I think I have fallen in love... with a goose.

[DB_Tex]

So, I connected with the waterfowl rescue in my sig, and drove over an hour across town to meet the lady who runs it to look over some ducks to bring home (which I did.) While I was there, my husband kept ogling up the geese, he loved those big honkers! But I've said from the beginning "no geese". All the geese I've met before have been super ornery. In fact when my mom was in a 2 day labor with my sister we went to walk laps around the lake at a park to encourage her contractions... until a nasty goose came up and nipped her in the butt and chased her all the way back to the car!! LOL

Anyway, the crux of it is, the rescue lady caught up a goose she had hand raised, a pretty white chinese, and she laid her neck across my shoulder while I petted her, then I held her mate, a handsome Sebastopol gander who did the same thing. I came home and settled down the new ducks, then spent all night thinking about those geese while I slept!!
Suffice it to say... hubby and I are on a push to improve our waterfowl facility now to accommodate them, and I've expressed my serious intention of taking the geese too.

I guess what I'm really asking-- do geese have very different needs from ducks? Or will I just feed them the same food as the ducks and expect them to forage a little differently?

 

[chickenlady08]

Oh what a sweet story. I actually have Embdens and I love love love them so very much. My family is like they are mean but they come running to me each and every time I come outside to the pasture, my chickens do this as well.

I have 2 drakes and they are no where as friendly as my geese. I will always have geese. I never thought I could love anything as much as my chickens but boy was I wrong.

I feed them the same feed as my chickens eat. If you don't have chickens I wouldn't see why you couldn't feed them what your present ducks eat.

I am in love with your soon to be goose/gander couple. They sound just wonderful and are you for taking them in.

Good Luck

ps and I think that ducks are far messier than my geese. They love the water and make such a bigger mess with the water. Goose poops are quite expressive. lol

 

[Sore Thumb Suburbanite]

I have always wanted a goose since I was little, when I got married almost 2 years ago, I told my husband I wanted one...that turned into 5 ducks and 3 geese down the line, but now I'm down to one female tolouse goose who I absolutely love. I feed all my birds layer pellets and scratch mixed 2:1 and they get to forage in my vegitable garden during the day when nothing in particular can be harmed by their presence---they don't eat peppers, tomatoes, corn, carrotts or sweet potato vines... they do eat beans lettuce, cucumber and zuccini leaves as well as squash, melon and gord leaves... so, Don't even begin to worry that they need different diets, you will do just fine feeding them all the same thing. If you aren't trying to get eggs by the boatload from your ducks, you can feed them all a maintenance ration when they aren't producing that consists of 10-12 percent protien, something like a gamebird mix (usually higher protien around 15%) with some scratch to dilute the protien levels.

i would love to see your goose couple, make sure you post pictures!

 

[erinszoo]

I have a pair of embdens and one duck. They all eat the same food as the chickens and turkey however their foraging skills are vastly different in our experience. Our duck searches out bugs and grasshoppers and the occasional nibble of fruit or grass. Our geese, on the other hand, eat EVERYTHING. So far they have eaten grass, hay, tomatoes (both vines and fruit), beans, celery, squash, okra, artichokes (who would've thought), avocado leaves, cucumbers, cantalope plants, gerber daisies, strawberries, every type of green I grow (7 varieties), potato vines, carrot tops, peas (the whole entire plant and pods), day lillies, watermelon plants, broccoli, leaves from the chesnut tree, leaves from the pecan tree, mud (an especial favorite after it rains), and grape leaves.

We were told and read that the geese wouldn't eat certain items like tomatoes and potatoes but our geese taught us otherwise.

The geese are also A LOT messier than the ducks because they are A LOT bigger. Multiply their size by the poop that comes out of them

All that said, our geese have way more personality than our duck. Our male is a big baby and loves to sit on my feet and nibble on my clothes and wedding ring. Our female is a bit of a teenage girl. She chases the chickens around and pulls out their tail feathers.

 

[Goose and Fig]

I have geese and ducks, and I find the geese much more friendly and interactive. They are almost like having a flock of puppies, or kindergardners maybe. I hope to never be without them. As for feed- they would both be really happy to be grazing and foraging in he garden all day, but the ducks would probably dissappear aorund here. My geese stay close to the house. If I ever cannot see them I just yell and they all come running.
The males can get a bit fiesty (especially with strangers) during mating season, but the rest of the year mine are fine.

 

[SkyWarrior]

I have four geese: a Toulouse/African pair and two brown Chinese, which are likely to be a mated pair. They're funny, social, and awesome guard animals, squawking when stuff goes a foul (fowl?)

My Chinese are a bit more social than the Toulouse/African geese, but I've picked them up and petted all of them. Geese seem to eat less than other birds.

They're messier than ducks, but as someone here said, they're much more social. I originally thought the geese would go to freezer camp, but I love them too much. Way too much fun.

 

[gryeyes]

I am besotted by my Toulouse pair, Kate and Angus.