Keeping two pairs together?

[Bellatrixed]

So I finally bit the bullet and ordered 4 geese -- a Buff pair and a Tufted Buff pair. But then I started wondering if there will be issues raising two pairs in the same area or not. Will the males fight if they are raised together and each has a female (they pair off naturally, right?)

They will have a nice acre of land to roam during the day and only be penned at night.

I could technically separate them if I had to, but I would really prefer to just let the 4 roam together. Any input is appreciated!

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

They will be fine all this year yes. Come next year when breeding season rolls around you could have one gander take both girls and major gander fights on your hands. Be ready with separate day pastures/yards and separate nighttime housing as well. Two ganders in a small space can injure or kill each other

 

[Bellatrixed]

Blah! I figured it might be alright since I kept reading that geese mate for life and pair off, and that geese are communal with all a flock's males helping to protect the babies and etc. I suppose I could always sell one of the ganders down the road, but I thought two pairs would be okay in a large area. While it is possible for me to build an entirely separate yard/house if I really need to, since I was trying to really streamline my setup it just seems like more hassle than it's worth for only 1 or 2 geese. Oh well... thanks for the reply.

It's disappointing since I was originally going to get 1 male and 3 females, but since Metzer only sells straight run or pairs (that I could figure out, anyway) I went with the pairs. It's weird because their site lists the price for sexed males/females but I went all the way through the ordering process without having an option to pick sexes.

 

[Iain Utah]

I don't think it will be a problem with an acre of space (although I wouldn't pen together in small space at night during breeding season). I have 16 pairs of geese, separated in different areas ranging from single pairs to groups of 8. I have 3 sets of boys I raised in pairs that are now seen milling around in groups of 4. Sure, there has been jockeying for alpha position, but nothing serious and once they figured it out, they all get along well.

 

[RURU]

As Celtic says they will be fine for this year but look out next breeding season. This will give you time to make seperate pens for night time to put each pair in and seperate runs for grazing. Plus they may not stay as the pairs
you want them to. So if you want the pairs to breed with each other pen the pairs you want together.

Like my sebastopols I do not want smooth to breed to smooth breasted and what do you think they do. Breed together. I have a female who I call my slut girl because she let's all the smooth breasted ganders breed
her.

So I have to seperate them if I do not want these breedings......

 

[Bellatrixed]

Thanks for the continuing advice guys, it really helps!

I should clarify that I have 5 acres and when I'm outside and able to supervise I intend to let them free range, but they will have a 1 acre (or so) yard to be penned in for the majority of the day. The goose house is going to be pretty roomy with an attached grazing pen. I don't think my barnyard setup is too conducive to multiple pens, but we'll see! If one male ends up being bullied, maybe only he will get a separate house. I did that with my Muscovies ages ago--one male got picked on like mad and had his own little house, but during the day when he could run he was fine with the others. Guess I'll just have to wait and see.

I'm not really in it for serious breeding, so I wasn't too bothered by the idea of the American & Tufted buffs interbreeding if they decide to pair that way... just out of curiousity, what would the babies be like from that pairing? I'm picturing a mix of no crests or small crests but I could be way off lol.

 

[RURU]

Since these geese are just going to be your pets then I guess your can let them free range together. But it is still a good idea when next year comes to maybe seperate them if they fight too much together. As far as the roman breeding with the the other one it will just make either non tuffted and the regular buff.
So as Iian says they should be ok together. Good luck with them and enjoy them........

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

I do suggest you takes RURU's years of advice with raising geese and multiple pairs at that. She speaks of logic and dealing with issues only found from having geese of breeding age for years.

geese are NOT monogamous in any way shape or form, they will breed with any available goose.

 

[Bellatrixed]

I was basing the mating for life/pairs thing off of what I had been reading on this forum, in goose books, and the internet for months before I decided to get them! I kept reading that they pick a "favorite" female and sometimes don't mate with the others, and that as long as each male had a female fighting might be kept to a minimum. Ah well, lol.

I do appreciate all the advice, I'm not discounting anything.

Just saying that since I don't plan to be a breeder (aside from maybe letting them have a clutch or two down the road) that it's not my priority to keep separate breeding pens. Keeping a male separate at night might be doable, but if they can't at least coexist during the day I'd be more likely to sell one of the boys.

Does Metzer sell individually sexed geese somewhere that I'm missing? Everyone says to buy them sexed from Metzers but I can only find pairs on their site. I basically just wanted a little flock of barnyard geese as pets/an alarm system for predators, and I really wanted Metzer geese since I keep reading such good things about them. I was originally going to buy 1 male and 3 females from Ideal, sort of wishing I had now lol.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

buy 1 pair now and not run the risk of issues down the road.