Holderread's is Discontinuing Breeding 3 Goose Breeds!

[kcardella]

I was hoping to get Pilgrim goslings from them in a couple of years, but they are selling off all of their breeding stock now!
http://www.holderreadfarm.com/Fall_2009_adult_sales_list/Fall_2009_adult_sales_list_page.htm

I am sorely tempted to buy a pair, but not sure how adult geese will fit in with an existing flock of chickens/ducks/guinea.

Any advice?

 

[Barred Rocks forever]

geese are supose to be awsome gaurd birds the main reason my friend never lost any birds was beacuse of his geese i would say go for it im suprised they can ship adult birds

 

[Goat_Walker]

Keep in mnd you might not have predator problems but gees have been known to kill or seriously injure ducks.

 

[TennesseeTruly]

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Oh believe me, geese are AWESOME guards!! My 6 geese alert when anything comes onto my property. Sometimes they alert me before my dogs do! LOL And they're even better than my guineas sometimes!

Right now my two ganders are trumpeting at each other from their separate pens! It's hilarious!! Thank goodness I have no close neighbors!

Laurie

 

[kcardella]

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This is my main worry since I would not be raising them from babies around the ducks/chickens. I guess I could ask Holderreads if they were raised around ducks.

 

[CMV]

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I have a small flock of mixed ducks and geese raised together from day one, and I am seriously concerned that my geese are going to kill one of my ducks. It started as just a little extra aggression aimed at one of the females and has turned into daily brawls that I have to actively get involved in. I removed the biggest bullies and a previously mellow goose took over the role of head bully. Nothing seems to be working. After seeing pictures of someone's duck on here beat up badly by geese I am at a loss.

I would not recommend bringing in full grown geese into a mixed poultry yard. If you can give them their own space then I say go for it.

Oh, and geese are pretty useless as predator protection. Mine are trying to kill one female duck and they let the other female get eaten on Friday without so much as a peep.

 

[kcardella]

I guess I will have to give this more serious consideration. I have space in my yard, but would have to build a separate pen area, which is why I was thinking about it in a year or so. I think I will go back to my original decision to wait, and hopefully I can buy some Holderread stock from someone. I would hate to bring in other animals that would attack the ones I already have.

 

[roboboy]

Holderreads does raise their ducklings and goslings in integrated brooders http://holderreadfarm.com/photogallery/brooding_facility_page/brooder.htm look at the second photo's caption. I would also like to mention that right now in my flock of 20 geese i have recently this summer introduced 7 muscovy ducks with no ill effect. The majority of the geese were not brooded with ducklings at all as all we used to have were call ducks and as we were worried of tramplings were not brooded together unless under extreme circumstances like the other brooder being too full of chicks. I have not had any problems with the geese and the muscovies nor did i when we used to keep the adult calls with them (which we discontinued due to owl problem as the ducks were small and therefore skiddish of the geese and never slept near them and so therefore losing their protection) At the moment my muscovies have also learned that the female geese are really big pushovers and no longer take any crap from them often chasing them away from the food dish. They don't mess with the mature ganders but as long as they are able to give them their space there has been no problem.

 

[kcardella]

Thanks for all of the advice everybody!

 

[melody123]

Be careful with geese around livestock (goats, cows, etc.) They won't hurt them, but they will mess up their water. Then the goat/cow drinks the dirty water and can get really sick. I had to sell some geese for that reason.

I'm hopeing to set up a pen away from the goats someday, so that I can get some more geese. They are great guard creatures.