what goose breed is best with kids i want chinese???

[Icravepoultry]

Hi i was wondering if i could have some chinese geese with 4 kids all under 13 they would live with ducks, chickens, goats and hopefully every other kind of poultry you can think of

 

[Icravepoultry]

Answers???

 

[Kevin565]

I personally would not recommend Chinese geese around Children. Toulouse Geese might be a better option.

 

[8GeeseALaying]

Any goose breed is fine with children when raised with them. The children should not be allowed to chase them however. Kids will be kids and what not but that is the fastest way of turning a goose into one that is aggressive toward people. Thats why most geese at parks are known to chase and bite, unknowing parents think its cute when "Junior" runs after the gooseys and duckies then those same parents want the animals destroyed when "Junior" gets his nose pinched off.
Teach them both to respect eachother and your geese and kids will live together happily.

 

[LisabethBrooke]

We've had three different breeds - Toulouse, embden and buff. Our Toulouse was very aggressive. He would even keep people in their cars or chase them to the house. Our first embden was just as mean, they were a pair of mean crabby geese, haha. So if you want one to keep your other flock safer and be a guard goose I would definitely suggest an Toulouse. We then bought adult embdens and they his at people but have never bit anyone. They will attempt to chase people but all you do is walk towards them and they scream in terror and run away and honk at you from a distance.

The lady that raised them kept them in a smaller pen right next to her house, and I free range mine after they're grown up. That could make the difference. I'm not sure. We play like crazy with ours until they're adults and then they want little to do with us.

The Buff is by far my favorite. She barely hisses. She has a little whistle for a honk instead of the actual loud honk. And she is in no way aggressive. I would suggest getting buffs if you want them for your children, or younger children any way. She even for awhile (before winter) would follow my golden retriever around and sleep next to him.

 

[Icravepoultry]

Thanks so much everybody!!!
I will probably get buffs but maybe pomeranians
I still kinda want chinese or africans though

 

[Skyfire]

I learned a painful lesson about relying solely on breed for temperament. Before we got our pair, I had researched all the geese breeds, and how to best care for them. I selected the American Buff because they are supposed to be breed mainly for friendly genetics. One of the pair (I'm 65% sure she's female), lives up to the breed's stellar reputation. She is as described, and then some. The other was the polar opposite. He (I think he might have been a boy) was a little pecky right out of the brooder at the feedstore, but I thought it was because of overcrowding. I read on BYC they can get that way if there's too many of them in one pen. He was pecking at her, initially it was hard enough to just be annoying. She turned around and pecked him back (I akin it to a hard slap across the face), and he mellowed out for a couple of days. Then, it just went down the tubes. He became progressively more aggressive at an alarming rate. He would whine and carry on constantly. He began biting (not nibbling) both of us, trying to twist our skin. I was determined to make this work with him and began spending a lot of one on one time together. I tried the beak holding method while telling him, "No skin." I tried gently but firmly pinning him down when he struggled, until he calmed down. As soon as I let go of him (and he was calm at least 10 to 15 seconds before I let go), he immediately when right back to trying to peck us hard and twist our skin.


I got the pair because I didn't want one goose to be lonely. He became very mean to her (Jupiter, my girl). When Jupiter would try to crawl in my lap, he would loudly complain and jump in front of her, even when I had offered him my lap first (to which he showed no interest). If she played with a toy he wasn't even interested in, he took it from her. Five days after we got them, I noticed Jupiter had some sort of irritation around the part where her beak attaches to her face, and one of her eyes also looked irritated. At first, I thought she had an infection. I blew up all my photos of her face to scrutinize and compare them to relevant data on this board. The next time I sung them to sleep, I saw Jupiter trying to snuggle and sit on him. This is one of the reasons I sense she is a girl. It's like she was trying to nest him and keep him warm. He did not care for this at all. He would yell at her and move away. She would continue trying to sit on him a few more times. The last time she was right on him, he turned around pecked her HARD in face. I saw one blow land in her eye, the same one I thought could be infected. She cried out. The final time he moved away from her, she didn't follow. Instead, she tucked her bill under her wing, and became quiet. She wasn't sleeping, just looking downwards. I know depression when I see it.

After three days of working one on one with him, trying so hard to train him through discipline, positive reinforcement, and lots of socialization, his behavior only worsened. When he slept, he was an angel. I wanted to help him so badly, but sadly I could not. I knew behavior was an issue during breeding season, but I was not prepared for an aggressive gosling who was barely a week old. We made the heart wrenching decision to return him to the feedstore two days ago. Originally, I only wanted one gosling, but after reading the overwhelming consensus on this board that it is unfair to the goose (one post even when so far as to call it animal cruelty), I decided to get two. The irony is, he gradually rebuked Jupiter's affections, and began acting as if she didn't exist. To add insult to injury, she wasn't getting enough of my attention either because I was so focused on working with PV. She stopped her beautiful singing. That was the final straw. My husband stayed home with Jupiter while I took the boy back. He checked in with me every fifteen minutes, letting me know how she was doing. I was terribly worried she would suffer with no other gosling. He sent me text photos of them snuggling on the couch to reassure me everything was ok.

I hated taking him back. It broke my heart. Even as I carried him across the parking lot, he wildly pecked at my chest hard. All I could think is how could I have messed this up so badly after just one week. It took me an hour to get home on what should be a half hour drive. I was so distracted, my self confidence shredded, feeling like an epic failure, I made one wrong turn after another.

I'm sharing this so you can hopefully avoid what we went through. You cannot take for granted that just because you get a breed known to be docile and friendly, that the gosling will indeed be docile and friendly. I know how heartbreaking it was to take him back and I am an adult. Imagine how upsetting it would be for your little children if you end up taking one back. All that research, all that effort. I'm still pretty shell shocked. In hindsight, I wish I had gone with a Toulouse for the second pick. Jupiter was my first pick because she was a Buff, and she responded positively when I stroked her back. PV (the boy I took back), I chose just because he was a Buff. None of the other three Buffs were responsive like Jupiter, but I was insistent the second pick also had to be Buff because of the reputation. There was a Toulouse in that same brooder, looking straight at me with hopeful eyes, but I thought I had to stick with Buff. Now, I'm kicking myself hard. If I had it to do over, I would have been more flexible. I think we missed out on a great pairing and a great 2nd little gosling. What a terrible way to learn this stuff

PS: Jupiter seems to be doing well. She's singing again. I spend all day with her. She spends 6 to 7 hours in her brooder at night in an upstairs spare bedroom. We mounted a surveillance camera over her pen to monitor her. The first night, she cried for a few minutes, then fell asleep. Same with last night. I am freaked out at the possibility she will become lonely and depressed, so I spend all my free time talking with her, napping, and exploring safe parts of the house. I want her to be happy. She's at least getting all my attention now.

 

[Icravepoultry]

Wow maybe I'll just get chinese or africans and just pick em out carefully

 

[Skyfire]

Wow maybe I'll just get chinese or africans and just pick em out carefully

and don't be closed minded like I was. I really, really wish I would have gotten that Toulouse.

 

[Icravepoultry]

Ok I'll be sure to get good ones