Wanting to get a goose or 2

[Purelychicks]

I wanna get 1-3 goslings because I hear they’re good snuggle bugs, “guard dogs”, and weed your yard. True? Or no? Will they imprint on me? Will they follow me around? Chickens only follow you when they are babies but I hear geese imprint on you for life. If I only get one will it be lonely? My biggest question is can I keep a few geese with 16 chickens? Do they eat the same food as chickens? (My chickens eat a mix of oats, scratch grain, layer pellets, &black sunflower seeds.) we also have a pretty good sized pond with fish in it. (May have a snapping turtle or 2 but haven’t seen any in a few years because we killed a lot few yrs ago.) also I have an extra coop that can be their coop if they can’t be with the chickens. Just went some good info on geese in general because I’m not educated on the subject and don’t wanna go get some without knowing much.

 

[Pyxis]

Always get at least two, three is better in case you lose one. If you get one, it will indeed be lonely.

They are awesome, cute, fun babies and can imprint on you. Like other birds, though, as they grow up they will realize they are geese, and not humans, and will prefer their goose friends. I accidentally had a lone gosling that I raised singly, and she was super friendly as a baby, followed me around, was imprinted, etc. As soon as she had goose friends she was thrilled to hang out with them.

That is not to say she hated me after! She is still friendly and will approach me to eat out of my hands or chew on my pants, etc. She's just a goose and knows she's a goose, so she's happy to hang out with her mate and her flockmates, more than to hang out with the weird creature that feeds them, haha.

They eat All Flock feed, or watefowl feed. I use All Flock because all the birds can eat it. They also like scratch as a treat, and greens are their favorite. Geese are primarily grass eaters, so if they can graze, they will choose to eat grass and weeds first - really helpful with the feed bill!

They can be in the same coop with chickens, as long as the coop is large enough. You'll want to keep all water outside in the run though, because even though they're not as bad as ducks, they can still be messy with water.

 

[Purelychicks]

Always get at least two, three is better in case you lose one. If you get one, it will indeed be lonely.

They are awesome, cute, fun babies and can imprint on you. Like other birds, though, as they grow up they will realize they are geese, and not humans, and will prefer their goose friends. I accidentally had a lone gosling that I raised singly, and she was super friendly as a baby, followed me around, was imprinted, etc. As soon as she had goose friends she was thrilled to hang out with them.

That is not to say she hated me after! She is still friendly and will approach me to eat out of my hands or chew on my pants, etc. She's just a goose and knows she's a goose, so she's happy to hang out with her mate and her flockmates, more than to hang out with the weird creature that feeds them, haha.

They eat All Flock feed, or watefowl feed. I use All Flock because all the birds can eat it. They also like scratch as a treat, and greens are their favorite. Geese are primarily grass eaters, so if they can graze, they will choose to eat grass and weeds first - really helpful with the feed bill!

They can be in the same coop with chickens, as long as the coop is large enough. You'll want to keep all water outside in the run though, because even though they're not as bad as ducks, they can still be messy with water.

Thanks so much! Our coop is a 30 chicken coop and we have 16 so it’s plenty big. We have a run and a small outdoor yard for when we have to keep them confined they still get to go outside. (They free range unless there’s active predators or if it’s storming.) We have 40 acres. I’d say half is a pine forest and half is pasture. Is snapping turtles in our pond a problem? Haven’t seen any in a while but there still may be some. Would the geese like the pond? Killed some snapping turtles a few years ago.