Geese....Advice please

DON'T !!!!!!!!!!

LOL, lovely to look at, but they can be nasty, espeically if you keep them on the same ground as other poultry.  When we had ours, they were kept separate from the chickens, so was okay, but a lady we know had turkeys, chickens and geese running together, and she said the geese kept killing the chickens.

But no doubt someone will come along and say they are lovely and you should have loads of them!!!   

They are beautiful and I wouldn't be without mine

But as Grannie say's it's not good keeping them together  Here's the scenario :
Chicken squats as goose approaches thinking goose wants to mate with her, goose attacks, and they don't like letting go  Thankfully both times this happened I was on hand to separate and I was the one who had the scars - although Monty (Gander) wasn't too happy either 
The geese don't bother with the ducks though or the guinea fowl I think it's something to do with speed they can escape quickly
Needless to say my Geese are kept separate to the hens now and they all be happy

If you can keep them apart then yes get geese

Sarah

We have rabbits, hens and ducks and I am wondering about geese..advice please as I know very little about them..actually I know nothing!!!!!

I had geese (grey geese/Toulouse), chickens, ducks, turkeys all together for about 25years and never had a problem.  They also all shared a small barn.  The geese/had a small pond that was fed by a spring.  I miss them a lot, but I wouldn't have geese again unless I could have a small pond as they usually sleep on water if there are any predators around, or if you have a shed/barn they can be shut up in that for the night.  They also need to clean their beaks with clean-ish water.  If you've got nice grassland they are very cheap to keep.  Mine lived on just grass from when the snows went until about October.  Winter they would fourrage through the snow for any grass they could find, and were given hay and bread etc. They were never fed commercial food, they didn't need it.
One wing needs to be clipped while they are young because they are light enough to fly, but as they get older they become heavier and don't want to leave anyway because they've made their home where you are 

If you aren't going to breed from them, only keep geese and no ganders (only females).  The ganders will fight over the geese and it can get quite nasty, but one gander will look after all his "girls" which is when you can get an over protective fella and he can attack.   You will still get lovely eggs from mid February, every other day until they start to moult in July.  Their droppings are excellent fertilisers for grass and they keep a grassy garden looking like a lawn.  Their webbed feet don't mess up the ground as much as ducks do.
I don't think they are nasty    If you are frightened of them, they'll take advantage   They are easy to get hold of and carry.  They will lay their eggs where THEY want to, not where you want them to

I hope this helps.

 

Thank you Collie bird!

I am sooooo tempted! I rather like the idea of Toulouse, having seen them at an exhibition and completely falling in love with them!

Thank you for all the infomation...hmmmm will have to have a think about this.....