Guard Geese for Chickens

[DaveK]

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I don't understand this idea that predators of any kind stay away from our houses/buildings/stay away from US/stay away from big mouthed geese/only come out at night. Falling into any of this only sets us up for failure and tragedy as far as protecting our birds. There have been, on BYC and other forums, numerous posts from folks who in broad daylight in their own yard (like sitting on the porch) had something come blasting through and grab something or at least make the attempt. I can think of one poster with geese who had a fox that would do this in broad daylight, with people and several larger dogs all right there. Predators are predators and they are not some weird evil that only comes out at night or when we are not around. If we are around it just means we get to see the carnage. Geese are blustery and noisy and might raise a fuss but in reality aren't able to do a whole heck of a lot to actually protect themselves (or your ducks or chickens) from anything capable of doing harm. Geese as the great protector is just one of those old maid's notions that keeps getting trotted out but has little basis in reality.

 

[Barbara Kolohe]

Only night predators around here are rats stealing the chickens food. And then I wind up with a dead rat in the morning, sometimes half eaten. I know, gross right? Well no, there are also neighbors dogs and worse, wild dogs. Doesn't really matter if they are wild or owned, dogs that run around at night and wreak havoc with livestock dont really last long around here.

 

[goosedragon]

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Would you mind giving a general location for "Around Here" since you used it twice? We see posts from most of the english speaking world on BYC.

 

[Barbara Kolohe]

I'm sorry Goose. I thought my location showed up somewhere. Guess because I'm a new egg, it doesnt. I live on the Big Island, Hawaii. My chickens love killing rats. They really don't bother much with mongoose, but the mongoose only take eggs. That sounds wrong but Im not entirely sure what the plural of mongoose should be.

 

[goosedragon]

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I don't understand this idea that predators of any kind stay away from our houses/buildings/stay away from US/stay away from big mouthed geese/only come out at night. Well it is a general idea that comes from watching wildlife interactions with humans (The TOP PREDATOR) There are exceptions of course I have seen a fox take a run at my ducks during broad daylight and LMAO when he bounced off the wire fence that he failed to notice. I have also noticed a local half tamed fox (a misguided neighbor used to put out dog food in order to watch it)in my garage peeing on my tires when I first moved in to my suburban home, it scared me because I thought it must be rabid. When I started to meet my neighbors I was told about this fox and learned that the road was named FOX RUN Offically because of him. I found that predators were seen much more often in the suburbs then in farm country because farmers tend to shoot them, not find them as charming local residents. Talking with Wildlife officers I learned that they thought there was a greater density of small predators (and deer and wild geese) in suburban areas then in our pine woods (NC) or small farms (tobacco). The predators because they lived off garbage and pet food (in the case of coyotes they will eat cats and small dogs if given a chance) Deer and wild geese because the grazing was much better in lawns, parks and golf courses.
Because I was having problems with the local children (not allowed to shoot or trap them) I set up a system of video cameras activated by motion detectors. I caught the children on tape and that solved that problem. Reviewing the tapes, I was amazed at the amount of wildlife that was around Night and day.
To sum up finally, I agree that preditors can be around BOTH night and day, BUT there are a heck of a lot MORE of them at night when humans are in the house or in bed. Falling into any of this only sets us up for failure and tragedy as far as protecting our birds. There have been, on BYC and other forums, numerous posts from folks who in broad daylight in their own yard (like sitting on the porch) had something come blasting through and grab something or at least make the attempt. I can think of one poster with geese who had a fox that would do this in broad daylight, with people and several larger dogs all right there. Predators are predators and they are not some weird evil that only comes out at night or when we are not around. If we are around it just means we get to see the carnage. Geese are blustery and noisy and might raise a fuss but in reality aren't able to do a whole heck of a lot to actually protect themselves (or your ducks or chickens) from anything capable of doing harm. Geese as the great protector is just one of those old maid's notions that keeps getting trotted out but has little basis in reality.

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
I suspected from your name that you MIGHT be in Hawaii. IF you want your location to show here, click on profile in the bar at the top of a page, go to Personal and enter in the box right below your name (strangely enough if you use the box with all the drop downs for country, state and region it does NOT display or at least when I just used it the info disappeared from my posts. It does seem confusing. The plural of mongoose is mongooses and If you had mentioned them in your original post I would have thought you were in Asia or Australia (they also made the mistake of introducing mongooses) I didn’t know Hawaii had done so also. I’ll answer your message to deal with your comments there. ~gd

 

[rainplace]

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I always had Red Tailed Hawks(large hawks) nesting in a tree about 50' from my coop. I always netted the top of the run when I had goslings or ducklings around. Watching the hawks I would see them carry rodents and small snakes back to the neat to eat/feed their young. When my geese would see them make a kill and land the flock would form up with ganders in front and march on the hawk (no they didn't goose step but march best describes their pace) honking to each other. The hawks always were back in the air before the geese would get to it so I guess you could call them the home guard. The ducks would hide and I didn't have chickens... I hope this is of some help.~gd

