Oh no I lost the love!Can you all help?

[cat1994]

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You are so right. I did do researching about how to care for the geese but not about them being such a pain, plush it does not help that the rest of my family hates them!

 

[cat1994]

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Thanks so much you were so right about the stories bringing my love for geese out. Even if my geese can be pains sometimes, other times they are beautiful to see and a lil loveing to me. Just today one of my boys let me pet him and the lil goose fallowed me around just like when she was a baby. Thanks everyone for your help! I do love my geese after all, I just needed you guys to remind me!!

 

[deerman]

I have a single goose, got rid of others i hatched. No way would i get rid of my last one, she thinks I am her mate. She follows me every where around the place. Seen her chase off cooper hawk trying to get in my peachick pen. She has free range of my place.

She will even lay a nest in the spring, and try to get me to take a turn on the eggs, really fun to watch. I get near her nest. Most geese would peck at you. She necks with my arm ,then get up to get something to eat. Leaves the eggs uncover like I will take her place.


If you get rid of them , you should keep the one that follows you around. You will be glad you did.

 

[sianara]

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What breed were they? Male & Female?

 

[sillysister74]

I will trade you for a refrigerator climbing, laptop typing, nocturnal playing, attack cat.

 

[sred98]

I lost my geese to a big cat attack. I had thought when they died that I wouldn't replace them. They are loud, messy, and unpredictable. However, when I would go outside to do chores, it was so quiet! Too quiet!!

I got so used to the geese coming up and telling me everything that had happened since I had been outside 20 minutes earlier, that I was lonely! Everyone complained about the noise, but they were so social! I ended up getting a trio of adults. They weren't friendly, but they are coming around. One of them even wants to sit next to me with my arm around her.

I wouldn't want more than 2-3 in the yard, but I will always have geese!

Shelly

 

[The goose girl]

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What breed were they? Male & Female?

They were an Embden mix, supposedly with some Faroese Goose in them. I think they were a pair - they sure acted like one. The gander was the one most likely to chase cars when we went for walks, and he would always be the instigator of attacks on strangers (i.e., anyone but me.)

I got them when they were only about 2 weeks old, but they were not imprinted on humans at all. They grew to tolerate and follow me - mainly because they loved to be taken on walks, I'm guessing - but they viciously attacked anything else moving. And they shredded my privet hedge; none of the other geese did that.

 

[Truffle]

I kinda know what you mean.. I bought a pair of Chinese this summer..They were so cute.

..I raised them in a 5x5 pen in my house.. then only at night until a place was made out in the yard. They shared a fenced in area with my chickens. Then they began biting my grandchildren and then me...the hand that feeds them! How dare they! I used to like to hold them on my lap...but now they get nasty and try to bite me all the time.. If I'm out there they will follow me and appear to be nice then all of a sudden Gideon will grab my leg and flap his wings at me. It's really cold out there right now where I live in upstate NY. I'm having a time watching them bathe in the small pool I keep open for them. I was told it's OK for them to do this... but I see them shaking sometimes and I wonder... maybe it is too cold for them. I don't honestly know. At night I put them in a closed shelter with a hay floor. I keep a 15 watt light on for them.[I don't really know if this is necessary] The water I put in there with them to drink is frozen solid in the AM. Then in the AM I let them out into the yard.... where they will look for grass[ there's barely any left] I give them cracked corn ...also chopped lettuce with apples. As of yet they won't eat pellets. I wish I knew how much was sufficient for them. This is all a lot of mental exhaustion!

I don't know!

 

[ChickenHwk]

If there is one goose that I would recommend it would probably be sebastopols... I have never had a single one attack me and I don't know anyone that has sebastopols that doesn't like them. Yes they can be expensive, but they will quickly recoupe expenses when breeding season comes around (that is if you have some good quality birds).

Geese are very smart birds... if they start to see you as a threat they will turn on the hand that feeds them, even if that "hand" had a hand in raising them. If you are having problems with your geese try putting them in an enclosure and sitting down with them for 20 min to an hour a day. They should start to accept you as "one of the group" rather than a threat. Do NOT feed them by hand... If Geese become accustome to eating out of your hands they will naturally start trying to bite you because they want food and see your hand as a way to get what they want... You can pet them but don't pet their heads because they will see your hand which to them "means food," and will start to bite. I would also try to feeding them right next to you. Try sitting down (in the inclosure) and feeding them in front of you this may also make them believe that you are part of the flock. If you have more than five geese you may need to seperate them into smaller groups for these steps to work.

Just try these couple techniques and see how they work. Geese learn very quickly and if you give them the time and effort you may see some good results.

Whatever you do... Do NOT "bite them back" so to speak... geese have pretty good memories, they will remember if you have ever done something that they didn't like.

Good Luck!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I would never sit down where my gander could be close to my face, I was working on putting up some chicken wire to keep the smaller chickens from getting into the yard with the dogs when all of a sudden my gander [with the long neck] reached out and bit me on the upper lip, I have to say that really hurt and I looked like I had been in a fight and lost. It could have been worse though with that serated bill he could have taken the lip off. I still have him and love him all I'm saying if you have one that bites be careful.