Is a guard goose worth it?

[arkiechick lady]

I could see a gaggle of geese, chasing off raccoons/mink/possum maybe a fox. They are definitely good alarm systems like roosters but do little as far as protection of other birds like chickens/ducks. I believe a member on here has a large flock of geese and one or two succumb to owls each year.

The noise from the geese I think is what keeps them protected. The Lavender Orpingtons tend to stick close to the gaggle. That roo has the most girls. The other 2 breeds like the forest edge.
Once the gaggle matured our predator loss diminished greatly. I’m not saying the geese protect them. Just acknowledging that their presence is a force that keeps the farm protected along with others such as armed farm owners
We take every help we can get!

 

[Miss Lydia]

My experience with my 2 geese, gander and goose and predator. I heard my rooster sounding the alarm on fine spring day ran outside because he kept it up. Only to see my 2 Geese and all my ducks piled up next to the fence going into my back yard. As I came out of the coop where my rooster was hysterical [only way to describe it] I looked up in time to see a huge Red tail hawk fly over the goose house right here at my house. My geese and ducks were so scared. My chickens were hiding any place they could get under. I walked out in front of the goose house and there was my bantam hen dead. I guess I scared the hawk off from eating her or carrying her off. And believe me she was big enough to carry off that little cochin bantam. Maybe it's just my geese but there is no way they were protecting anything that day but themselves.

 

[Trisseh]

I’m sure the dynamic with my guys would be a lot different with another goose or 2, for sure. She gets along great with the ducks but I don’t doubt she would ditch them in a heartbeat if she had another goose friend to go do goose-y things with! Haha. And I certainly don’t think she would be any physical protection for them, or herself for that matter, no matter how much bluster she shows. She’s just a really awesome early warning system.

 

[donkeydew2farms]

I have 16 geese and they are the alarm sounders . I have not lost any geese to a fox chicken and ducks yes. now my geese chase my dog and has bitten him Danny is the color of the fox . my worse predator is racoons . I lost 1 gosling to a coon. I hate them.

 

[Pyxis]

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I’m sure the dynamic with my guys would be a lot different with another goose or 2, for sure. She gets along great with the ducks but I don’t doubt she would ditch them in a heartbeat if she had another goose friend to go do goose-y things with! Haha. And I certainly don’t think she would be any physical protection for them, or herself for that matter, no matter how much bluster she shows. She’s just a really awesome early warning system.

You should definitely get another goose for her to do goosey things with, lol. They really are much happier with a friend of their own species. My geese still hang out with my ducks, even with there being five of them.



On the predator protection front, even with the geese, I've still lost birds to predators. A hark took a juvenile cochin rooster right in the run and then there eating him with the geese milling around trying to avoid it. This was during migration time, so the hawk was likely hungry and desperate. Probably if he wasn't, he wouldn't have chanced flying into the run with the geese, but it still happens.

For true protection, you'd need an LGD. Even my emus, which are great for protecting the birds from smaller predators like foxes and raccoons, and yes, hawks, wouldn't be able to protect from, say, a pack of coyotes. You really need an LGD for that type of thing.

 

[Trisseh]

You should definitely get another goose for her to do goosey things with, lol. They really are much happier with a friend of their own species. My geese still hang out with my ducks, even with there being five of them.



On the predator protection front, even with the geese, I've still lost birds to predators. A hark took a juvenile cochin rooster right in the run and then there eating him with the geese milling around trying to avoid it. This was during migration time, so the hawk was likely hungry and desperate. Probably if he wasn't, he wouldn't have chanced flying into the run with the geese, but it still happens.

For true protection, you'd need an LGD. Even my emus, which are great for protecting the birds from smaller predators like foxes and raccoons, and yes, hawks, wouldn't be able to protect from, say, a pack of coyotes. You really need an LGD for that type of thing.

How I would love to add more honkers to the group! My landlords, however, do not agree. Haha. They’re fine with more chickens and ducks, but they tolerate the goose because I told them she has a “guard dog” function. Otherwise they wouldn’t let me keep her. she’s been fine and doesn’t go after them, but she’s large and noisy and has taken an exception to one of them so the feeling is mutual between them. Haha.

 

[Gray Farms]

Geese are alarms at best. They are just as prone to be killed by a predator.

 

[BFen]

I don’t have any experience with keeping a goose with chickens, but I got my Toulouse as a 2 week old gosling when my ducklings were 3 weeks and she does a superb job with them. I doubt she would be of much help against larger predators but she sure puts the run on my poor dog, any cats that come in the yard, and the occasional visitor she decides she doesn’t like! She’s very watchful when birds fly over and will herd the ducks back to “safety” whether that’s back in their coop or under my truck, depending on what’s closer. Mainly she’s there to shepherd the ducks and alert me if there’s a problem. She’s super vocal as most of them seem to be. Since she’s only in with ducks at the moment and they have similar requirements for housing I haven’t had any issues on that side of things. On really cold mornings I often find her snuggled up in her straw bed with one duck tucked under her chin and the other sitting on her back.

Is she as loud as a rooster? I keep debating getting one but I dont want my neighbors to complain.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Females have a deeper voice than ganders but they can be loud if you live close to others.

 

[BFen]

Females have a deeper voice than ganders but they can be loud if you live close to others.

Okay thanks! There's about 100 feet from my coop to my neighbors house. Do geese ever start hooking in the middle of the night?