Sebastopol geese info?

[DuckLover179]

I might be getting some, and I have a few questions:

Can they imprint on you like ducks do? If so, is it good for them so they won't be aggressive?

Can I feed them Purina flock raiser?

Can they eat out of your hand?

How big should their enclosure be?

Is 1 male, and 1 female okay? Or would they over mate???

Any other tips???

(Sorry for all the questions, but at this point I have no idea what I might be getting into!)

Thanks!

 

[Cottage Rose]

I have a tip page on my website on raising geese that you might find helpful.
Best wishes! I'm sure you'll love them.

 

[newgoosegirl]

My pilgrim imprinted on me when she was a baby, and now we have a sebastopol gosling who was imprinted on people before we got her. Very cute! I've noticed my goose is a whole lot more independent than my duck was, though that may be because I only had my duck 6 months. At 2 years old she doesn't follow me around at all (except when she wants something), but she's very sweet. I've heard that if you don't spend time with your geese, they'll be mean to you and it certainly makes sense.

Sticky has always eaten out of my hand, and she turned out fine, not overly mouthy or anything.

I think a lot of people keep geese in pairs, so a goose and a gander should be fine.

Hope that was helpful.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

I have a male and a female sebastopol who are about a year old now. They are do imprint, in fact they imprinted on us better than our pekins. That may be because we raised 8 pekins at once. With many birds, it seems the smaller the number you raise at once, the stronger the human bond. I was told that a male and female raised together might see each other as siblings and be less likely to mate. That is different than ducks, our two female pekins did get too much attention from the six males, and we had to separate them.

Geese do love to nibble, but the sebastopols don't bite. Mine eat out of my hand. They are less likely that my pilgrim goose to accidentally chomp your finger when exited about the treat.

They can eat the same thing as your pekins. As goslings of course they need something with higher protein. It helps to have some grit, too.

My geese coexist with my ducks, but they might chase them around some.

As far as the enclosure, try to give them an enclosure as big as you can. They poop a lot and they like to move around and splash their water just like ducks but more so. You rarely hear people say, " I wish I had put them in a smaller enclosure" So maybe 30% larger than the one for your pekins if you think they are happy with the size.

 

[DuckLover179]

Alright, thanks! Can anyone tell me how big they will get? Will they get way bigger than my pekins???

 

[scratch'n'peck]

the ganders are around 12 - 14 lbs. they are not way bigger