Lovers of Chinese geese... anyone..?

[HeartacheSweetheart]

I haven't had Chinese geese but I love geese in general.

 

[Hockey]

I haven't had Chinese geese but I love geese in general.

They are the best

 

[KLBoyer]

I have a 2 year old white Chinese gander who is lovely! We raised him in the house until he was too big and was constantly with us at some point, so that could easily be the reason why. Gets along fine with all our other birds and loves following us around the yard when we're out. Learned how to climb our stairs and will beg to come in for blueberries. Picky little thing loves them but won't eat much of most other fruits and vegetables. He'll even come swimming with us in the pool during the summer if we let him. I've never had any problems with him biting or anything, though he does really like nibbling hair, so you have to watch for that while he's sitting with you. He even started randomly giving hugs at some point. If you hold your arms out, he comes and wraps his neck around you for a few seconds. I don't know how he learned it. I will be the first to admit he's very loud though! He makes a lot of noise, not that I mind! Ive owned other Chinese geese in the past, a different gander and a goose, who also never gave me problems. Good luck with your geese!

 

[Poultrybonkers]

My pair is almost 11 years old and my two are not aggressive at all my goose sees me as a gander and my gander sees me as a goose so even during breeding my goose will nip me to mate with her then he hopes on and finishes lol prolly because her bite can hurt when she wants to be mated ive had mine since babies I over snuggled them as infants. The only time my gander was aggressive was when I got him more females but having three females biting him to mate i can see why he was angry so sold the extras kept my original female and all is well. They also uave a pair of pekin duck friends. My gander does hate two things...roosters he will grab and not let go and turkeys he prolly wanted to mate my turkey but she was way to large so he ripped her tail off

 

[IndigoSkies]

Soo. I did a thing and ordered some geese, my first, 4 Chinese and 2 African no gander as of yet.
The posts are very mixed about the Chinese and how they are just aggressive and not so nice. I would love to hear a difference of opinion if there is one out there.
I am pretty confident taking care of them, but just curious if I am setting my self for a nippy and painful entrance into goose owner. Thanks!

I have two females raised since babies. I have a pair of Buff geese I got as adults and I rehomes two males I got as adults.

My experience is that I adore my female Chinese geese. They are loud and nosey though. They are very sweet to my daughter and I and have never bitten anyone. If you have water on or are gardening they insist on honking and getting in the way.

They scare the crap out of most people though bc they are loud and menacing. However, in my experience it's posturing. My females even let me look on on their nest and don't hiss at me. All around sweet.

BUT I did have to show them who is boss at first. They are fine with dogs. But if a dog is afraid of them they go harder.

The males were batshit crazy. They never integrated and tried to bite everyone. Loud. Aggressive. Etc. They weren't raised by me though, but we couldn't deal after they began chasing my elderly neighbor.

My buff geese are less friendly, but sweet and quiet. The male is only a bit aggressive now that his wife is on a nest. I had to kick him once because I had ducklings in hand and he wouldn't back down from letting me in the barn. After I gave him a kick, he just accepted I was boss.

The Chinese males never ever got it. I read the post on here about dealing with them with pinning them down and it never got through. Not ever. They were just loud idiots. Really disappointing because our females are very sweet.

So to sum it up, I think they need a firm hand and socialization with people to be good pets. Especially males. It's probably like how a pitbull typically needs a more assertive person than a golden retriever. Id never get adult males again whereas the Buff geese took to things pretty quickly.

They are much louder and more vocal than American buff geese. They are incredibly beautiful and better layers than Buff geese too. Their eggs are delicious.

 

[BlasphemousKale]

I have three white Chinese, one gander. He is the most interesting bird I've ever owned lol. They are very loud, vary opinionated and I freaking love them. They sound the alarm whenever anything comes near the yard (we have daytime coyotes so this is very helpful). The male is very smart and will hold a grudge so don't ever be mean to them. He got feisty with me this spring and charged me, so I picked him up and lectured him that this is not how nice boys act until he calmed down. Hasn't done it since. He will also guard me against the aggressive roosters. I don't 100% trust him so I still do keep an eye on him, but he is such a sweet boy. I'm hatching goslings from them and I don't know how I'll be able to part with them.

 

[LadyoftheLandfill]

I ended up getting a handful of White Chinese goslings this year, hatchery choice. They were all super sweet towards the family, especially since we had their brooder in the kitchen and they got tons of attention early on. When they were about 3 months old (almost full size) they were still very sweet towards us, but the males especially were total jerks to the rest of the flock. I was going to hang on to one of the males a little longer to see how he turned out, but he was to much of a bully. We butchered the males and are keeping one of the females.

My year old Brown Chinese, though, is still a cool bird. He’s gotten pretty sassy since it’s the breed season and likes to challenge us, but he’s a big coward. He’ll stand his ground with me now, so I just wrap him in a big hug. He’s so indignant and offended, it’s hilarious!

My theory is that generally they would be great if they were the only birds or were kept separate from any other birds. They don’t seem to do as well integrated into a mixed flock. That would only be a general rule, though, since geese are highly individualistic.

 

[telandra2]

My theory is that generally they would be great if they were the only birds or were kept separate from any other birds. They don’t seem to do as well integrated into a mixed flock. That would only be a general rule, though, since geese are highly individualistic.

I adopted a pair of brown Chinese/African in November and the hen LOVES her duck friends. Perhaps its a side effect of their previous life, but where they ducks go she goes. The gaggle now totals 6 and they hang out with the ducks all day and the ducks follow the geese if the gaggle wanders off (I think they feel safer with their large cousins). Although everyone makes a huge ruckus when the drake gets pushy toward his harem - which this time of year is a lot. The girls are especially offended by the lack of duck-hen rights and get right in the drake's face.

 

[LadyoftheLandfill]

I adopted a pair of brown Chinese/African in November and the hen LOVES her duck friends. Perhaps its a side effect of their previous life, but where they ducks go she goes. The gaggle now totals 6 and they hang out with the ducks all day and the ducks follow the geese if the gaggle wanders off (I think they feel safer with their large cousins). Although everyone makes a huge ruckus when the drake gets pushy toward his harem - which this time of year is a lot. The girls are especially offended by the lack of duck-hen rights and get right in the drake's face.

They are so highly individualistic, general rules are often broken. My Brown Chinese is a sweetheart, too. Ours like to make a ruckus whenever there’s a mounting, maybe they think they need tips or encouragement?