Does anyone here raise geese?

[Jupiter]

We are thinking of raising 3-4 geese for weed control & entertainment value. I know nothing about geese, but we do have chickens & ducks. Any advice on breeds to get, or just advice in general? I really appreciate it! (:

[Ceilismom]

I have a pair of American Buffs. I can't really say that I raise geese, as these two have never yet hatched out anything, and they're coming up on 4 years old. They look pretty on my pond, and they mostly just wander around eating grass and leaving presents on my front porch. They are docile, and not any noisier than the ducks, roosters and guineas. They typically will not go in the coop with the rest of the flock at night, preferring to just take a nap in the middle of the yard.

However, when it's breeding season, Mr. Hyde shows up. For that stretch of time, they get confined to the pasture that contains the pond. The gander tends to get ugly with the ducks, chickens and my youngest daughter, so they cannot have the run of the farm (and especially not the run of the chicken coop) until they settle down again. If I had it to do over again, I'd have chosen a couple of females and skipped the gander entirely. It's not a huge deal to confine them during breeding season, but since I'm not getting any goslings out of them, at least I'd be getting twice as many big eggs.

[KimTN]

Hi,
I use geese to mow grass in my orchards. They are not very good at weeding because they mostly just want the grass and are picky about the weeds they will eat. The fact that they don't like most broad leaf plants makes them good for eating grass out of some of my garden areas. They are aggressive and are good at protecting the free range chickens out in the fields. You do have to be careful about the breed you get in respect to noise levels. DO NOT get Chinese or Africans if you hate noise. Regular geese can be noisy at times, but the Chinese and Africans can break your ear drums. I am going to butcher a bunch this spring because I am tired of the noise, as probably are my country neighbors. They are loud.

Geese are very economical though. Down south, we only have a few months of winter, in which we have to feed the geese. When we have grass, that is all the geese will eat. We have to feed all of the other birds.

[TenBusyBees]

We have geese....highly entertaining!!!

Be warned though....they are MESSY. Poo constantly. We have 4 kiddie pools for them (and a pond). The pools must be changed no less than three times a day. We planted willows last year to help sop up the water from what they splashed and what got poured out. Those willows are HUGE now. Get used to spraying off your sidewalks, porches, decks, etc pretty regularly or learn to dodge landmines as my kids call them. Henhouse, if you house them with your chickens, will need more attention as well.

Early spring the males get very intimindating and aggressive while their ladies are laying and setting. Goslings are an entire flock affair. The whole flock raises and protects the goslings. It's really something to see.

If you ever hope to make dandelion wine or jelly don't get geese. The first year we moved here our entire yard was a sea of dandelions. I was excited but too pg at the time to do anything. Made plans for the next year...I have never seen a dandlelion since. LOL!

[parrotman]

I raise Sebastopol geese. "For me," they are the perfect goose.

[Jupiter]

Originally Posted by parrotman

I raise Sebastopol geese. "For me," they are the perfect goose.

Do Sebastopol geese like to wander or do they generally stay close to home?

[parrotman]

I certainly can't speak for all of them, but my flock (8) is very structured in where they go, which isn't far from the house. Actually, the farthest they go is to the stream which is about 100 yards from the barn. If the water wasn't there, I don't think they would go that far.

[Jupiter]

Thank you all for your response. We've narrowed it down to african, pilgrims, & sebastopol. We are going to fence our orchard & put them there.

[creeklady2000]

I Want to get Buff or pilgrims they are supposed to be a very gentle breed , I have had embeden (sp?) before and talouse as well , I here African can be very loud and sometimes aggressive , so I ruled them out ,,

[Jennifer L.]

I had geese for 20 years or more, had a ten year break from them and then had another pair for a couple of years and sold them.

None of the ones I ever had were really mean until the last ones I had, which were Pilgrims. They would attack the chickens if they were able to. I went tearing out of the house more than a few times because I'd look out the window and see the goose shaking a chicken by the back of its neck. The gander in that pair was never as bad as the goose.

I've had Embdens, Toulouse, White Chinese and lastly those Pilgrims, and by far the Embdens and Toulouse were the nicest.

Beware they are poop machines! Four adult geese make enough poop overnight sitting outside of your door to equal a small cow. A small ADULT cow. I am not kidding.

Beware that being "pinched" (pinched sounds so innocuous, doesn't it?) by a goose is the same thing as if someone adjusted a pair of vice-grip pliers down tight and then clamped it on your hand, or whatever body part gets bitten, and then doesn't let it go. They will leave a blood bruise. See above where I'm talking about them grabbing a chicken by the back of the neck and imagine what that does to the chicken.

Despite all of that, I really do admire geese. For one thing, they are delicious!

[motdaugrnds]

I absolutely adore my geese. I've raised "Brown Chinese" since around 1997; and I got them for very specific reasons:

1. I never need to feed these as they forage year round for their food.

2. They are great at weeding the garden...just don't let them have access to the garden until your veggie plants are up and growing and the geese will take care of the young grass/weed sprouts.

3. These are excellent "watch dogs".

My geese always wait until I go out in the late evenings to close the chicken house door; then they go inside the chicken house. (They have their own straw beds under the chickens' roost should they want to use it during extremely cold weather. There is a "slanted" board under the chicken roost that keeps chicken droppings out of this area.)

I never keep water inside the chicken house because geese will keep it dirty all the time. I keep kiddie pools outside the chicken house in strategic locations and the geese love to bathe in these.

Since my chicken house is divided with a door in the middle, I put up a 2-1/2 ft "permanent" divider at the bottom of that door to keep the geese from getting into the side I use for brooding. That side also has the hanging feeder so the geese cannot get to it and eat the chicken pellets; and I can keep water in that side because the geese cannot get in there.

I have always had ganders as well as hens, keeping them together year 'round; and, while they are young, I teach them I'm the top of their pecking order by catching the neck of the gander trying to intimidate me and holding that gander up to where its feet are barely touching the ground. Do this a few times and the pecking order is well established by the time they are grown. (These geese are at the top of the pecking order within my assorted flocks of chickens and guineas.)

They are wonderful to watch when babies are hatched because every single one of the geese will protect the babies; and they love to nest.

At this time I only have 4 of this wonderful breed left; thus, will definately be ordering more soon. (I like to keep between 6-8 as they free-range over my entire 6 acres and will warn of any crawling intruders.)

[billinwv]

A local farm here sells dressed geese in the fall for 9.50 per pound and they can't raise enough. At 90.00-150.00 per dressed bird I may give them a go.