The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: graham-j on April 15, 2013, 08:45:31 am
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Hi,my grass has totally gone due to the weather,so I penned my geese up and have been feeding them wheat,but seeing that they are laying I have switched them to chicken layers pellets.
Are chicken layers pellets OK for geese.
Graham.
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Ours eat them if they get the chance to raid the chicken pens. They've never come to any harm. They're made basically from wheat, barley etc so should be fine I would think. Our grass is just starting to grow after the recent rain but the geese have managed ok over the winter on what they could forage plus some mixed corn in the evenings which I feed them in a bucket of water. They seem to love fishing for it.
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I'm not sure, I know chick crumbs can poison goslings cos of the medication in non organic ones but don't know about layers pellets.
I'm not sure they are needed tho, mine lay very tough shelled eggs quite happily on a diet of whole wheat, water and when it grows, grass.
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That's the anti coccidiostat they put in some, but not all chick crumbs which is poisonous to waterfowl. They don't put it in layers pellets.
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It's difficult when they're penned isn't it, they go through the grass so speedily. I don't give anything pellets, always pure grain, what's the point in taking even the smallest risk, it could just result in problems later on. At least you know what you're getting with straight grain. And they get a slice of wholemeal bread a few times a week, that means the gander is happy to see me :D
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Yes, layers is fine - I phone Marriages to check at some point (clearly they would say it but I'm sure they'd say if it was going to do any harm). Or you could put them onto Waterfowl breeders - must be formulated to support laying too.
H
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Mine get waterfowl breeders pellets or layers pellets depending what's about at the feed shop. They run with the ducks so hard to keep them away and never came to any harm. :eyelashes:
Glad that the grass is growing now!
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Stockfeed carrots are OK, if you can get some of course. Its what traditionally fed to geese to get that nice skin colour.
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That's a new one on me, I'm going to try them on that with the pony carrots just to see.... ;)
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Going ever so slightly off topic, I once worked with a woman who went on a diet where she ate cooked rice and carrots almost exclusively. She'd come to work and munch through whole bags of carrots. After a while, the whites of her eyes and the palms of her hands turned orange. I think she went a bit OTT. ::)
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brilliant ;D did she actually turn in to a carrot then? ;)
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Funnily enough, she was a bit of a ginn- ger to start with. :roflanim:
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Stockfeed carrots are OK, if you can get some of course. Its what traditionally fed to geese to get that nice skin colour.
That sounds worth trying.
Do you feed carrots whole or do they have to be chopped?
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There was an article on a programme years ago that wild geese were being fed on potatoes (not cooked) and they didn't chop them.
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brilliant ;D did she actually turn in to a carrot then? ;)
When I first met my wife's cousin, he was an odd colour, like he had kidney problems. Turned out his mother had been told that carrot juice was very good for children. He'd been drinking it by the pint!
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Hi,thanks for the advice I will try them on carrots.I have been feeding them on pellets rather than wheat as we have run out of wheat,the silos on the local farms are all empty.And the price local feed merchants want for bagged wheat is rediculas,I can get layers pellets in bulk for nearly half the price.
But thank goodness the grass has started to grow again.
Graham.
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Yeah, it's got to be growing - you're not far from us and husband has just done a second mow in one of our paddocks (the one without grazing geese) so something has to be coming up!
H
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Hi,yes I keep watching the grass,I want to let them out ont it but at the same time I want it to establish its self enough so they don't just wreck it.They will finaly be going out tomorrow,I bet they will go mad.
Graham.
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Any geese I've had over the years have always raided the chickens layers pellets, they've always done well and made good table birds.
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Hi,do you feed ab-lib or fixed amounts.What age do dispatch them.
Graham.
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Would need to weigh a scoop (but next geese not arrived here yet).
This link has some info which may help:
http://www.poultry.allotment.org.uk/Poultry/Start_Keeping_Geese/Keeping_Geese.php (http://www.poultry.allotment.org.uk/Poultry/Start_Keeping_Geese/Keeping_Geese.php)