Someone wants us to take a male goose that has been raised with his brother all his life which is a year. I cant find a female goose anywere, so I was thinking I could put him in with the ducks so he would not get lonely...
Any suggestions??
goose question
I don't really know, but I've heard of geese being used to guard chickens, why not ducks?
Our neighbor has a goose in with his chickens. idk if there's any difference.. I'm curious to see what responses you get on this.
We have geese in with our chickens, and they do help protect them from predators. I can't see why it would be any different with ducks. Go for it!
I know that some of the ducks I got were raised with a goose, so I am thinking that this boy would not be alone... so I can put him with the ducks or the chickens, I am thinking he would not be alone...
watch for a few minutes before leaving them alone. My Toulouse and Br Chinese are fine with my duck but my Pilgrim tries to bite them
Also he may not be totally trustworthy with you and Billy - don't turn your back.
That's true, geese can be nasty. My daughter was always afraid of ours.
Geese can be territorial to birds of other species, or even other goose, that they have not been kept with. That said, geese don't like to be alone and will hang out with, or follow around, other birds if lonely.
I would try putting them together while they are supervised.
Also, I highly recommend the book "The Book of Geese" by David Holderread. I find myself referring to it often for major and minor questions.
I keep exhibition toulouse, buff americans, and sebastopols (although I'm selling off my Buffs).
I have decieded with the Mountain Lion around, I will not get his as expected. So we will be getting the young geese when the feed store has them, and will raise them young so they can get use to us and Billy will have the joy of watching them grow...
Probably a wise choice.
Ok so I went to my sisters house and her neighbor has geese, So I went over there and come to find out She works in the inpatient unit of the company I work with. I asked if she would be willing to sell one and she asked if I was going to eat it. I explained about Billy had been given a male african and if I could find a mate I would take him to the ranch. She said she would give BIlly one.
SO I ran to get the Male and the cage and by the time I got back, she had decieded to give Billy a pair.
We got them home and I put them in with the ducks, and they horded both pools. Billy and I sat on the tailgate of the truck and had a picnic and watched for any trouble, there was none. Although my ducks are pissed cause they cant get in the pools, they were ok with it.
So the Male formally known as Goose is now Sesame Street
The female formally known as Jane is Cookie
The female formally known as Mamma(The say she is a good layer and momma) is now Ketchup.
The girls are very gentle, and will let Billy pet them.
Today was a good day
Edited for some spelling errors, dang spell check does not work.
This message was edited Jan 30, 2010 8:35 PM
What a wonderful day - eggs AND geese!
Ok after some research on line, I figure this is what I have
Sesame Street is part of the Brown African Geese family, the African is a breed of domestic goose. Not actually African at all, African breed geese are descended from the wild Swan Goose,
The girls Cookie and Ketchup are Anser The largest is the Greylag Goose at 2.5-4.1 kg (5.5-9 lb) weight (Love wikipedia)
Now wondering if I should let them mate and produce little gooslings... LOLOL
This message was edited Jan 30, 2010 9:28 PM
LOL - try to stop them!
just eat the eggs they produce or dispose of them. Racoons love eggs if you wanted to set them out away from your animals
I went out this am to make sure they were still here and YEPPERS they are. As I rounded the corner, they were all together, the ducks were right next to the Geese....Hummm so Maybe I just wont move them. I like them being next to the driveway, that way I know if anyone is coming up...
Today was an awesome day. Billy and I cleaned the gooseduck pen, took up all the wet alfalfa that was laying around, moved the upside down bathtub that doubles as a perch and shelter for the ducks and moved it to higher ground. Filled both pools again, all with them in the pen with us. I was shocked as the geese stayed close to us as we went about our business. Billy would stop and talk to them, and they would reply softly to him, never in a threatning mannor. Never did Sesame Street Flutter is wings and buff out his chest, cept when he got out of the clean pool The ducks stayed off in the corner, I noticed they had paired off and were close th thier chosen mate.
We moved my girls out to the coop with his chickens, and we sat in the pen while they went thru the pecking order. I must admit, I was taken back for a few minutes, I understand its a rite of passage, but it still bothered me, and even Miss C went after Hay the rooster. Miss Z was right there backing her up, with Speed bringing up the rear. Hay's girls were not happy either, and after some feather pulling and such, they settled down. Miss C went into the coop and claimed a box for her own. We fastened a outdoor rooster that I had in the other coop so atleast my girls had something that was theirs. Billy talked to Hay telling him to be nice, they were "ladies"..
PS ever see a 4 year old manage a wheel barrow? I am here to tell you it is a hoot, and I did not think he could do it when I asked him to run up to the house and get it. Sure enough I hear it scraping down the drive to the pens... I was so happy we High 5'd whooo hoooo'd and did the chicken dance. .Then dang if when we were done, he loaded up his plastic tractor in it and pushed it back to the house to park it right where I would park my truck. Thats ok, I did not mind, I was proud that he did it by his self...
What a lovely day, and will post pictures tomorrow...
PPSS Still no spell check...
What memories you're storing up for Billy - and you! And what a great way to teach him to be a strong, self-reliant man. This is such fun to read about, MissJestr!
my best part of the day yesterday was when we were taking a break watching the geee and he said to me Its a great day Nanny. At first I was not sure what I heard, so I asked him what did he say. When he said it again, it was pure joy. Yep it was a great day.
Just think how he enriches your life! What a blessing he is!