Guard Geese... Posted In another thread

[anthonyjames]

I am looking at some methods to protect my laying flow while in the field. Mainly from overhead predators.

In the field I have to keep my layers I can't keep a dog out there so I have been keeping my birds in tractors but would like to let them run free within my electric netting and let them come back to my mobile hut to lay and sleep I have for them.

Seeing as I have about 350 - 400 layers and I have many electric nets I would prefer to let them in 80 x 80 to 164 x 164 area for a couple days then move, etc.

Anyone out there have guard geese? And if you do can you recommend the best that would help with aerial predators? Seeing as they are the reason they are all in tractors now. Lost over 50 in one week a couple years ago to hawks.

Thanks

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

geese wont protect anything but themselves, and are far more bluff than bark, are also susceptible to predator attacks

 

[Going Bhonkers]

What about overhead netting? Geese dont guard (in the sense that they'll defend), they alert, maybe giving you time to go check what's going on. Not sure if that's what you're looking for.

Some geese will honk at anything they find strange or frightening. I have a pair of Chinese geese, and my particular pair wouldnt protect your chickens from predator birds. A lot of vultures fly over, and while my geese keep an eye on them as they fly over, they dont honk at them. If any swoop too low, my geese hide under a tree. They do honk at things that approach from the ground level, like people they dont know.

I have read that there are folks on here who keep geese to sound an alarm for their chickens. How old they are when you get them might be a factor. I raised mine from 1 week old, so there wasnt a grown goose for them to learn from. I'm guessing that either older geese or ones that were raised in a farm setting may be better at sounding an alarm for eagles/ hawks.