[ScotsGirl]

I have 7 geese in the back of my trailer sort of rescued. How do I tell what sex they are and what do they eat? I believe some were laying earlier in. The year but not now. Do they need to be shut up at night? The bloke that had them just left them to roam (with no clean water, just some disgusting slimy green stuff!)

[clydesdaleclopper]

Definitely shut them in at night as they are vulnerable to foxes and badgers. They need lots of deep fresh water so that they can keep their eyes clean. They are grazers so a nice patch of grass, supplemented with some corn should do them. Sexing them can be difficult and I'm sure someone else will come along with good advice on that one  .

[harry]

youll need more than a patch of grass for 7 geese,,,,,,,,,, try an acre or more for keeping them all year round as the area they use will soon get fowl so rotate in 4 sections a month at a time if you can letting the ground recover..... water will get fowl in minutes so try a dripping hose into a largish container..... when grass is poor feed corn or pellets... but watch out for fat pileing on..... also green s**t everywhere..... if you dont feed them plenty of pellets they will never get to a good oven weight in my view..... also depends on what breed....ie oven birds or egg layers

[MelRice]

What do you need to know??


Nasty, horrid, smelly, messy, noisy, BUT tasty birds. My friend loves his and recons they are much easier than chooks. As for sexing them if you haven't found out who is who it will become obvious in the spring.

[HesterF]

I love my geese - noisy yes but cleaner than ducks and friendlier (out of breeding season) and with a bit more sense about them. No geese will be laying now (not many birds of any type are laying now - my chickens are just tailing off). They tend to lay from late Feb through to late May/early June. Mine are on waterfowl growers/finisher pellets through most of the year and then go back onto breeder pellets in Feb to encourage egg laying. They are happy to roam but aren't foxproof although as a flock there aren't many foxes that would take a daytime chance. Mine aren't as keen on swimming as the ducks but I've got a big dog bath and they do like to get in that to have a good preen. Otherwise they must have fresh water every day in some form or another - even if it's just a bucket so they can clean their eyes because they are prone to eye infections.

As for area, I think they reckon a minimum of 100m2 per pair of geese. I've got four and they'd not keep down half an acre of grass between them so I don't think you need an acre for seven. We had to mow recently and ours had about a quarter of an acre between them although I think ours are not the best grazers - maybe they like their pellets too much - even in spring they didn't graze as much as I was expecting.

Sexing wise I'm not so sure because mine are autosexing (males white, females pied) but the males are much more confident. Come spring you'll be fending off the males with a stick whilst the females will be trying to get away from you.

H

[lachlanandmarcus]

For info OP I find the geese good followers on from sheep, as each likes a different length of grass. this works well as geese aren't messy on a decent area of grunting but very messy in too little.

[goosepimple]

Ours free range, are noisy and good guard dogs, we never shut them in.  They're usually up and about first thing, big sleep during the day, up again in the evening until late.  We've never had one of them taken or injured.  They eat lots of grass, love iceberg lettuce (just leave a half one out every few weeks) and ours eat mixed grain (same as chooks) and we also give them flaked maize (aka cooked maize) which looks like big cornflakes.  They're not overweight.  I've seen them eat the windfall apples and they eat uncooked potatoes I believe although ours never have, they have quite a serrated beak. 


We have a large pond and they tend to rule it over the ducks.  If you don't have, then do get them something they can have a swim in and that you don't have to change that water too often, then just get a bucket filled to the brim every day (so easy to change) and leave it out for dousing and drinking, that would work.


The ganders become very aggressive from late Feb to late May but will change overnight when their ladies start to sit.  The rest of the year they back off if I get too near them.  If you have to catch them they are placid enough unless it's springtime in which case I wouldn't try and catch them.  In spring they'll go for the kids before you (at least mine do) so my kids take a very wide berth. 


Sexing - males tend to be bigger, thicker legs, bigger head, likely to be the one(s) awake while the others sleep, act a bit more forwards in the group.


I love geese, they are intelligent, graceful, big pests and very economical to keep but they are very loud so if you have neighbours ... our girls sit in April / May time but they are useless mums, so if you do that I would incubate or take the young away (sounds heartless but they will accept them when a bit older and past the vulnerable stage).  Goose eggs are great for custards, big sponge cakes, meringues and lemon curd like your granny used to make.  Enjoy your big pests. 

[sokel]

Our friends have 6 Geese that free range over 22 acres. there is plenty of natural water for them.
You hardly ever see them during the summer unless your up in the very top field but once it gets to the end of November they always come down to the front field themselves where they can get inside
They must be about 9-10 years old now and they still sit eggs every year. This is the first year they didn't hatch anything out but as already said they are terrible parents. They quite often leave them behind or stand on them when they are very young