Newbie geese questions

[Waterfowler4]

I am looking for some advice!
My speciality is in ducks but unfortunately, I was super tired night and fell asleep without putting my ducks away, and woke up to all seven of them dead. I am super heartbroken over it as I love my ducks and am kicking myself for not waking up to go put them away. So I was thinking if I even wanted to get more ducks but then the idea of geese came into mind.
Do they seem to hold their own against predators compared to ducks? I am mostly good about putting them away at night but I slip up once and they're gone! I just don't know if I can take that heartbreak again.
Or I was also thinking I could get a couple of geese to be a predator watch if I ever got new ducks.
What have your experiences been with your geese? Are they pretty hardy?

I was thinking if I did get some, I would go for Buffs or Embdens as I heard they are the most social and friendly!
Thank you in advance, I would love to hear your opinions

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

My ducks and geese do not get along. Maybe if they were raised together, it would be a different story.

 

[Callender Girl]

I am very sorry about your ducks. It's especially hard when you failed to do something to keep them safe (I forgot to close a coop door one night and lost three of four hens).

As far as geese go, I have two American Buffs who are loose during the day with chickens and ducks. While they will "herd" the ducks, they rarely show any aggression to the group -although they will occasionally peck at a single, stray duck.

They have been extremely healthy, don't seem to mind any kind of weather and are fairly pleasant most of the time. Gussie will allow me to pick her up; Golly is not a fan of being carried and will smack me if I allow a loose wing.

Do I think they make good protectors for the flocks? Not at all. Gussie and Golly are likely to tell me if someone pulls off the road and into the driveway, but I think that's more about them and their comfort. I don't think they would care if visitors loaded the other birds into a car and drove them away.

I did not have the geese at the time of the mink attack on my chicken coop. But they pay no attention to the feral cat who lives in the barn, and didn't seem to care when an opossum was hanging out in the duck shelter.

My girls are too self-centered to care about "saving" other critters. Having said that, however, I ADORE them. I think EVERYONE should have geese. They are beautiful, entertaining and lay amazing eggs.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

What kind of predator killed your ducks?

If your goal is to have a type of waterfowl that doesn't need to be secured at night, geese would not be the right choice. I have a large gaggle and I secure them nightly in a coop because there are myriad predators where I live. While geese might not be as attractive as ducks are to smaller predators (like hawks, foxes, raccoons, opossums, etc.), larger predators pose a risk to them, and many of those are active at night.

If you utilize a coop for your waterfowl, you may want to consider something like an automatic door system.

 

[3xhhheather]

Gussie and Golly are likely to tell me if someone pulls off the road and into the driveway, but I think that's more about them and their comfort. I don't think they would care if visitors loaded the other birds into a car and drove them away.

Yep, beware the boogie man aka the Amazon truck those geese holler up a storm when that truck rolls in

 

[Waterfowler4]

I am very sorry about your ducks. It's especially hard when you failed to do something to keep them safe (I forgot to close a coop door one night and lost three of four hens).

As far as geese go, I have two American Buffs who are loose during the day with chickens and ducks. While they will "herd" the ducks, they rarely show any aggression to the group -although they will occasionally peck at a single, stray duck.

They have been extremely healthy, don't seem to mind any kind of weather and are fairly pleasant most of the time. Gussie will allow me to pick her up; Golly is not a fan of being carried and will smack me if I allow a loose wing.

Do I think they make good protectors for the flocks? Not at all. Gussie and Golly are likely to tell me if someone pulls off the road and into the driveway, but I think that's more about them and their comfort. I don't think they would care if visitors loaded the other birds into a car and drove them away.

I did not have the geese at the time of the mink attack on my chicken coop. But they pay no attention to the feral cat who lives in the barn, and didn't seem to care when an opossum was hanging out in the duck shelter.

My girls are too self-centered to care about "saving" other critters. Having said that, however, I ADORE them. I think EVERYONE should have geese. They are beautiful, entertaining and lay amazing eggs.

Thank you so much! Haha it sounds like they have quite the personalities!

 

[Waterfowler4]

What kind of predator killed your ducks?

If your goal is to have a type of waterfowl that doesn't need to be secured at night, geese would not be the right choice. I have a large gaggle and I secure them nightly in a coop because there are myriad predators where I live. While geese might not be as attractive as ducks are to smaller predators (like hawks, foxes, raccoons, opossums, etc.), larger predators pose a risk to them, and many of those are active at night.

If you utilize a coop for your waterfowl, you may want to consider something like an automatic door system.

It was a mink, unfortunately.

And no I will for sure still be locking them up at night, I was just hoping for something a little less delicate than ducks in case something happens like that again (though now I will never fall asleep on the couch again!). And I've tried automatic doors before for my chickens but one night it got jammed and boom, half the flock dead. It was horrible! So I do prefer to go out to put them away, especially since my ducks didn't consistently put themself away every night and I had to herd them in. Luckily raccoons are the largest land predator that I have to worry about here so it might be worth a shot.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[AGeese]

What type of automatic door was it? Some work better than others for different reasons. From what I gather from others and some limited first had experience, I would say Chinese, Giant (Super) African Dewlap, and the Tula Fighting Goose (if you can find them), otherwise Embdens.