Help! Geese vs. Ducks

[livininbrazil]

Thank you for all of your input! I will take all of it into consideration. I plan on spending a lot of time with the babies so hopefully they will grow to love me My next question would be, should I make sure they are sexed when I get them? Does it matter if I get two males or two females or a male and a female? Also, must you contain your ducks at all times? I do not have a fenced in yard (yet) and I live on a golf course where there is a lot of open space but I don't want them out wandering too far. Do they tend to wander? Do they come back home at night? I will have a run for them for sure, I just don't want to keep them cooped up everyday.

Thanks!

Ducks and geese will wander, but they´ll know where home is. They´ll come back when they´re ready, but the problem is there are many dangers. It´d be better to get them fenced in.
Now, you can have a pair (male and female) of geese no probs, that´s quite natural for them, although a gander is quite happy to oblige more than one female.
On the other hand, a drake needs a number of ducks because he´s not so much of a gent as a gander; drakes can be a bit rough on the ducks. The more ducks, the less done-in they´ll be!
Two male geese may well fight.( I don´t know about ducks, I´ve only ever one drake at a time.) A pair will produce young. Two females will get on fine and give you eggs, it all depends on what you want.
If you decide on geese, there are quieter breeds and not-so quiet breeds, and 2 females wouldn´t be as aggressive as a gander, but mallard-based ducks are quite nice for children. The Indian runner ducks, are lovely! Muscovy ducks are smart, but they do have very sharp claws that can hurt.
Having them from goslings or ducklings will help them to stay tame, have fun with them, whatever you decide.

 

[livininbrazil]

Just another thought...if they´re going to be wandering around on a golf-course, I´d go for the ducks....

 

[The goose girl]

All my geese have been more or less human imprinted, which means they like and seek human company. And they're curious. If I lived next to a golf course, they'd constantly be going to chat up the golfers, poop up the course, play with the eggs (humans call them golf balls), chew the golf bags and people's shoe laces, and some of them would've attacked the golfers when they found out they didn't know them. Geese are really funny that way: they hear people talking, decide they want to attend the party, find out they don't know anybody, and try to chase them away.

My current goose is different, she only needs a couple of minutes to greet and be greeted, then she's fine with strangers.

 

[tillyita]

Ducks will also give you eggs all year round - dependant on type and where you live and geese will only give you eggs during breeding season - although I prefer goose eggs to duck eggs when it comes to eating.

I've had both ducks and geese, both can be friendly and both can be shy. Members of each can be aggressive. Pick something you like and go for it.

 

[livininbrazil]

Well said.