I keep babies in the pen, though other than chicks, I haven't had any babies this year.... too much on my plate atm. I have yet to see this sort of behavior from my geese but it could be because I haven't let them hatch anything out. Most of their posturing and aggression seems to mostly stem from it just being the season for it. Right now we're mostly using the geese as aerial protectors for the ducks and chickens. I've seen some bald eagles and a few red tail hawks circling around the flock, but so far they have just made a few low passes and moved on. The geese honk out their alarms and stand tall. If they are near the other poultry, the ducks will run to the fenceline, the chickens will run to the geese and freeze, and the predator will move on to one of the back pastures or somewhere else entirely. Though I'm not certain, I believe it's the geese that are keeping the others safe from the overhead dangers.

The cooper's hawk was something else entirely. They hunt from trees and brush and my chickens were too small not to still be totally penned. Generally a cooper's hawk hunts small prey. Even though the chickens were still young, the hawk could not get the chickens over the fence. Each time I was able to chase off the hawk so though s/he killed the chickens, s/he did not get it's meal. The hawk moved on.

I did see last year my white chinese, Ranaya, take on our herd of cattle. We had just lost a cow to a horrible accident and she had a new calf. The herd was extremely upset and we were trying to graft this calf onto another nursing cow. It wasn't working out for us and just when we were gathering up the calf to take him up the barn, Ranaya and Rommy decide to come up and say hello. They had not yet been introduced to the cattle. This was their introduction. The herd, already being riled up decided to start running at my two little geese, and they became separated. Ranaya ran as fast as she could and since I had a calf in my arms, I couldn't do anything. There was no way Ranaya could outrun the cows and I truly believed I was about to see her get trampled. Suddenly she turned, flapped her wings, and made a honk I had never heard before or since. 40 something head of cattle came to a skidding halt and then ran back the other way. It was sight to behold.... at least in retrospect.

It was this incidence that brought home to me that domestic geese cannot protect themselves from land predators. They cannot outrun them, and they have no real defense against something which wishes to do them harm.

We've used field fencing in the places where the coyote had been pathing. We still have them, but now if they want to cross from the creek they don't have the path that runs past the duck house. Our newest predator has been a river otter and we're working on how to make it move along. I saw it heading from the pond to the creek a few days ago. We haven't had a new mink move into the area for a while and I'm wondering if the otter is keeping them at bay. Don't really want either one.

 

[Barbara Kolohe]

Quote:
I suspected from your name that you MIGHT be in Hawaii. IF you want your location to show here, click on profile in the bar at the top of a page, go to Personal and enter in the box right below your name (strangely enough if you use the box with all the drop downs for country, state and region it does NOT display or at least when I just used it the info disappeared from my posts. It does seem confusing. The plural of mongoose is mongooses and If you had mentioned them in your original post I would have thought you were in Asia or Australia (they also made the mistake of introducing mongooses) I didn’t know Hawaii had done so also. I’ll answer your message to deal with your comments there. ~gd

Yeah I get how to change a profile thing. Unfortunately it wont let you do anything to that unless you have been a member for a while. Do you talk down to people as a habit or is it just a passtime? No dropdown box for newbs. You don't believe me? Go make an email and resign up.

Honestly, would that make me the worst person in the world if I DIDNT know how to work a message board?
Who peed in your cheerios?
If you knew anyting about the crap introduction of mammals, pests, bacteria, fungi......Hawaii would be your number one study in the category of "stuff that went wayyy wrong". The last bug they put on us is killing the real guava plants and not the fake guava, and wiping out bees also.

 

[rainplace]

Quote:
I suspected from your name that you MIGHT be in Hawaii. IF you want your location to show here, click on profile in the bar at the top of a page, go to Personal and enter in the box right below your name (strangely enough if you use the box with all the drop downs for country, state and region it does NOT display or at least when I just used it the info disappeared from my posts. It does seem confusing. The plural of mongoose is mongooses and If you had mentioned them in your original post I would have thought you were in Asia or Australia (they also made the mistake of introducing mongooses) I didn’t know Hawaii had done so also. I’ll answer your message to deal with your comments there. ~gd

Yeah I get how to change a profile thing. Unfortunately it wont let you do anything to that unless you have been a member for a while. Do you talk down to people as a habit or is it just a passtime? No dropdown box for newbs. You don't believe me? Go make an email and resign up.

Honestly, would that make me the worst person in the world if I DIDNT know how to work a message board?
Who peed in your cheerios?
If you knew anyting about the crap introduction of mammals, pests, bacteria, fungi......Hawaii would be your number one study in the category of "stuff that went wayyy wrong". The last bug they put on us is killing the real guava plants and not the fake guava, and wiping out bees also.

I actually thought goose was being helpful.

 

[Barbara Kolohe]

was that before or after he said I repeated myself and this was an English speaking only community?
I came here for info. Not to have someone be nasty.