Raising chicks and geese together

[flygirl1973]

I wil be raising my first flock of Australorps and was going to get a goose as well. Poultry Hollow suggested getting more than one goose as they would ....not be ideal otherwise. Anyway, either way if I get one or two, the chances of me getting both chicks and goslings the same age are fairly unlikely so should I get the goslings younger since they grow faster? Should I feed them the same starter rations? I have read the threads regarding training your dogs and hope to integrate them slowly with introductions but I also hope the geese will steer off the dogs as they grow. But my main question is about feeding and growing them together. First flock, I’ve read how long it should take before my chicks go outside, but I’m assuming the goslings are a different matter? Also my current option of geese are Brown Chinese, Embed, African and Toulouse, any suggestions? We have a lot of land and overhead predators...

 

[R2elk]

I wil be raising my first flock of Australorps and was going to get a goose as well. Poultry Hollow suggested getting more than one goose as they would ....not be ideal otherwise. Anyway, either way if I get one or two, the chances of me getting both chicks and goslings the same age are fairly unlikely so should I get the goslings younger since they grow faster? Should I feed them the same starter rations? I have read the threads regarding training your dogs and hope to integrate them slowly with introductions but I also hope the geese will steer off the dogs as they grow. But my main question is about feeding and growing them together. First flock, I’ve read how long it should take before my chicks go outside, but I’m assuming the goslings are a different matter? Also my current option of geese are Brown Chinese, Embden, African and Toulouse, any suggestions? We have a lot of land and overhead predators...

Reasons Why You Shouldn't Keep Just One Goose

Goslings and chicks have different nutrition requirements. Proper feed for goslings is not harmful for chicks but chick starter can be harmful to goslings because it does not contain the needed niacin among other things. Chicks do better in a dry environment while goslings can make having a dry environment very difficult.

Goslings like chicks need to be acclimated to the ambient temperature and fully feathered before going outside.

 

[flygirl1973]

As I do more research on goslings it appears I need to raise them separately due to nutrition, water and growth levels? I just searched tractor supply for chick feed easy enough but seem to have difficulty finding the water fowl version. Also they say to let them graze so I can do that for them easily enough, but to be clear do I have to wait for feathers or just minimize the time to maybe 10 min or so while it’s still cool out. Is the brooder temp the same for geese? Haven’t come across that today and I’ve now been reading for hours!

 

[flygirl1973]

And my husband says “just go get em”.

 

[Gray Farms]

Don't get just one, geese don't do well by themselves. And don't raise them together due to nutritional requirements and geese make such a mess. Also goslings will chew on the chicks feathers mercilessly.

 

[R2elk]

As I do more research on goslings it appears I need to raise them separately due to nutrition, water and growth levels? I just searched tractor supply for chick feed easy enough but seem to have difficulty finding the water fowl version. Also they say to let them graze so I can do that for them easily enough, but to be clear do I have to wait for feathers or just minimize the time to maybe 10 min or so while it’s still cool out. Is the brooder temp the same for geese? Haven’t come across that today and I’ve now been reading for hours!

Apparently TSC does not carry proper waterfowl feed anymore. They do carry Purina and Purina does make duck food. Your local TSC should be able to order the proper Purina feed for you. You may want to get it ordered well in advance of when you are going to need it.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/feeding-geese.357678/#post-4348986

 

[Miss Lydia]

I don't know if you have read this yet but might get a bit more information.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/category/geese.31/

 

[flygirl1973]

Nope, hadn’t seen that one. Not sure how I missed it. I think I just kept going down different rabbit holes and you forget what you were looking for in the first place. Thank you!

 

[flygirl1973]

Ok I lied, I had read the caring for goslings article. I didn’t remember the brood temperature being in there and I believe it was one of the rabbit holes I went down before I knew the hatchery had geese available? There is soooo much information available!!! I wish we
Could bookmark certain articles? There a way to do that on this site per user?

 

[R2elk]

Ok I lied, I had read the caring for goslings article. I didn’t remember the brood temperature being in there and I believe it was one of the rabbit holes I went down before I knew the hatchery had geese available? There is soooo much information available!!! I wish we
Could bookmark certain articles? There a way to do that on this site per user?

The Bookmark option is only available to those that have a PFM.

For things that I want to be able to find again, I copy the URL and paste it into a WordPad file that I store in MyDocuments folder. I usually type a brief description of what it is followed by the URL.