Geese As Pets

[taff33]

I am thinking of keeping some geese,but I know nothing at all about it,my property is walled and is about 1 rai in size,they would be only kept as pets.My question's are what do you feed them with(I know that they eat grass),and how do you stop them from flying,and are there any disease's that should I know about when buying/keeping,help needed please.

[fredob43]

Dont know about keeping them here in Thailand but had some in England, they live on shortish grass + some wheat a Goose pellet's "Dry" but the grass here is not the same as English's stuff so if I were you I'dd look up on Google to check. They can get Gizzard worm and if not treated will/could kill them. Great house guard's as good as a dog. But be careful as they can be very vicious If you have kid's be very very careful, If I had kid's I wouldn't let them loose but then you will have food problem's. Tip they SH/T big time, and make load's of NOISE, if you think cockerels are bad you aint heard nothing yet. Best of luck.

Edited July 31, 2011 by fredob43

[fredob43]

Dont know about keeping them here in Thailand but had some in England, they live on shortish grass + some wheat a Goose pellet's "Dry" but the grass here is not the same as English's stuff so if I were you I'dd look up on Google to check. They can get Gizzard worm and if not treated will/could kill them. Great house guard's as good as a dog. But be careful as they can be very vicious If you have kid's be very very careful, If I had kid's I wouldn't let them loose but then you will have food problem's. Tip they SH/T big time, and make load's of NOISE, if you think cockerels are bad you aint heard nothing yet. Best of luck.

Forgot the flying away bit not on your life they stay where they get looked after. There not stupid. On top of that they need a long take off run and 1 rai walled just aint enough.

[Crossy]

Forgot the flying away bit not on your life they stay where they get looked after. There not stupid. On top of that they need a long take off run and 1 rai walled just aint enough.

Can they actually get airborne from land anyway? Thought they needed a long run on water like swans.

[sbk]

ditto fredob43's post, my dad grew up with geese on a farm and said they can be quite vicious although they are great guards.

Maybe you'd be better off with a couple of ducks.

[Ijustwannateach]

My Mom's job as a girl on the farm was to feed the chickens, ducks, and geese. She said she hated the geese the most because they were aggressive and would bite painfully.

(She also said the chickens had to be brought in out of the rain because they would look up to see what was happening and drown with their mouths full of water!)

[harsu]

ditto fredob43's post, my dad grew up with geese on a farm and said they can be quite vicious although they are great guards.

Maybe you'd be better off with a couple of ducks.

We kept geese on our croft (small farm) in UK. for a few years.

The negative side :Loud, noisy, belligerent, very good warning system of unusual activity in the vicinity- but not necessarily what you or your neighbours want to hear in the early hours of the morning. They can take a dislike to a family member and chase them or even try to attack them. They do eat grass, they also need a commercial or home made more varied diet to compensate for the lack of variety if they only have access to grass. They pass copious amounts of poo - which is a good fertiliser but not pleasant if you have to walk through it in your one rai of land. They really need to have access to water to bathe and swim in daily to maintain feather quality and for their well-being. If you can only offer them a small pond- be aware of how quickly the water becomes fouled- geese don't come out to poo, and they make a lot of mud, especially in rainy weather when they dabble with their beaks through the grass looking for worms and other invertebrates. The pair of geese (which you might choose) will not necessarily fall in love with each other and be happy to make babies for you. They can squabble quite ferociously with each other.

The positive side: if you find the right ones, they will be friendly, noisy beautiful birds who produce delicious eggs. But not pets. They also live a long time.

If you want to keep waterfowl, and you can provide the space then my recommendation would be to go for the ubiquitous Muscovy duck (a tree roosting duck- or maybe goose!-) from South America. Brilliant mothers- it's not unusual for the duck to successfully rear 20-24 ducklings in the UK. They will also warn of intruders, but are much more family friendly and can be great characters. They do lots of hissing and tail wafting, neck bobbing to establish flock position. Very hardy, don't tend to wander and really don't do much more than a very low level fly past if they are being extremely energetic. We kept them for about 15 years, until fox predation just got past the point of it being enjoyable any more. Treat them nicely, don't chase them and they'll come and take food from your hand , and leave the babies with you while they go off and have a bath.

You do have to watch where they lay their eggs though - being originally a tree- nesting duck, it wasn't unusual for them to lay their eggs up on the steading wall shelving (about 7ft up) and then when the eggs hatched, the ducklings would have to jump - we used to put straw bales under where we hoped they'd leap off. And they still will make a lot of poo and mess - they won't go with a pristine garden. They also need more than grass to eat to keep them healthy.

Edited July 31, 2011 by harsu

[Dag]

Shit everywhere and very noisy.....especially at any ungodly hour for whatever reason.

We had a few and thank god they are gone now.

As for the myth of keeping snakes away....poppycock.....we sold them to our neighbour and a snake ate them all.

[kandahar]

Forgot the flying away bit not on your life they stay where they get looked after. There not stupid. On top of that they need a long take off run and 1 rai walled just aint enough.

Can they actually get airborne from land anyway? Thought they needed a long run on water like swans.

Wild geese can fly from land easily. They often converge on farmers grain fields to feed. Once they see you coming with your shotgun, looking for a nice goose dinner, they can get airborne instantly but it takes them some time and distance to get altitude.

All of the domestic geese I have ever had can't really fly away, they can only fly a very short distance, but they can fly from wherever they are standing on land, with just a few running steps to get started.

