Should I get a "guard goose"?

[ellend]

AGREED! Geese need mates!

 

[BecciB]

I drive school bus. Two mornings ago, I saw 3 geese and 2 ducks crossing the road together. Later that afternoon the same group were in a creek about 2 miles from where they were in the morning. I'd say they adapted together pretty well since they were together all day long and walked the 2 miles or more to the creek together.
That being said, I had geese, ducks and chickens. The chickens and geese went into the coop together every night. The geese made a nest on the floor of the coop, layed and hatched out about 16 goslings. Everyone got along great!
It is nicer if there are two geese together, they do mate for life, so make sure you get his or her mate, if you decide to get two.

 

[spiritbrook]

Ganders can be total a-holes (and that is not a term I use often) during breeding season. Here in the US where I live that is February through April. *raises sleeves to show bruises on arms* They will defend their girls to the death, fight with each other, be noisy at a leaf falling in the wind, attack their reflection in glass (I recently had some antique windows that I had set aside for crafting broken by male geese) and so on. Not all of them, and some breeds are worse than others, but they can be. Doesn't seem to matter if they were hand raised or not. So, if you are thinking of adding geese to your flock be aware that some can turn Jekyll and Hyde on you seasonally. Not all individuals, and some breeds don't as badly, but the same breeds that are more mellow aren't as good as guardians. It always breaks my heart when someone is looking to get rid of geese because they have gone "mean" - even more so if they just want to get rid of the gander because I have heard of gooses who literally starved themselves to death after their gander disappeared. It breaks their heart to be separated. This said, I love my geese and they are my favorite of all of my poultry, I just wish that breeding season would hurry up and be done with.

 

[EileenC]

My friend has goats with her chicken as added protection against predators so adding two geese with your ducks would be good. The goats get along with the chickens so there shouldn't be any problems pairing geese with the ducks.

 

[Mary Chapman]

I raise several different breeds of geese. You don't have to get a mated pair. You can get 2 females. They only seem to be aggressive when they go broody. And they may even hatch a few duck eggs if the shells are thick enough. And their eggs taste great. My males only seem to attack during breeding season. Otherwise they are great grazers and never attack my dogs in the "off" season. That's the only time the dogs are allowed in with them (Most of them anyway). All my neighbors have told me they have predators getting into their chickens. So far after 8 years at our new home nothing have gotten mine. But I have 10 geese. My China are the only ones that the males don't attack during breeding season and my little Pekinese goes in with me in their pen when I feed them. But I put them in their breeding pen that is in between the Toulouse and the African because my China seem more timid and I don't think they can protect themselves like the other ones can. My Pom male is the most aggressive of the breeds I have. When the geese see anything or anyone that doesn't belong they make lots of noise. My husband has tried to sneak out there and they know. So he can't scare me lol