My new goose

[DucksAndGardens]

So now that I'm reading over threads I'm kind of kicking myself for listening to the guy at the feedstore and buying a gosling but I can't take her back so I guess I'm stuck with her.


I have some ducklings and the feedstore guy told me he uses geese to protect his flock from people and alert him if a predator comes around. He said the goose will bite the kids and honk really loudly if they are bothered. So I bought a gosling to raise with my ducklings. So far they get along as the gosling is smaller than the ducklings. Although the larger ducklings will sometimes pick on her so she's housed with a smaller duckling when I'm not around and they get on ok. But now I'm reading that geese will actually pick on and kill ducks.

Is this true even if they've been raised together?

 

[jtn42248]

So now that I'm reading over threads I'm kind of kicking myself for listening to the guy at the feedstore and buying a gosling but I can't take her back so I guess I'm stuck with her.


I have some ducklings and the feedstore guy told me he uses geese to protect his flock from people and alert him if a predator comes around. He said the goose will bite the kids and honk really loudly if they are bothered. So I bought a gosling to raise with my ducklings. So far they get along as the gosling is smaller than the ducklings. Although the larger ducklings will sometimes pick on her so she's housed with a smaller duckling when I'm not around and they get on ok. But now I'm reading that geese will actually pick on and kill ducks.

Is this true even if they've been raised together?

I hate to be so simplistic about it but it really depends, in the end, on the goose. Geese are amazingly intelligent and will attempt to figure things out. Some geese learn to live with other types of birds quite comfortably and some develop very strong distrust for anything not goose. It is pretty unlikely that a goose is going to do anything as unnatural as to become a guard "dog" for another type of bird. Rather, it is in the nature of most geese to sound an alarm whenever there is something out of the ordinary in the vicinity. You, or your dogs, hear this honking and respond by checking to see that everything is alright. The goose gets all the credit for being a great protector when, in fact, they are not. The are creatures of habit and get agitated whenever the habit is broken or interrupted by something.

My geese were raised with my ducks and chickens. When they were about 6 or 8 months old they began to become very aggressive toward anything except the goose "family". This got so bad that I had to build them their own house with run and access to a field to forage in. Even now, when they get the opportunity, they rush the fence to challenge the chickens and ducks.

So, my suggestion, is to continue doing what you are doing. Keep a very watchful eye out for any changes in behavior in any of your birds and respond accordingly. Be prepared to seperate your birds if needed. Hopefully you won't need to do that and everyone can live together in peace.

Best of luck.

 

[DucksAndGardens]

Ok. Hopefully they will all get along. I will keep an eye out. If I have to I can set up a separate grazing area next to the ducks so she will still sound off if something comes near. And I don't expect her to drive off predators, just really alert us to if there's something not right. I did however make up a sign that says "Attack Goose" and post it so people won't come in the Yard. Of course she's knee high to a grasshopper at the moment so it's not like she's going to rip off people's arms.

 

[jtn42248]

Ok. Hopefully they will all get along. I will keep an eye out. If I have to I can set up a separate grazing area next to the ducks so she will still sound off if something comes near. And I don't expect her to drive off predators, just really alert us to if there's something not right. I did however make up a sign that says "Attack Goose" and post it so people won't come in the Yard. Of course she's knee high to a grasshopper at the moment so it's not like she's going to rip off people's arms.

Hey, someone could see the sign, then see the goose. Fall over crippled with laughter and give you time to get outside and hog tie them until the authorities arrive. Stranger things have happened.

 

[action jackson]

Gotta raise her right they are just as smart as dogs and goose eggs make one heck of a cake I own mr.jackson and I love my gander so much he's 3 now not a mean bone in his body

 

[action jackson]

Except if he dosent know the person he can be quite protective of his space if you grow her up around ducks chances are she's gonna think she's a duck ...seen it a million times if you stick a goose egg under a duck when broody the duck will hatch it out and think it's one of her own

 

[action jackson]

See he's in my lap in this one

 

[Miss Lydia]

Ok. Hopefully they will all get along. I will keep an eye out. If I have to I can set up a separate grazing area next to the ducks so she will still sound off if something comes near. And I don't expect her to drive off predators, just really alert us to if there's something not right. I did however make up a sign that says "Attack Goose" and post it so people won't come in the Yard. Of course she's knee high to a grasshopper at the moment so it's not like she's going to rip off people's arms.

When my gander was a lone gosling/goose amongst Muscovy ducks he got along great with them except for the drake, but he loved the ducks even the ducklings once he was an adult, once i Introduced other geese is when his attitude changed. So hopefully your gosling will grow up and be happy with it's flock [if a gander he will mate with your female ducks mine did and no one was injured either. ]

 

[DucksAndGardens]

Well the feedstore said all the goslings were females and I chose the darkest one of the bunch since they are Embden geese and I know they can be somewhat sexed by coloration. So far she has her duck friend because she's in with my little runt duck that gets trampled by the rest of my unruly mob. They get grazing time together supervised with the whole flock and supervised swim time with the flock so that they are still part of the gang but just separate when I can't be around. My ducklings are 4 weeks old but my runt is the size of a two week old duckling. So far Piper got picked on a little by one of my drakes but I had a talk with him beak to nose and he has stopped being a bully. She loves to follow me or the dog around and I've been taking her for short walks over to the neighbor's house so she can get to know them. They think she's adorable. She will hop right up on their hand when the hold their hand out.