Hello, thought I'd ask the geese experts here! I'm really hoping to add some geese to the flock and my family really likes the look of the Embden geese, mostly because they look like a big pekin duck! I'd read that they're generally big, calm, foraging birds and also can be good for meat if we choose to do that. But I've also heard other things about geese so I'd just like to clear out some questions.
We have 5 ducks (a drake and 4 hens) and 15 and a half chickens (two and a half roosters*) and the rest are hens.*The half is a bantam so he doesn't really count fully!
The roosters are over 3 years old now and don't really fight with each other much at all and have calmed down greatly (otherwise, we'd have gotten rid of some when we sent away our older hens last fall). We also have turkeys in a separate enclosure of unknown genders.
Our enclosure is very large, and the birds can range from open field to tall grass to under trees, though I don't have an exact measurement. We have several 'kiddie pools' for the ducks and added more because the chickens don't want to drink from anything other than the kiddie pools and the ducks don't want them drinking from their pools and it got messy - more pools, more places for chickens to drink.
Would a pair (or several) embden geese in theory be okay in that same enclosure with a different coop? Or would they need an even bigger area? Would you suggest a separate area altogether?
We want them to be comfortable in the area without feeling cramped so they are less likely to be aggressive with us/the other birds (and vice versa, some of the chickens are nastily mean).
How well do Embden free range, if we let them? Do they stick around to a small area or do you find them traveling to distance places and getting into danger? I do like letting the ducks free from time to time because they eat a lot of the weeds and are basically little metal-detectors and if we lose something in the grass they'll find it... (seriously, they'll find your keys). Would like to do the same with the geese if it'll work out. Our fence is mostly to keep the chickens confined otherwise they'll come and poop on our deck all day.
Anyway, anything else you think to mention about the geese would be cool!
Just need to build them a coop and then find a place that has some available, so hopefully we can get some this year or next spring/summer!
We have 5 ducks (a drake and 4 hens) and 15 and a half chickens (two and a half roosters*) and the rest are hens.*The half is a bantam so he doesn't really count fully!
The roosters are over 3 years old now and don't really fight with each other much at all and have calmed down greatly (otherwise, we'd have gotten rid of some when we sent away our older hens last fall). We also have turkeys in a separate enclosure of unknown genders.
Our enclosure is very large, and the birds can range from open field to tall grass to under trees, though I don't have an exact measurement. We have several 'kiddie pools' for the ducks and added more because the chickens don't want to drink from anything other than the kiddie pools and the ducks don't want them drinking from their pools and it got messy - more pools, more places for chickens to drink.
Would a pair (or several) embden geese in theory be okay in that same enclosure with a different coop? Or would they need an even bigger area? Would you suggest a separate area altogether?
We want them to be comfortable in the area without feeling cramped so they are less likely to be aggressive with us/the other birds (and vice versa, some of the chickens are nastily mean).
How well do Embden free range, if we let them? Do they stick around to a small area or do you find them traveling to distance places and getting into danger? I do like letting the ducks free from time to time because they eat a lot of the weeds and are basically little metal-detectors and if we lose something in the grass they'll find it... (seriously, they'll find your keys). Would like to do the same with the geese if it'll work out. Our fence is mostly to keep the chickens confined otherwise they'll come and poop on our deck all day.
Anyway, anything else you think to mention about the geese would be cool!
Just need to build them a coop and then find a place that has some available, so hopefully we can get some this year or next spring/summer!
