Sebastopol Gander

[DucksinOR]

We have had three different kinds of poultry and are looking into getting some geese. We are hoping to just get two girl Sebastopol goslings, but all of the breeders nearby don't sell just girls. We have had roosters, drakes, and toms, and we have had trouble with all of them being hard on the girls. (One of our toms tried to mate with a duck hen)
Do ganders get along with other poultry? We currently have ducks (13 hens, 1 bantam drake) and chickens (26 hens). Has anyone had problems with their ganders mixing with their other poultry?

 

[livininbrazil]

We have had three different kinds of poultry and are looking into getting some geese. We are hoping to just get two girl Sebastopol goslings, but all of the breeders nearby don't sell just girls. We have had roosters, drakes, and toms, and we have had trouble with all of them being hard on the girls. (One of our toms tried to mate with a duck hen)
Do ganders get along with other poultry? We currently have ducks (13 hens, 1 bantam drake) and chickens (26 hens). Has anyone had problems with their ganders mixing with their other poultry?

Hi Ducks. It depends what you want geese for. If it´s just to look p´retty you may be able to find a couple of older females past the breeding stage, that just want a good home. Also, try looking on the Buy sell thread on here. Two female geese will be much easier to deal with, and I´m sure you could find them somewhere, it may just take you a while.

People don´t like to sell just females, as they´ll be left with more ganders than they want. Having said that, it all depends on the hatch. For instance, I have a family here that hatched 11 goslings, only 4 of them are male, so that was good! It´s not normal, though!

As regards keeping a pair, I keep my geese (presently I have 28) with my chickens, and don´t have much problem with it, but then I have very mild geese and they have a lot of space so no-one gets cramped. Ganders can be whatsits at breeding time. often best to put the gander and goose in their own pen for the season if you don´t have a lot of space.

 

[DucksinOR]

That was kinda what I thought. We want to get goslings so we can hand raise them.

 

[livininbrazil]

That was kinda what I thought. We want to get goslings so we can hand raise them.

They´re a lot of work, but delightful if you have the time. I hand-raised my first ones, but since then, other than helping out a bit when a problem arose, I´ve left them with their parents, as they look so lovely in a family.
Well, just order what you fancy, then, and go from there...but do a lot of reading-up on these threads first so you can spot the possible problems early before they become a crisis. Enjoy your gozzies.