Smallholders Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: Geese per acre?  (Read 6215 times)

macgro7

  • Joined Feb 2016
  • Leicester
Re: Geese per acre?
« Reply #15 on: December 08, 2020, 09:34:49 am »
Geese were my only birds that i felt hard to dispatch...
Chickens are just chickens, but geese are much more personable - look at their beautiful blue eyes.

They taste fantastic though  :innocent:
Growing loads of fruits and vegetables! Raising dairy goats, chickens, ducks, rabbits on 1/2 acre in the middle of the city of Leicester, using permaculture methods.

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: Geese per acre?
« Reply #16 on: December 08, 2020, 09:48:11 am »
Are you nit a fun of geese then?  :roflanim:

Actually, I really am!

As somebody who worries too much about other people's opinions of me, geese are refreshingly honest. You always know where you stand with a goose. I should be more goose.

My favourite was of course Gandalf the gander. "You shall not pass".....  ;D

I also loved their first run up and down the fence line every morning - taxiing and stretching their wings. The best part was when a gust of wind would catch one unawares and sail it up and over the fence, but of course it couldn't then figure out how to get back.

The worst part was when they ate their house from the inside out, followed by a dozen newly planted apple trees and the electrics on the sheep trailer.

I'm not saying we'll never have geese again - only that they don't fit in with our current system. One day, I would like to buy a Sebastapol goose and then dye it bright yellow, so it looks like Big Bird from Sesame Street.
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

macgro7

  • Joined Feb 2016
  • Leicester
Re: Geese per acre?
« Reply #17 on: December 08, 2020, 12:41:47 pm »
Exactly the same experience here im afraid  :roflanim:

I was at work once, and got a phone call from my wife who got a phone call from a lady who loves one street behind us saying my geese - all 9. Went for a walkabout and are all on that street next to the ladies garage! They were very naughty - and obviously debarked all of my newly planted (or the season or 2 before) very expensive fruit trees.

Someone mentioned they wouldn't last with the fox - my experience is very different actually. Once fox broke into the poultry run at night - killed all chickens and ducks - but not muscovy drake or the geese.
I loved ? my geese... unfortunately they do need quite a bit of space. If someone has a mature fruit orchard (or at least young trees with high guards) they would be fantastic.
Another option is if you rotate pasture with sheep I would follow them with geese.

Goose is the best roast ever - much superior to muscovy ducks, commercial white duck or chickens.
Did you know Poland produces around 90% of geese in the entire Europe? Yet hardly any of those geese are eaten in Poland - the vast majority goes to Germany from Christmas market. All Germans eat goose for Christmas it used to be like that here until victorian times.
(In Poland people have fish for Christmas btw)
Growing loads of fruits and vegetables! Raising dairy goats, chickens, ducks, rabbits on 1/2 acre in the middle of the city of Leicester, using permaculture methods.

Womble

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Stirlingshire, Central Scotland
Re: Geese per acre?
« Reply #18 on: December 08, 2020, 01:05:31 pm »
For our fourth Christmas here, Mrs Womble surprised me with a four-bird roast, all done with birds from our own smallholding, that she found in the bottom of the freezer. Duck inside chicken inside turkey inside goose. It was amazing!
"All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." -Terry Pratchett

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Geese per acre?
« Reply #19 on: December 08, 2020, 01:47:05 pm »



We bought a pair of Shetland geese a few years back.  Our intention was to sell on youngstock to nearby smallholders, a sort of swap ring to keep unrelated pairs for us all and to sell.  That didn't work - we had been assured that they didn't fly - they did fly, some forever.  We were also told we were unlikely to breed many successfully.  However, in their first season, the goose Minerva laid ten eggs in a lovely straw nest in their garden shed home, and was guarded fiercely by Magnus the gander.  Actually she laid more than that but we took some but discovered we didn't really like eating them, so left them in peace to hatch the rest.  The result can be seen on our website - nine lovely fluffy ducklings with two  so attentive parents.  Beautiful and heartwarming to watch.   No-one in our 'circle' had any to swap.  Well one did but then she gave up and returned the gander she had from us.  When that gander came home some months later, the rest of the family went crazy greeting him, the return of the wanderer.  For anyone who thinks geese are not fully sentient that was an object-lesson!
Of the nine hatchlings, seven were male, two were female and we sold one of those.  The returnee Malcolm was so well marked and was clearly madly in love with his sister Maisie that we kept those two.  A friend killed five for us, with Mr F's help, but he found it truly traumatic so we came to the conclusion that we couldn't let them breed again because any offspring would have to be slaughtered.  Muscoveys have beautiful angel wings, but white geese have even more beautiful and huge angel wings.


