The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: tobytoby on September 27, 2012, 01:45:40 pm
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I am looking at leasing a peice of ground in an industrial area as a storage facility, about 2 acres of hard standing in a 5 acre grassed site. It has a boundary security fence 8' high, no power but has water.
There is no security, so i was thinking of putting Geese on site to act as a deterrent to any potential trespassers/thieves or jakey scum that might think of stealing something.
Are they as vicious as everyone thinks they are - if not how do you get them to be noisy or agressive looking (daft question?), or does it come naturally?
Someone will be on site everyday to work, so they will not be neglected.
Is there a particular type that would be suitable, the nearest house is about 600m away.
Any thoughts?
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Emben are usually the most aggresive, but don't forget if you buy some in they will treat you pretty much the same as everyone else, and even aggressive geese can be killed by a wily old dog fox unless they are securely protected at night.
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We've got Embden geese they're fairly large and do make a fair bit of noise when something spooks them. However the only thing I've ever seen them actually be aggressive to is our poor dog. People seem to have an irrational fear of geese though so they will deter a lot of people. Anyone with any experience of them will only be put of by the noise they might make though.
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Hughesy - This was my thoughts on them also - irrational fear is exactly what i want, and if i add a sign saying "these geese will have your balls off in a jiffy" - job done!!
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i have a mixture of ganders and there ladies, we got them for our farm after our diesel and heating oil were stolen again for the third time. Boy do them ganders want to protect their ladies, in the evening they are shut up in a large compound with the fuel tanks, even i wouldnt want to go there in the dark, gerald the biggest gander knows what to do with his beak and it really does hurt on the backside when he gets you. best investment for guarding we evermade even caught someone in the yard with them making so much noise, didnt get our diesel but they got the neighbours, police wouldnt do anything though because the diesel, even though in the van that these people were in, it was out on the public road and my neighbour couldnt prove it was their diesel so they got away with it and managed to keep the diesel, geese are ebdems and brilliant not just for guarding but for entertainment value too.
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Years ago my teenage brother used to visit a farm where there were always a noisy flock of Embdens in the yard. Some old stager said to him knowingly
You don't want to be frightened of them sonny, when he comes towards you just grab him by the neck, hold on a minute - I'll show you how its done
Gander came forward neck stretched out, old stager made a grab at the neck and missed, wily old gander made a grab at the b..ls and connected.
Needless to say my brother is still a bit wary round geese :roflanim: :roflanim:
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Hughesy - This was my thoughts on them also - irrational fear is exactly what i want, and if i add a sign saying "these geese will have your balls off in a jiffy" - job done!!
Hehe and most people would believe it too. A lot must depend on how used to people they are. probably best to keep them as feral as possible to get the best out of them. I think of ours more like an alarm system than a guard dog.
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The Romans used them as alarm systems around defences etc. The trouble is they may get so used to folk being around and all the nice people feeding them they may get desensitised and end up as a fattened up xmas dinner. Lets face it , if someone is bold enough to target and steal from an industrial site, they are not going to be afraid of a goose. They can also start up their racket at nothing at all so folk may just get used to hearing them anyway. Easily shut up by a scoop of corn and freedom! A friend I used to work with had a dog that was a bit 'scary' , it was soon shut up by a packet of ' calming 'tablets in a sausage put through the letter box!. I would just get a proper security system in place, you would need one for insurance purposes anyway I would think.
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Geese are foxy's favourite food :(
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Our gander is proper savage with strangers and we have grown men tiptoeing around the yard cause they don't want to bump into him! He has taken a piece out of several of them ;D fine with us though and if we shout at him he looks bashful and shuffles off!
Brilliant guard goose though :thumbsup:
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Our geese only go for the kids. Their hearing is great and they will hear people before the dog does. They do put people off just with their noise levels etc, ours are only aggressive during springtime.
They will (almost certainly) get eaten by a fox, you would have to lock them in at night which would probably defeat the purpose in getting them in the first place. Or some daft kids or local stupid wit will think it's a good idea to torment them.
Try something of the non animal type - electric fence signage or something.
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there is 9 mixed geese up at the property we are looking after and they do make a bit of noise but never been aggressive and usualy wander off after a few minutes.
At home I have a pair of Chinese geese and the Gander is evil, he is that bad when he is in a strop only I can go in the field. Even when he is behaving the oil delivery man wont go in the field untill they are locked away after he had a little incident with him a few years ago ::)
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Our geese are in a large pen that has no roof and they aren't shut in at night. I have seem a fox about often but he has never tackled the geese. Mind you they are quite big.
Sally
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We lost one of our geese earlier on in the year to a fox. :'( It is definitely better to have some where to lock them up at night so as not to tempt fate as foxes will jump over fences given the chance.
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You don't want to be frightened of them sonny, when he comes towards you just grab him by the neck, hold on a minute - I'll show you how its done
Gander came forward neck stretched out, old stager made a grab at the neck and missed, wily old gander made a grab at the b..ls and connected.
We had guard geese on our smallholding when I was kid. Noisy and did see off the odd n'er do weller... Nowadays the oiks woundne want tae get their braw trainers mucky with all the "turds". One of the ganders " Auchterlonie" was a big P**F, wouldnt say boo to a fly but the other one "Duncan" a canada goose who flew in one day and took up residence was an utter B*****d! I got the backs of my legs nipped a few times.
It was my job to feed and water them. I soon learned to take an extra empty plastic bucket with me to pop over Duncan head whilst I fed the others. This rendered him useless, he just stood whereever he had been bucketed nice and quiet until i removed it and ran away very quick!......Oh happy days!
To someone used to geese they are not much of a deterrent. Apart from the racket they make when disturbed. At 600 meters you might possibly even hear them at night. Geese in conjuction with an electric fence might be a good idea, you could charge the battery from a solar cell.
An automatic pop hole would put them safely inside at night aware from the attentions of Mr Fox dunno if they run on batteries.
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Another thought....
You may or not be aware of Solar Nite Eyes. http://www.solarniteeyes.co.uk/terms-and-conditions (http://www.solarniteeyes.co.uk/terms-and-conditions)
We have installed one near our duck pen. This may keep Mr/Mrs Fox away because he or she will think its guarded by another predator.
It would also serve as a flashing warning to prowlers who will think it is alarmed. The run on solar power.
An interesting conversation I had today regarding the fox with a gentleman who keeps some poultry on his 15 acre smallhold. He said shooting the fox had been a lifetime fight " A war of attrition " in his very words. He said he sorted the problem by feeding them dogfood!!! He said three visit him daily one in the morning one at lunchtime and one at nightfall. The eat leaving his fowl untouched and go home to sleep!.
A family of semi domesticated ( well fed ) foxes in residency would keep others from moving in on the territory.
Anyway. Good luck with your geese if you get them.
Robbie