Questions about geese...

[Silkie Nut]

My family and I plan on moving soon, and would love to let our chickens free range during the day. My one worry is hawks. I've been interested in geese for awhile now and would love to have some once I have the right property space. Would a goose, (or two), protect my flock from the threat of hawks during the day? I know I would have to house them in their own coops/houses, but would they get along good free ranging together??? Any information would be awesome! Thank you!

 

[Silkie Nut]

Also, would female geese be better than male geese??? Will the males try to breed with my chickens???

 

[larkflying]

My geese don't really hang out with the chickens. They tolerate the chickens in a remote kind of way, but if a chicken was being attacked I doubt they would do anything about it. I keep them fenced in a large moveable area but if they were all free range, it is more likely that the geese would be off eating grass on one field and the chickens would be over in the other dust bathing.

We have a local bald eagle pair, many many hawks/falcons, and owls . . . haven't lost a bird but the geese are only a small part of that. I use my moveable fence and always include trees inside the fence for cover, I provide covered areas for the chickens to run to, I keep the geese as lawn mowers / large lawn ornaments that discourage flying predators, and I have roosters for the early warning calls -- they are better than the geese for alerting all the birds to danger. The geese will form a tight group and peer at the sky -- the chickens run for cover . . . the ducks will hang out with the geese sometimes or just clump together where ever they are. Our farm is also in the middle of hayfields and a river, slough, and seasonal ponds, with lots of other choices for dinner . . .

I've heard of male geese trying to breed with ducks. I think it has happened with chickens as well. Most places sell goslings in pairs, or as straight run, so you wouldn't really know what you would get. Or you could try to find a grown pair for sale locally -- in the fall many breeders have good quality geese available as mostly grown 6 month olds or so . . . With two females you won't have to worry about protective ganders during the breeding season - ganders are often more social than females though, so it would just be what you decided to go with. There are many breeds of geese / some more likely to be laid back and others more likely to be protective, so it is good you have time to research. The goose forum has lots of good information in the old threads -- I think there's even some about the chicken protection issue . . .

 

[Oregon Blues]

Geese will protect their nest and their goslings. That's it.

it's possible that small hawks might give your birds a pass because they are wary of the geese and don't know what they would do.

Golden Eagles and Great Horned Owls can easily kill geese. Bald eagles also are capable of killing geese, but don't seem to want to tackle them in flocks or on hard ground. They will take them off of water or out of the air. Just about every mammalian predator is capable of killing geese.

Your only sure fire protection from predators is covered runs.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

X3 what OB said.

We have geese, goats and live stock guard dogs and still had a hawk attack last year. Lost 1 chicken who didn't listen to the alerts.