I might get a gosling what do you think?

[ChickGirl6]

I'm going to Brau's Hatchery this spring and picking up some chicks and ducklings and I might get a gosling. The thing is I know what breed of chicks and ducklings I'm getting but I don't know what breed of gosling to get. I have to keep my order small with all the chicks I'm planning to hatch so this is what I'm getting.
My list for Brau's
6 or 8 Partridge Rocks
3 to 6 Blue Swedes

and this is what breeds of geese they have
White Embden
Gray Toulouse
African
White Chinese

So what do you all think? What breed is the best and should I even get a gosling at all? And any other breeds of chicks or ducklings you think I should add? The list of what breeds I already have is in my signature.

The chicks Brau's have
Gold or Silver Laced Wyandottes
Buff Orpingtons
Partridge Rocks
Black Sex Links
Brown Leghorns
RIRs
Light Brahmas
Black Australorps
White Leghorns
California Whites
EE's
Gold Links
Production Reds
Barred Rocks
White Rocks

The ducks Brau's have
Pekins
Rouens
Mallards
Khaki Campbells
Indian Runners
Blue Swedes
Anconas

 

[The goose girl]

Unless you want to spend the next three months with your gosling 24/7, please get two goslings.

I spent last summer raising a single gosling, and it requires constant companionship both day and night. It's kind of like a new baby, but even more so, because you can't even leave it alone when it's asleep. It needs to be with you all the time. If you try to leave it to pick up the phone or go to the bathroom, it'll be miserable. The first couple of weeks it feels lost if you stand up or sit on a chair without picking it up.

It seems really sweet and it's always nice to feel needed, but imagine doing everything (cooking, laundry, shopping) with a gosling in one hand. I had to find a goosesitter when I wanted to take a shower, as shampoo and gosling is not a match made in heaven. The gosling slept in my bed at night next to my pillow. He did wear a diaper, but we also did have The Great Poop Incident: one morning I woke up with my hair and my pillow covered in goose poop. The gosling apparently had picked the load out of his diaper and dispensed it all over my hair. Lovely! And then I had to go out covered in poop to find a sitter for him before I could take a shower.

A lost, miserable gosling does not "get used to it". It will use all its time and energy to find its way back to the "flock". It will neither eat, drink or sleep, and it may hurt itself trying to find you.

If you decide to get goslings, get the breed that appeals most to you. They're not all that different regarding temperament. That depends much more on the raising.

 

[Shiloh Acres]

Wow, GooseGirl, that took some dedication!

On the other hand, if you're getting ducks at the same time, you can probably brood them together. If at all possible, I would STILL agree that you should get two goslings, but you might get through the brooder stage with ducklings and goslings coseying up.

I guess I got lucky. I once raised 3 goslings, but the Chinese starting pulling feathers from the Africans and just being mean, so I had to put them in two separate brooder boxes. I was worried about the lone Chinese gosling (who turned out to be male) but he handled it ok. The other brooder was right next to him though and they could hear each other, and see each other a little. I did have to hold him a lot and took them all on outings together a couple of times a day at least.

I'd agree too that it depends heavily on how they are raised. I've had more aggression from Chinese though. Tolouse seem a bit shyer. I've had some very sweet Africans, Emdens, and Toulouse.

Hope all goes well with your hatchlings.

 

[adrian]

Wanted to chime in that I have a different experience with goslings.

First of all, unless the gosling is to be a house pet, definitely get two; they need lifelong companionship.

However, my house pet geese have always learned to be alone for short periods of time, as babies. Some species and some individuals take it harder than others. I've had to foster wild babies for brief periods of time before they went elsewhere and I find they are far worse. They will wear themselves out trying to get to you, at least for a good long time. However, the domestic babies learn faster that you do come back. I think it does take some amount of tough love, but never too much. I've never known a gosling to stop eating or drinking in an attempt to get to me, not even my most insane wild babies who would cry all night if they couldn't be cuddled up beside me. Not even a foot away. The first few days are the hardest. It is like parenthood. But, with that said, I've had a lot of luck with teaching them to spend small amounts of time alone (say, an hour at most) and also to spend time with other people when I was away. Regardless of that, I did take them almost everywhere with me. Some even went to the store with me in a coat pocket and just slept away the whole time. As they get older they'll like to be underfoot as you go about your day.

...Regardless of this, however, it is wisest you get two goslings so that they have each other for constant companionship. I just wanted it known that it is not impossible, if the goose is to be a house pet, to raise just one. I have done it a good handful of times.

Oh, also: I find that toulouse are the gentlest of the breeds you listed.

 

[IdealisticRoo]

I got a pair of tufted Roman geese last month.

They are supposedly the smallest and quietest geese, but they are HUGE and LOUD! They eat SO much! At 1 month old they are the size of my adult LF chickens!

They were needy irritating babies, CONSTANTLY crying if I was not right next to them.

I could not imagine only having one of them, if they are apart for a second, they both set up the loudest racket!

They were allowed into the yard recently and they have redeemed themselves by eating mainly crabgrass clumps and weeds!

I would not recommend geese based on my experience and I would certainly NOT recommend 1 goose!

I cannot count the times I have contemplated putting my pair up for sale!

 

[elizabethbinary]

Haha wait so this is why when one goes around the corner the other flips out and honks until it finds out where it went? Haha I just thought they were being strange. How adorable, that IS some dedication Goosegirl.

 

[drdoolittle]

I have a toulouse and a brown Chinese. I love them both, but the toulouse is my favorite, so that's the breed I would recommend-----also 2 of them.

 

[JROOSTER]

I have 4 American Blue geese and I LOVE them.