I think I'm in love!

[GoslingDuckling]

Animals can get so depressed that they do die, FYI.

 

[GoslingDuckling]

They can die from depression, they lose the will to live.

 

[RURU]

they did get grass and they were healthy up until that day. I do not know what was wrong with them.

Duckobsessed There are so many people now purchasing Sebastopol's I am not sure everyone is making sure they have unrelated pairs. If there is any inbreeding which does happen if there are any faults in the genetics it can cause them to be fine and then all of a sudden just drop dead. You have to be very careful as a breeder because there are so many Sebastopol's which are related. Dave Holderread bred so many of the really good Sebastopol's out there people went to him all the time for their geese. Then they purchased a lot of them at one time and then they just let them breed together and have no idea of the parents and who is breeding who.
This is how you start having problems and then the poor people who purchase them from unknowing people who bought from the big breeders have no idea of some of the time bombs they are breeding.

I sure wish you would have had better luck and experience with your two you purchased. Sorry......

 

[Ultra]

I've kept geese once, not sure I would again, but maybe...

Some were lovely pets, some were nothing much, some were nasty things. They were terrible bullies to all the other animals, deafeningly noisy, and at night if not restrained they would go for flights and smash into things and bleed to death. We got them to be livestock and found they were too attached to each other to cope with the regular vanishings of some flock members.

Geese need to eat grass, of they can 'go light' and die, it doesn't matter how much grain or pellets you give them. They need to be out in the grass grazing. Someone may know of something to feed them that does instead of grass but that's all I know so far, I don't know much about them. Not ideal livestock, fine for pets or just yard ornamentation if you've got a place big enough... But too much trouble for me offhand. I'd need a proper setup before I'd bother again.

Best wishes with yours. I'm sure someone who knows more can give you better info.

Geese are some of the easiest livestock to raise, which is why they are a mainstay of farm life. Purina Flockraiser is a complete diet for geese until laying age, then they eat layena. I put mine out to pasture because it's much cheaper to just let them forage for their food. You don't need alot of space, one acre will accommodate 40 geese.

I currently have 10 geese ranging all day with one LGD keeping watch. They pretty much raise themselves.

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: I currently have 10 geese ranging all day with one LGD keeping watch. They pretty much raise themselves.
Yeah, if you have the setup. I didn't, so they were too much trouble.

Also personally I would consider one acre to 40 geese overstocking if they were restricted to that acre. I wouldn't buy them their own special food, I'd expect that with enriched pastures, well stocked dams and some grains like the chooks get, they'd thrive. Mine did anyway. It's the other incompatibilities as fuss-free livestock that I got tired of, there weren't any issues with health or fertility. They certainly are tough livestock, that wasn't the issue, lol! I'm not sure you've understood my statements on geese.

Obviously if you don't have fish filled dams you'd have to supply your bird's protein needs separately. Mine managed fine and were in great health, after we recuperated them from the state they were in when we got them.

I had five acres they could use with a dam filled with fish, which they loved, but they insisted on living in the house yard, bullying the chooks, etc, and then didn't cope with losing family members frequently. Inconvenient livestock. If I had a paddock they could have to themselves, I'd have geese, but I would use them primarily as grass refiners more than as meat birds. Geese were used to improve pastures by a lot of farmers, among their other uses.

Quote: Agree. It's worth looking into Sebastopol genetics. The issues with Sebastopols, crested ducks and frizzles mean I'm not interested in propagating any of those breeds, cute as they may be. Like the English bulldog, unfortunately, they need one of their main defining characteristics bred out to be what I'd consider a worthwhile genetic strain to be protected for future generations. We are the genetic stewards of our times. There's a responsibility. It doesn't apply to their worthiness as pets, or whatever, that's individual choice and I wish everyone the joy of their animals.

 

[Ultra]

Geese don't eat fish. You sure they were geese?

 

[chooks4life]

Geese do eat fish. Yes, they were pilgrim geese. Kinda hard to mistake a goose, isn't it?

Geese raised on pellets and artificial feeds without access to natural environments may lose the instinct, but yes, geese DO eat fish. That's like some chooks (and turkeys) no longer recognizing anything other than crumble or other chook's faces as food. They're still chooks. Human failure.

Perhaps your geese don't eat fish because they don't have access to a dam?

 

[chooks4life]

Since geese come from different lines and there are wide variances in the breeds it would help to know what sort yours are. Also I would recommend you check their pellets/ration and see whether or not you are in fact feeding them meat. After all babies and breeders need more protein and in the wild nobody is giving them meatmeal pellets or starter or 'Flockraiser' or 'layena' and I would be surprised if your feeds are only vegetarian.

Mine fished one of our dams almost empty during the breeding seasons; they fish with their tail and legs sticking out and all the rest submerged, and swallow fish wider than their own heads. Also different countries have different recommendations for the same animals. While I don't follow the teachings of feeding geese meats their wild ancestors would not have eaten, for example other birds or ruminant byproducts, here's some basic feed tables from my country:

Quote:
They recommend poultry layer but I refuse to even use that for poultry. Geese who received natural raw protein have sweeter, healthier flesh. I've eaten geese fed on pellets containing meatmeal and geese I raised which ate fish whenever they felt like it, and there is enough of a difference for me to not even consider pellet fed animals.

Quote:
Quote:

 

[Miss Lydia]

Since geese come from different lines and there are wide variances in the breeds it would help to know what sort yours are. Also I would recommend you check their pellets/ration and see whether or not you are in fact feeding them meat. After all babies and breeders need more protein and in the wild nobody is giving them meatmeal pellets or starter or 'Flockraiser' or 'layena' and I would be surprised if your feeds are only vegetarian.

Mine fished one of our dams almost empty during the breeding seasons; they fish with their tail and legs sticking out and all the rest submerged, and swallow fish wider than their own heads. Also different countries have different recommendations for the same animals. While I don't follow the teachings of feeding geese meats their wild ancestors would not have eaten, for example other birds or ruminant byproducts, here's some basic feed tables from my country:


They recommend poultry layer but I refuse to even use that for poultry. Geese who received natural raw protein have sweeter, healthier flesh. I've eaten geese fed on pellets containing meatmeal and geese I raised which ate fish whenever they felt like it, and there is enough of a difference for me to not even consider pellet fed animals.

Just a note here but I'm pretty sure all livestock feed here in America is free of meat because of the mad cow disease. I know poultry feed doesn't have it. those that make up their own feed some do add fish meal.

 

[Ultra]

Geese do not need to eat meat in order to get protein. Flock Raiser and Layena use 100% plant protein, no animal products at all, same as all commercial poultry feed.

Quote:
Like I said, commercial feed uses plant protein and are strictly vegetarian. Plants have protein, and herbivores the world over seem to do just fine without preying on other animals.

I raise Embdens, Americans, Africans, and Chinese geese. None of them fish in my pond, they leave the fishing to the ducks. They dive with their feet in the air to eat aquatic plants. Suggesting that a person needs fish, or some other animal product, to raise healthy geese is just fallacious.