How would 1 goose get along with the chickens?

[Jsat]

I am wondering about the goose my mom got to guard the chickens. I've been told they get mean or try to breed with the chickens if they are male. I haven't a CLUE what sex it is, but it's almost 2 weeks old and is kinda mean sometimes to the chickens. I'm not sure if this goose is gonna last if it's gonna hurt the chickens. It's a Roman Tufted Goose. We named "him" Mr. Briggs. My mom said he'd end up being dinner if he's too mean.......can anyone tell me what to expect? Thanks!

 

[Pyxis]

You need at least two geese. Forgive me, I keep having to reply to this same thing because there's a bunch of incorrect information out there that says it's fine to keep one goose, so I've taken to just copying and pasting my answer to this.

"You should never have just one goose, ever. They are flock animals and need at least one friend of their own kind. To do otherwise is cruel to them and would be akin to locking you up with just chimpanzees for company in the hopes that you'd get along with them and protect them because you have no other humans to be with and they're the best you can do.

I'm not even saying this just because I've heard it around, I experienced it. My first roman tufted grew up here without any other goslings or geese because her intended mate died in transit on the way to me. Sure, she hung out with the chickens and ducks, but she wasn't really happy. Once I got some more geese she immediately took to them and they are now an inseparable flock. I would never want to have another lone goose again because it's just cruel to the goose.

Many people are perpetuating the myth that it's fine to keep one lone goose, but if they'd think about it at all they'd realize that just as they wouldn't want to live with another animal species their whole life that can't speak their language, can't become their mate, can't raise young with them, and can't even participate in their favorite activities (swimming, in the case of geese) that it's not something that's okay to do to a goose either. They are innately flock animals, just as chickens are and just as we humans are.

That said, I raise Roman Tufteds, keep them in with chickens, and they do watch out for predators and alert to them. That's all they're going to do, and that's all any goose would do. A goose is never going to attack or try to drive off a predator, aside from perhaps a gander protecting his mate on the nest. Even then, he's probably still going to lose out to anything larger than a small fox.

So, what geese will do is watch for danger, alert if they see it, and their presence and size may deter small raptors from attacking. That's it. Don't expect to get a goose and have it attacking and chasing predators and driving them off, and please do not get just one."

Anyway, now that that's said, and I do hope your mother will get a second goose, because you need one, he's probably being rough with the chicks because A. he's lonely and doesn't have another goose to cuddle with and play with and B. at this point I imagine he's much bigger than them. He'd be doing this same kind of play with his same age gosling hatch mates and they wouldn't be hurt by it.

Please don't eat him for dinner because he's not being raised correctly. If you can't get him a gosling friend, give him to someone who can.

 

[kimmee12]

I agree, geese need each other almost as much as they need food and water. I recommend either re-homing the goose to a family with a flock, or getting another goose for him.