Thinking of getting two geese. Should I with the setup I have? ETA pic

[True Grit]

I have had my EEs for a little over a year. We live on 2 acres in an outer ring farmy type of suburb and the chickens free range in about a 1/4 acre of grass and trees and are cooped in the run and coop at night. The 3 rail fence is lined with chicken wire and has a hot wire around it about 6 inches off the ground. There are definitely the usual predators but no big cats or bear. I would love to get a couple of Jordan Family Farms Sebastopol geese as lawn ornaments and pets. I don't care if they have goslings as I would probably only ever keep two of them. My DH would build a shelter on the North side of the shed - that is the right side in the pic and I would put a kiddie pool in the woods on a gravel bed probably, although in winter I was thinking it might be ok to fill up a horse feed pan with a bird bath heater in it, just a small pool for them. I would hate to give them a pool full of water and have it freeze during the day when I was at work.

Do you think it would be okay for them to be in with the chickens? I assume I will get varied answers to this one.
Will they be okay being free in the fenced area during the day in winter when the hot wire is disconnected but closed up at night? Last year we had a lot of snow - is that a problem for them?
Should I get two females for friendliness and noise consideration or a male and a female? Is a gander as loud as, say, a rooster? I wouldn't have a rooster around just out of consideration for the neighbors.
I want to do right by the geese and chickies both..

thanks!

 

[usmchomesteader]

I am not sure about Sebastopol geese, but I have 3 Brown Chinese yard geese that roam free all day without any problem...I do put them in a barn at night with a bucket of water. I raised each of these from the egg and they are quite friendly, except for the female occasionally. They seem to get along with the other critters I have but do try to be a bit bossy, especially with my yard dogs which gets a bit interesting at times. There is an excellent book on pet geese called "Duck! There is a Goose in the House" by Nancy Townsend. If you raise them from an egg or get them a day or two old, they will imprint on you and you will become Momma or Poppa goose to them. They are quite interesting characters. I live in NE Florida, so I am not sure about the snow, but they are very hardy critters. I also have a mixed gaggle of geese in a large fenced area open to the elements all year and they seem to to fine...we get freezing temperatures several times during the winter, but no snow. Hope this helps....Bob P.

 

[True Grit]

Thanks Bob. I added the pics I had intended to add. The first has a couple of chickens way in the background to try to show the size of the area and the second shows the shed beside which DH would put a shelter. i think it could only be about 4 ft tall so hopefully 5 by 4 by 4 would be enough.

 

[LLCoyote]

I haven't been around a lot of sebbies, butthe ones I've met don't make more noise than a rooster. As a general trait for the breed they are supposed to be less noisey than other geese but all animals are individuals. I personally have ducks, but they aren't contained to a pen until night time (No way am I loosing those babies to coyotes) and they don't really go anywhere. They will need water though and when they molt if your neighbors are close and don't like feathers... well they won't be extremely happy.

 

[usmchomesteader]

A 4 ft high enclosure would be fine, but you might consider 4x4x4 ft outside dimensions which will waste less lumber...you might want to have a hardware wire door for summer and a solid door for winter, or combination. Also, do some internet research on the hardiness of the breed you are considering. Bob P.

 

[True Grit]

Good advice! Thanks