have long memories. As they get older a lot of them aren’t into snuggles as much, just like with people, but they still very much like to interact with me. I have one gander that loves snuggles still, just as long as none of the girls are watching lol! I have a few that like to push my buttons but we have an understanding. My biggest problem bird is my oldest gander named Leo, “that’s him in my avatar” who sees me as a rival as I didn’t really raise him “my parents got him.” We’ve had our battles over the years but he recognizes that I do take care of him and the others and he’s grown more accepting of me as he’s gotten older.

Geese form opposite and same sex bonds. I’ve had and still have double gander pairs and double hen pairs. The only real thing to be concerned about with this is when they get hormonal in breeding season ganders can feed off each others energy and this has the potential to be deadly if they focus this on another gander or another bird, because the fight doesn’t always stop. It’s best to keep an eye on this. Ganders will also still squabble with each other even if they are bonded, but they’ll usually stop after a minute and be running around congratulating each other like goobers.

Multi gander pairs can also be problematic if you have a female in the mix because she can be overbred and harassed, this isn’t a problem if she’s dominant however. One of my gander groups was Parsnip “gander,” his dad Leo, and Delphi “goose hen.” Delphi is a small but strong and independent goose who doesn’t take any bull from anyone, so the three never had problems with each other.

1. Seasonal honking

It’s pretty consistent year round.

1. Eggs and more

They’re pretty great in baking.

1. Best breeds

The best breed is the breed you have. There are some differences between breeds so it’s good to research which would be best for your goals, but geese are all individualistic and gregarious. If you like geese you’ll probably like them all.
That said Chinese and Africans are usually more vocal, a plus if you want a louder alarm goose, not so much if a lot of sound is an issue. Large breeds like embdens and supers typically mature and begin laying at two to almost three years old so if you want lots of eggs and faster, smaller breeds like Chinese types and Roman’s might be better. Buffs are generally considered one of the friendliest and calmest breeds.

1. Funniest goose moment

There are so many, but possibly the funniest was also one of the most terrifying experiences. I had walked out and found Leo completely soaked in blood, I was horrified thinking he’d been attacked or shot. I ran over, grabbed him, and started combing through his feathers trying to find the source of all the blood, all the while he’s trying to get away and indignantly wailing at me. After awhile of this and not finding any wound at all and noticing the “blood” was this weird smudgy texture I realize it isn’t blood. He had found one of my dad’s tree marking crayons and loved the texture, chewing it into oblivion. He completely smudged it all over his beak, and then after his “snack” had evidently decided to have a nice preen. But as he started to preen, he started coating his breast feathers in red crayon, he tried to get it off, only spreading it more until he’d completely covered his entire breast and belly in red crayon.

 

[Goosebaby]

View attachment 4218058

The more I look the more terrified I am by this pic lmao

 

[Rabbit chicken]

The more I look the more terrified I am by this pic lmao

I Agree