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I am envious. That pond is beautiful. I only have seasonal drainage ditches which my geese and ducks utilize. They are relegated to tanks in the summer.
I would get no fewer than three with that much space. Honestly, I would get trios of several different breeds with that much space.
Also, do not overlook ducks! You can raise them identically to your geese; but they have the added benefit of eating all the creepy crawlers around your garden and yard. There are some simply gorgeous breeds, such as Silver Appleyards, Saxony, Welsh Harlqeuin, etc.
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My Pilgrims are amazing parents and it is a breed I'd recommend to anyone. My experience with 'agressive geese' is this:
- Andy goslings you let hatch under their mother will be instinctively wild. I recommend taking the eggs and incubating them yourself, that way they imprint on you and will be much more tame and manageable.
- Geese are super parents. Both the male and female protect the gosling for the first 9 months to year of their life. When you see geese hissing at people, it's because they're too close to their goslings or nest.
- During mating season (right now), even my friendliest geese are a bit tempermental. They will all protect the next when a goose is laying an egg. I have to make a point to display my dominance each day or they will nip me in the ass when I turn my back.
I also very much like my Embdens. They are very mischevious, gregarious and goofey.
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Geese would prefer to not be in a shelter, so it comes down to predation. I tought mine to go in a shelter at night from early on and they all do it on their own now. If they are in a secure fenced area, they will just sleep in the open.
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Coyotes and foxes will certainly take a goose. The advantage with geese is they will make so much noise, you actually stand a chance of intervening.
Racoons and skunks will take smaller geese. You have to be really careful. I also have lost seemingly 'too big' of geese to Great Horned Owls. Given what you have around your area, I would just train them to go in a pen or house at night for their protection.
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Absolutely! They will learn the routine. Geese don't eat slugs, though. That's why you need ducks to go with them.
My geese will help themselves to lettuces, though, so you have to be careful about that even when they are big. I too let my animals into the garden to "hog down" what's left. The goats, pigs, ducks and geese all go in there.
If you have never seen 3-4 geese work together to pull down a corn stalk, to eat the leaves, then you haven't lived. It's perhaps the funniest thing ever.
My geese and ducks go all summer without a 'pond'. They just bath in tanks/waterers I provide.
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I put mine in a tractor at 3-4 weeks depending on the weather. They may need a lamp if night temperatures fall under 45.
You can only raise them with chicks for about the first week. After that, the geese and ducks are so much bigger that they will trample chickens to death. So you will need to divide your brooder in two.
Also, waterfowl should never be given medicated starters.
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Mine wander, but come back to me since they imprinted on me early on. They also know we feed them.
In the Summer they will get by fine on their own. During winter, though, you'll probably want to toss out some chicken layer feed for them. Ducks especially usually cannot entirely feed themselves, especially if you want them to have the energy to breed/lay. Geese also need a bit of supplement during the winter when the grass isn't nutricious.
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The "Book of Geese" by Dave Holderread is the bible. His book on ducks is also "Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks". If it is at all possible for you to order your stock from him, I would highly recommend you do it:
http://www.holderreadfarm.com/
It's that route is too expensive (especially if you end up getting like 10 like you ought too), Metzer Farm in California provides very good waterfowl too.
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The best geese are going to come from Holderread, Metzer and Sandhill Preservation Center. Now, I have gotten geese from Murray McMurray like you did, since I was already getting some chickens. I'm pretty amazed at how much smaller and more varied they looked compared to those from a specialized breeder. I guess you get waht you pay for.
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I can't answer that one, we don't have bullfrogs here. Ducks and geese get along great. I just can't answer, though, if wild ones will be chased off by tame ones becuase the pond is 'their territory'.
I would do some more research to see if the bullfrog is really the predator doing the damage.
wow I don't have geese. But I would say what he said
