Reasons Why You Shouldn't Keep Just One Goose

[motherhen11]

@Pyxis No it wasn't that they stop allerting. Just not the same if they have another goose to bond too. They will not bond to their human(s) and chickens in the same way with another goose as they would without. Therefore they are not as protective of the whole flock if they are with other geese. We did more research on the matter other than just talking to the 'vender'. We found and watched videos with other single goose owners vs multiple geese owners. Also watched a video with a guy who tried both scenarios: having more than one goose in with his chickens and then removing them and putting one. What a difference it made in the way of how the single goose reacted to predators flying over head, etc...vs how it was with another goose in the pen. They deffinetely weren't as aware of the danger as quick nor as protective of the chickens.

 

[Pyxis]

Please don't take this the wrong way, but the argument you seem to be presenting is that because keeping a goose alone with chickens might make it a better watchdog (and I would still argue that this isn't the case), it's okay to sacrifice its happiness to get the results that work better for that purpose.

I just don't agree with that.

 

[Pyxis]

I'm not sending you alerts. You're getting them because I'm replying to my own thread. You can unwatch my thread if you don't want to get further alerts on it.

 

[motherhen11]

@Pyxis
For now I will have to respectfully agree to disagree with you. A goose is happy with whom it can imprint on. It's a matter of opinion not an argument. You're probably giving accurate information that a goose 'might' be happier with another goose but they aren't unhappy with a human or chickens. Thank you for your input.

 

[motherhen11]

Sorry, Pyxis and thank you.

 

[motherhen11]

I think a point worth touching on @Pyxis is that we don't know what Metzer farms does or doesn't do or what experience they have with chickens and geese. We don't know if they have a flock of chickens at their home with a single goose or not. Or what other customers through the years have shared with them about their experience with keeping a goose with a flock of chickens.

@R2elk

One thing I'm not is naive. Someone brought up Metzer farms. I shared my experience about asking Metzer farms related questions to the topic of discussion in this thread. Once I saw a post telling me, Metzer Farms told me what I want to hear...that kind of insinuents that I may be naive. I then thought it was prudent to share how myself and my family did Research into having one goose and the videos we watched regarding this scenario.

We love our gander very much. He was shipped with a companion (a duck). The gander had a difficult start due to the stress of shipping...after delivery we were scared for the first couple of weeks or more that he wasn't going to make it. He made it past all of that. The one issue that he has is that he doesn't seem to see all that well. 'In our experience' so far on our gander being happy. He appears to be happy with us/the chickens. As he knows no other way.

 

[motherhen11]

@Pyxis to answer your question. Yes, a goose would probably be happier with another goose that acts and lives how they live. However, if they bond with chickens and or humans...this being the only way of life for them. They can be happy living this life-- not knowing any other way.

 

[Pyxis]

I definitely wasn't meaning to imply you were naive, and I apologize if it came off that way.

I guess I can't say for sure that they don't have a flock of chickens at their house with one goose guarding them, although my guess would be that they don't. But I do have experience with keeping one goose alone, and then multiple geese, and I can tell you with 100% certainty that they are happier as a flock than they are alone with another species.

I also still do not believe that a lone goose is a better guardian, again, from experience. My geese seem no less alert now than when I had just one. Now, they just can spread the watching duties out and take turns keeping an eye on things. I certainly haven't started losing more birds to predators since getting more geese.

In a flock, they can take turns and share the duties looking out for danger - one will take a turn, keeping an eye out, while the others graze and relax, and then another will take a turn so the one that was watching gets a break and some time off too. A lone goose has to do it all on its own, without getting a break. And it would have to be trying to watch every direction at once. And it's going to be more nervous because it has no help if things go south. So it would appear more alert than all the individuals in a flock will.

Plus, just the presence of more geese is likely to deter a predator from attacking. Where a fox might not hesitate to go after a flock with one goose in it, the presence of a bunch of geese could make it think twice. A hawk isn't going to want to take on a bunch of geese for a chicken dinner, etc.

I've also see the argument that they won't protect the chickens as well if they're raised with other geese because they imprinted on other geese and not chickens and therefore don't consider the chickens part of the flock. Well, you could always just raise a pair of goslings with chicks if that's a concern. They imprint on all their siblings, so they would imprint on the chicks too.

They really are intensely social flock animals. Before I got more geese for Lacie, I guess you could say she wasn't unhappy. She had food, and water to swim in, and she wasn't alone. But she wasn't a chicken or a duck. The chickens and ducks preferred their own kind to her. She wasn't excluded, but she wasn't particularly included either.

I knew she wasn't as happy as she could be. So since I wanted her to have the best life possible, I fixed the situation and got more geese. Now she has a flock that she's very bonded to, a mate that protects her, and is even a mother. And she's much happier. For geese to have the best life possible, they must have other geese to be with.

 

[casportpony]

Don't believe everything that a vendor tells you. He is in the business of selling and has no problem telling a prospective customer what he believes they want to hear.

As much as I like John Metzer and the folks that work there, they made no comments to me when I bought one poult and one duckling. I know now that I should have bought at least two of each. Sigh...

 

[CindyinSD]

It sounds like geese will be equally effective LGAs with two or three as with one... I’m wondering if they’ll be equally as friendly to humans (and little humans who occasionally visit)? I had read in several poultry magazines that one goose was preferable in an LGA role, and that an excellent choice for a friendly breed was a Buff, so I ordered a Buff gander from Running’s a few days ago.

The lady happened to be preparing the order when I came in, so there’s probably no adding anything to that particular shipment. I also ordered 4 BBW turkeys, all of whom are coming in time to share a brooder with 25 “Color Yield” broilers. (I suspect this variant is some mixture of Red Rangers and Dixie Rainbows, but they’re supposed to finish a week or so faster than the Rangers. Hopefully they’ll grow fast enough to avoid being trodden on by a gosling.)

I may be able to have Running’s poultry mistress get me a goose or two for the little gander, but they’d more likely come later and be relegated to sharing brooder space with heritage poults and assorted (full-size breed) chicks. With slower-growing heritage breed chicks in the brooder would that even work or would the gosling(s) need separate accommodations?

So, my questions are:

Will multiple geese bond with their humans as well as a single goose would?

Will multiple geese be more tempted to terrorize the occasional visiting grandchild?

Will the brooder arrangements I’ve described likely be a problem?

How many geese per gander would be a good number?

It may sound unkind, but I’m okay with the gander being happy while not as happy as he could possibly be in the best of worlds. We’re all of us in that boat. I don’t want to cause unhappiness, but contentment is also a great blessing.

All that said, I do see advantages to more than one goose... eggs, goslings, occasionally a holiday roast, redundancy, sustainability... My preference would be for a gander and the optimal number of lady geese, assuming they would fulfill their protectors/warning-givers role as well as a lone gander would do.

Thanks so much for reading such a long post from a newbie. I enjoyed reading this thread... lots of interesting info and discussion. I greatly appreciate any advice you all may want to share.