So now we have a family of four very closely attached geese.  The ganders are a bit protective when the geese are nesting, and used to go for us (a gander hanging off your bum by a pair of molegrips really hurts!) and the dogs, but they don't do so now.  One thing with geese is they really will take a telling - watching Mr F give them a tongue-lashing and their sorrowful and apologetic looks are hilarious.
They watch the wild geese fly over, and sometimes call to them, but clearly they prefer where they live. After all they have a flock each of hens and sheep to boss around.


Don't expect a whole load of eggs - they are very seasonal layers, and if you want your geese for meat, expect many objections from your community members.  Ours live here with no duties at all, just to keep us entertained.
They sleep in a shed at night and are readily trained to go to bed on command (remember geese used to be walked a hundred miles to market at one time)


No answer to your question of how many geese to the acre.  They certainly make some inroads into the grass here and they bath in the sheep's water which means a lot of changing (in spite of a pond plus a dog pool of fresh water)   As with pigs, for us geese are too individual and full of character to kill for meat, but they do make good companions for a quiet chat  :innocent:
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

Steph Hen

  • Joined Jul 2013
  • Angus Scotland.
Re: Geese per acre?
« Reply #20 on: December 09, 2020, 11:41:33 am »
I had a couple. Strange beasts compared to other poultry. One time as I was collecting the eggs (me heavily pregnant I’ll add) the gander flew at me so hard I fell forward and ended up in their hut with the door shut behind me. And the bugger hissing at me through the cracks. Eventually he backed off enough for me to crawl out.  I liked them but too aggressive for having around toddlers. Good luck with them x

macgro7

  • Joined Feb 2016
  • Leicester
Re: Geese per acre?
« Reply #21 on: December 10, 2020, 12:39:06 pm »
My auntie had a massive bruise on her thigh - gander.

Ny greatgrandmother said when she used to go to school (1920-30s) she used to grab neighbours gander by the neck, push him away and run. Geese used to graze on then road verges - there was hardly any cars those days.
Growing loads of fruits and vegetables! Raising dairy goats, chickens, ducks, rabbits on 1/2 acre in the middle of the city of Leicester, using permaculture methods.

harry

  • Joined Mar 2009
Re: Geese per acre?
« Reply #22 on: December 10, 2020, 06:45:39 pm »
Reading these replies it appears they attack women. My wife is scared of them, geese seem to sense fear. They hiss and threaten me but I face up to them, no problems.

doganjo

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Clackmannanshire
  • Qui? Moi?
    • ABERDON GUNDOGS for work and show
    • Facebook
Re: Geese per acre?
« Reply #23 on: December 10, 2020, 07:18:18 pm »
I was four.  I adore ALL animals, always have. I had no fear of anything whatsoever - until that damned goose chased me.  :roflanim:    I was innocently playing in a hotel back yard while my Granda was delivering ice cream and having a cuppa with the owner.  :excited:  When they heard me screaming they ran out then started laughing. 

I am still not frightened of anything - I face up to them - but I HATE geese  >:( >:( >:( >:(
Always have been, always will be, a WYSIWYG - black is black, white is white - no grey in my life! But I'm mellowing in my old age

LeeHambone

  • Joined Jun 2017
Re: Geese per acre?
« Reply #24 on: December 10, 2020, 08:45:26 pm »
We've had geese for a year now, and keep two pairs on about half an acre, they share grazing with a mini horse. They have mixed corn and waterfowl pellets each day to get them back in their overnight quarters and constant access to large oyster shell grit.

Ours are exhibition Toulouse dewlaps. We let one grey goose sit a clutch of eggs this year but they were old by the time she sat them so nothing hatched. We did take her first 20 or so eggs from her for the incubator and reared most of them. Hatch and fertility rates were excellent. We had to experiment with humidity to get it right, as we had never hatched anything artificially before. A very small number that took too long to hatch had deformed feet so had to be culled. We were advised not to intervene too soon in a difficult hatch so it's a fine balance. Go too soon and you kill the gosling, wait too long and the feet bones appear to set in a deformed way.

Rearing geese for us this first year was an amazing experience and I can't wait for next season. I have a pair of Sebastopols waiting to arrive.....

 

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