Needing info on how to raise a goose and their needs.

[algopurple]

I have never been around a goose and know nothing about them. I have had chickens most of my life and am wondering how different they are. I would like to get a goose or 2 for the eggs but be for I get one, I need to know if it is what I want to be getting into or maybe it would be easier to just buy eggs from someone. Any advice would be helpful.
Thanks

 

[chseeads]

If you can raise a chicken, you can raise a goose.

They're not any "harder" to raise, in my opinion.

 

[protodon]

Quote:
I think the kind of goose you get, determines whether having geese is something you want to get into. For eggs, white chinese are the best but some people say they are aggressive. They are also the loudest of the geese. I have no problems with aggression in mine although I have no ganders. If you are only looking for eggs a couple times a week or less you could go with any other breed of goose. I am not sure what temperament so of other breeds of geese are. I'm sure people with other breeds will know.

They are very hardy animals though. They keep your grass short and they don't make holes in your lawn like ducks, at least mine don't. One thing about geese, or ducks, is once they are all feathered out your don't have to worry about them getting wet. They can just stand out in the rain and snow all day. Whereas I feel like i have to chase my chickens under some cover because they will get dripping wet in the freezing rain and I'm pretty sure it can't be good for them although I have never lost one due to that.

 

[farmerlor]

The only real difference between chickens and geese is that geese are louder and messier but you'll love them all the more for it. They're super-super cute for about two days when they're babies and they outgrow it. Then they're at that awkward sorta ugly stage forever and at this point they get really noisy and REALLY messy. Man, you will be cleaning up after these guys day and night. One tip: when they get old enough leave their water outside so they don't make the coop a bathtub. While they're in the awkward teenager stage you're going to ask yourself why the heck you decided to raise geese and you may want to get rid of them. Don't do it. If you can live through it one day you'll walk outside and you'll have full grown, fully feathered, beautiful geese who raise eight foot of wing span to keep predators away, keep the whole area looking as if it was newly mown and have wonderful personalities if they've been handled and socialized with people enough. I've got Buffs and I can't tell you how much I love these birds and how close I was to ditching them at a couple of different times.

 

[algopurple]

Thank you for the responses everyone.
Do geese require alot of water like ducks? I have no pond and not interested in keeping a blow up kid pool filled with water during the summer time. Do they mix well with chickens?

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
What do you want the eggs for hatching, eating, or crafts? I ask because I used to sell goose eggs for crafts. Sold them blown or unblown. My blown eggs were popular because of a special technique that I developed resulting in one tiny hole that could be anywhere on the egg that the crafter could identify while ordering. Goose eggs vary in size and shape (to a small extent) Large goose eggs are usually more expensive than smaller eggs because they come from larger breeds of geese
Eating eggs the smaller ones are usually more desired. You may want to make clear what kind of goose egg you want to get the most good advise.

 

[CMV]

Geese are seasonal layers, only laying from about Feb.-Jun. They do not require large amounts of water and a kiddie pool should suffice. Some do not mix well with smaller birds. I have had to keep mine separate from my chickens altogether. I raised up a group of goslings and ducklings together, but am seriously contemplating separating them because the geese keep attacking one duck. I took the biggest bullies out, but the bullies were just replaced by other bullies so...not going well.

Geese are very fun as babies, but challenging as adults. The noise is considerable in most breeds. Aggression is pretty common in some breeds. I honestly would not get geese again without some serious consideration. They have their good points, but they also have a lot of bad points, too.

Good luck.

 

[chseeads]

I keep my geese with all my other birds - chickens, etc. They do alright with them. The geese are bossy to everything else though, most particularly toward the ducks though.

They love large amounts of water, but they don't HAVE to have it..... Mine do most of their bathing in three gallon rubber hog pans. It's good to give them a bucket they can dip their heads in too.

A note on that, when they are babies, they tend to get sticky eyes sometimes if they can't submerge their heads on a relatively regular basis. If they do get sticky eyes, if you let them bathe, it usually clears up just fine shortly.

 

[algopurple]

Quote:
What do you want the eggs for hatching, eating, or crafts? I ask because I used to sell goose eggs for crafts. Sold them blown or unblown. My blown eggs were popular because of a special technique that I developed resulting in one tiny hole that could be anywhere on the egg that the crafter could identify while ordering. Goose eggs vary in size and shape (to a small extent) Large goose eggs are usually more expensive than smaller eggs because they come from larger breeds of geese
Eating eggs the smaller ones are usually more desired. You may want to make clear what kind of goose egg you want to get the most good advise.

I have started decorating and selling my chicken eggs with rub ons but some of the rub ons are so big they would not fit. The pictures I have seen of goose eggs decorated are really pretty. I have tried to get eggs from ebay but they are expensive. This is way I am considering getting geese but from what I have been reading here I am starting to think it is not worth it. They seem like alot of trouble and aggressive birds have no place here with my 2 year old.

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
What do you want the eggs for hatching, eating, or crafts? I ask because I used to sell goose eggs for crafts. Sold them blown or unblown. My blown eggs were popular because of a special technique that I developed resulting in one tiny hole that could be anywhere on the egg that the crafter could identify while ordering. Goose eggs vary in size and shape (to a small extent) Large goose eggs are usually more expensive than smaller eggs because they come from larger breeds of geese
Eating eggs the smaller ones are usually more desired. You may want to make clear what kind of goose egg you want to get the most good advise.

I have started decorating and selling my chicken eggs with rub ons but some of the rub ons are so big they would not fit. The pictures I have seen of goose eggs decorated are really pretty. I have tried to get eggs from ebay but they are expensive. This is way I am considering getting geese but from what I have been reading here I am starting to think it is not worth it. They seem like alot of trouble and aggressive birds have no place here with my 2 year old.

I agree geese are not a good fit with a 2 year old!
If you want to buy goose eggs for crafts The following is the bigest supplier: http://www.roastgoose.com/egg_craft.htm It will give you some ideal of what is available and the top price you should consider. (I used to sub out some of my eggs to them and they paid me about 1/2 of what they sell them for. If you are truly artistic You should look into "Pysanka" the traditional middle european method of doing Easter Eggs. If rub ons are the limit of your talents look on the same sites for "sleeves" they slide on over the eggs with pre printed designs and are then heat shrunk to fit tightly. As far as I know they only come in chicken egg sizes. Good Luck with your crafting!