Guardian Goose in Urban Flock? (some graphic description)

[lazylizzy]

**warning, description of chicken death**

Hello all,

I live in a small city on about .3 of an acre. I started with a flock of 6 (city limit) and due to two turning out to be roosters (not allowed) and one bantam being caught by the neighborhood hawk, I was down to 3. I keep them in a coop with enclosed run during the day, but in the afternoon/evening I let them have free range of our fully fenced backyard while our two dogs roam and sniff (the dogs leave them alone). Last night my husband brought the dogs in without putting the hens in their coop. 30 minutes later he went outside to put them in the coop and one of them, Michelle, had been killed.

Of course it was my largest hen, and she was still alive (although partially eaten). I suspect this was the doings of a racoon, as the resident hawk (who killed a bantam) is smaller than the hen and wouldn't have been able to eat her while she was still alive. To me, this all screams racoon.

I am pretty upset, but I have seen Lion King and know all about the Circle of Life. I was planning on going to get three local ameraucana chicks this weekend, and am not wondering about adding a gosling to my brooder. After losing my bantam to a hawk over the winter and now having a racoon take one in such a gruesome manner when they were left alone for only 30 minutes, I don't want to take any chances.

Do any of you have experience adding a goose to your backyard flock? I have two dogs and one toddler that also roam/play in the backyard, so I do worry about aggression. My thought is to get lots of exposure to the dogs and my son while it is young - does that work?

Thank you in advance for your feedback and information. I have included a picture of my sweet Michelle (Michelle was white, the pic is of wither her best friend Hillary, who is tan), taken the morning before we lost her.

 

[cmom]

A goose can be had too. A neighbor lost his goose, probably to a coyote.

 

[lazylizzy]

A goose can be had too. A neighbor lost his goose, probably to a coyote.

My goal isn't for the goose to fight a predator, I'm hoping for an alert honk. If I had an alert honk, I could run outside and chase it off - particularly as we get into warmer weather where the flock may be out of their run for longer periods during the day.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Sorry that you're having predator issues. From the sounds of it and depending on the time of day the attack was more likely a hawk instead of a coon. Coons almost never come after chickens during the day as they are mostly nocturnal. Not saying this is what happened in your case, but by the sounds of it a hawk is the more likely suspect.

Ducks and geese can act as substitute roosters, but they are VERY messy my comparison to chickens. Some need a small pond or pool to swim in and have particular dietary needs that ate not quite the same as chickens and could be difficult to fulfill. Plus geese can get very mean. More so than a rooster. You may be better off with multiple types of deterrents than an alert goose.

I had some issues with a young red tailed hawk who kept coming by trying to attack my birds. The last attempt it was near dusk and it had managed to pin one of my silkies and was in the process of tearing feathers out of her back when my 11 pound mini rat terrier went ballistic and attacked the hawk saving the silkie. I ran fishing line from multiple points along the house to the tree in the middle of the back yard about 8.5' off the ground. I created a mesh with the fishing line over the large portion of the yard that is mostly open with no cover for the birds. I then got some of these mirrored disks and hung them off the lines at random points. The thought behind them is that birds of prey get very distracted by the light flashes and moving reflections so much so that they will not swoop in to attack. Also with the grid of lines across the yard, they will not swoop in as the mesh makes it very difficult to fly out. Since putting up the fishing line and mirrors I have not had a single issue with hawks attacking my girls.

You can also get deflection nets and string them up over the area you allow the birds to free range in. I have not tried these, but they are basically the same as the net I made from fishing line.

 

[cmom]

So sorry for your loss. This is the time of year when most predators are mating and having young. Some come out more during the day especially if they are feeding young. Get a goose and maybe it will work out fine for you. Good luck...

 

[Yardfulla poopers]

In my experience, a goose is a great alarm for people being in the yard but not for predators. For hawks, they just look up to the sky then get themselves under cover but only alert about 10 percent of the time.
They were also very aggressive with the chickens to the point I was considering giving them away.
When we had a raccoon in the middle of the night, it was the female ducks making a racket that woke me, the geese stayed silent.
They will defend their flock from a perceived threat but even though all my birds were raised together, the geese only ever protected the ducks and never the chickens.
Both geese were killed by a pack of coyotes while trying to defend their ducks (also lost 6 ducks to the attack). I think a raccoon could also kill a goose though it may think twice.
Short answer: I would keep the dogs out for as long as the chickens are out.