[thenovice]

Hi, im looking at getting a few geese to graze a small field. I want them to cross graze with my ewes to cut down on the worm burden, and i hear that goose is delicious! (sorry poultry lovers) I am a complete begginer when it comes to these, so i was wondering how hard are they are to look after, what will they need to eat apart from grass, is stock fencing enough to keep them in, and what breeds would suit a numpty like me? Any advice and experience would be most welcome. I thank you

[Daisys Mum]

Hi I have 6 Embden geese which are destined to be Christmas Dinners, they are easy to keep, they don't appear to want to fly, they do like to run across they field with their wings out looking for all the world as if they are going to take flight, Mine are grazing with sheep and horses so only get grass during the day and when they come in at night they have growers pellets. They also make brilliant watch geese( dogs)

[gapcap]

Yep I find my geese very easy to keep, they do there own thing free ranging, cause no problems with the chooks or ducks, can be herded with the dog if necessary, and are good guards too,! My trio are getting on a bit now but are good as gold!!

[ellisr]

My embdens were fab never flew and just wandered around with the chickens and sheep grazing. Most went for xmas dinners and the old 2 were caught by the fox or dog

[piggy]

Having all sorts of stock here geese,ducks,chickens,horses,sheep,dogs and cats i can put hand on heart and say they are the only ones who dont give me any trouble,mine are on a pond right infront of my front door behind stock fence,they will come running in the morning as soon as they see me come out of the door as they know thats when they get feed but they stop short of the fence,i have 12 in total they did used to free range but to be honest it was a bit of a pain as the dogs kept rolling in the poo,mine will easily follow me with a bucket of food and are very tame with me as i had them from a week old,however they are not so friendly with people they do not know,they are also quite happy to be rounded up by my collie pup,.
I do also have another little flock of geese in another area that are guard geese,i was sold 2 geese as a pair it turned out they were both ganders! so i bought 2 ladies to go with them,these geese are completely different from the ones on my pond they are guard geese and do there job brilliantly,they live next to my gate so i know the minute someone is on my property,however even i who feeds them ever day would NEVER go in there pen without protection as they would have me,1 of them gave me a very nasty bruise on my arm.
I have tried to give you both sides of keeping geese in that they are not all the same.
It would depend on if you wanted to buy youngish to grow them on or adult ones,not all adults are like my guard geese it all depends on how much they have been handled.
If i were you i would go for goslings or a well handled goose as the last thing you want even if they are for meat is to walk into your field and be attacked by a goose!
Mine only have a couple of scoops of mixed corn in the morning.

HTH

Karen

[thenovice]

Thanks for the advice and experience you lot, you have spurred me on toward getting a few for miself! 

[Hermit]

I keep geese free range and only feed the breeding stock when the ground is frozen. They dont go far and when they do go onto neighbouring land the owners get fluke control and a goose for xmas. Easy keeping as they graze , in fact more or less free meat.

[lachlanandmarcus]

The only problem I have encountered is when keeping them in the same field as sheep, they pick on certain sheep and pull out all the wool from a patch on their backs, to the extent of causing an open wound, which is then very vulnerable to fly strike. So ideally rotate with sheep or give them their own patch. Rams seem worst affected, I think because they lie around a lot so are sitting targets.

We dont have a pond for ours but lots of big buckets and a bath filled with water. NB this is the only other downside of geese - they absolutely need a good amount of clean and unfrozen water constantly available. Other animals cope better with maybe ice breaking daily. So as we have -20 and winter for 4-5 months here, that can be a pain.

But other than that they are a doddle, ours (kept for eggs) just get a bit of corn in the winter but nothing the other 3 seasons while the grass is growing. And they are real characters!

NB Dont let anyone tell you geeese wont mate if you dont have a pond - Goggle the gosling this spring put a lie to that old wives tale!

[Penninehillbilly]

I keep 3 females, bought some eggs in this year but none hatched. (gander went in the pot when he killed one of my call ducks, 2nd time unlucky for him!)
during the year, they get a small handful of wheat at nights to keep them coming into the hut, fastened in  overnight from Mr fox.
I do have a problem in snow when they can't get the grass, how do others deal with this? mine get layers pellets, whole wheat, bread and some 'ready grass' (I think it's like hay but cut short and quick dried). But I feel I'm not giving them enough.
Other than that, I like my girls. I did say I'd let them go when I got the goats, but OH seems to have forgotten that  .
They can fly, and they once flew past me at head height as I walked over the field, didn't half make my jaw drop! but they don't fly away. so clip a wing to start with.

[tizaala]

We have three Toulouse geese and they are such characters, they can be very hard on a chicken if they get hold of one and they gang up on the goats , who love to be nibbled by them and actively seek them out for this purpose, the big down side to them is the mess they make, on pathways it can be deadly.
just make sure they always have clean water deep enough to wash their heads in. ours get a small scoop of layer pellets and rolled barley every morning ,  this is just to keep them occupied while the chickens eat in peace otherwise they bully them off the food.

[StephB]

We have reared 6 embden geese this year.  Initially they were for pets and for keeping the orchard grass in check but unfortunately, due to their behaviour  they are now going to be going the same direction as the turkeys  .

We hand reared them from day old goslings, the children constantly stroked them and petted them and all was well until they reached adolescents and they have now become complete terrors.

My children are fair game and have been given nasty bruises in the beginning when we hadn't yet wised up to them.  I now have to keep the geese in a specially made long penned in area as they terrorise EVERYTHING, from us to chickens, ducks, turkeys and especially the dog.

All my poultry has to be able to roam in our 1 acre orchard peacefully together and because of this we will NEVER be doing geese again.  Not unless we REALLY enjoy the meat (never eaten goose before) and then we would have to organise an area of grass for them to graze solely on their own.

Sorry to put a downer on it, maybe we just got a batch of buggers but it seems even when hand reared they cannot resist their nature to dominate.

Take care
Steph

[Penninehillbilly]

maybe it was the hand rearing that made them into bullies?
are they male or female?
I'd never trust a gander (ours went in the pot) but the females are lovely girls, just noisy enough to let people know they are on guard 

[StephB]

Hi

Ours hatched April this year and we have had big problems telling the geese from the ganders.  There is one REALLY big goose that is the most aggressive so have presumed this one is a gander, but we have had no sexual activity to help us spot the difference and to be honest I would'nt trust any of them near my children.  I think pretty much all of them have had a go at some point.  Maybe we have been unlucky and ended up with 6 ganders?.

I know you can vent sex geese but never had enough confidence in my ability to tell the difference to try.

Maybe we have just been unlucky, but I always supervised the children so no tormenting happenned when they were little, we were always kind to them so I cant see how us handling them from an early age could have turned them into bullies?.

[Penninehillbilly]

I was just wondering if gentle handling would let them think they were the boss? it was just a thought.
Mine were reared by geese so mums would shepherd them away, so maybe that stuck with them, that they should move away from me? Or maybe I'm just lucky they are from placid lines. (one came from completely different stock.
Also I suppose children aren't as scary as big people (sizewise anyway  ) and geese think they can take them on? esp if they run away when geese threaten.

[StephB]

Yes the children always did run away when threatened so guess they think they are higher in the pecking order now.

Have just separated two of the smaller geese from the four big ones and these two seem to be behaving themselves with the children and other poultry.  If this continues they may escape the big December cull  .  Have told them it is their last chance