[kandahar]

OP, if you're looking for a pet, get ONE goose. I have raised a perfectly good pet from a gosling and he was as good a pet as my dogs. When you walk outside, he is there to accompany you. When you get under the truck to work on it, he is right in there "helping"you. When you go for a walk down the road, he is right beside you and will run to keep up so he doesn't get behind. As a single bird pet, they can really be a nice, fun, funny and interesting companion. They will come when called and if the kids interact with them as the birds are being raised, then the bird is a pet with the kids as well.

If you get a pair, then they display all of the defensive and territorial behavior that comes with the breed. They don't rely on you as their only friend or social interaction and they will pick and choose who they like. I ended up with 75 or so eventually and they never gave me any trouble, nor did they give trouble to my daughter. We didn't seem to have any mean ones but I have seen plenty of mean ones at other farms. The one who started out as a pet, stayed a pet, even several years later when the flock had grown to 75 or so. He would break away from the rest of the flock and come spend time with the family, often, and would still go for walks with me if he saw me heading into the woods and of course, would be there helping me if I was doing anything on the ground. The crap and the noise will get to you, so the less geese, the better. Make sure your yard is fenced of from the rest of your land if you have nice plants or areas where you like to sit outside.

I believe if you get several geese at the same time, you are not going to have pets. You're just going to have geese and the normal geese behavior.

You can pen them at night to keep the varmits away but you will have to herd them into the pen every night for some time before they start going in by themselves. If you are persistent, they will eventually head towards the pen as soon as they see you coming in the evening and later, they will go to the pen themselves as it gets dark and wait for you to open the gate to let them in. Penning is a good idea if you find yourself needing to catch them later on in the operation. It is a pain in the butt to try to catch geese when they don't want to be caught, especially when they have open water to go to. Once they are used to penning, you can always go out at night and easily catch the ones you want and pen them separately until the morning when the buyer arrives.

If you have close neighbors, geese are a bad idea. The neighbors have no inclination to listen to them, nor should they have to.

Geese are great for keeping the bugs down, ducks are better and guineas are the best but you have to keep clipping the wings on the guineas. Guinease are a really BAD idea if you have neighbors that won't appreciate the noise.

A turkey will make a great pet also, if you get one when it is little and raise it as a pet. Get a male; they make better companions than a female and you will get to wrestle with him sometimes, which he enjoys and will instigate if you don't do it often enough. Don't get a male for a pet if you have small kids because he will instigate that with them as well. The turkey will keep you company while you work under the truck but he doesn't actually try to help or mess around with your tools and nuts and bolts like a goose will. And if you're going for a walk for a kilometer or so, he will go along but you have to stop and wait for him sometimes. Turkeys walk in crescents, constantly tacking left and right, instead of walking straight, so it takes him longer to cover the same distance. When you get to that neighbor's house and sit on the porch to visit, the turkey will get on your lap, sit down and be quiet, unless the neighbor's dog shows up and then there is going to be a fight if the dog gets too close to you. Turkeys are a LOT more quiet than the geese. They don't say much unless you talk turkey to them and then, you're going to be in an argument that you cannot win. They ALWAYS get the last gobble in and you will tire before he does.

Edited July 31, 2011 by kandahar

[bina]

dont do geese if u havent had any experience. caveat emptor. had a three year old on the kibbutz almost lose his testes to a territorial hand reared goose. they are all the things that people above wrote about them. if theyd dislike someoen, thats it.

noisy messy scary to small kids and many adults and a majority fo dogs, not for most people. yes, the moscovy duck is good, u can hand rear /impress them and they will follow u, u can call them and they will come (more or less for a treat), tasty when younger, good eggs, good layers even when no males around, just for eggs, good mothers, hardy, had tons in the petting zoo... got rid of our regular geese and our crested geese really quickly due to space and cleanliness problems and also our kids care takers couldnt get in the duck yard with them...

why do u want them anyhow?

bina

[taff33]

dont do geese if u havent had any experience. caveat emptor. had a three year old on the kibbutz almost lose his testes to a territorial hand reared goose. they are all the things that people above wrote about them. if theyd dislike someoen, thats it.

noisy messy scary to small kids and many adults and a majority fo dogs, not for most people. yes, the moscovy duck is good, u can hand rear /impress them and they will follow u, u can call them and they will come (more or less for a treat), tasty when younger, good eggs, good layers even when no males around, just for eggs, good mothers, hardy, had tons in the petting zoo... got rid of our regular geese and our crested geese really quickly due to space and cleanliness problems and also our kids care takers couldnt get in the duck yard with them...

why do u want them anyhow?

bina

Well Bina after reading all the replies I think it could be put "on the back burner",I suppose the main thought was just to keep the grass down I knew about noise but not 24/7.I would like to thank every one for the advice and input that has been given, for it has opened my eyes and given me second thoughts.

[kandahar]

Try a couple of sheep.

[AyG]

The best way to feed geese is to put a funnel down their throats and pour in dried corn. Then when you discover they're noisy and aggressive and want to get rid of them, at least you'll get a delicious meal out of them.

[taff33]

Try a couple of sheep.

Never seen sheep in Thailand at least not where I live.

[kandahar]

Try a couple of sheep.

Never seen sheep in Thailand at least not where I live.

There are some up here near Chiang Rai. I have a friend that may have a couple for sale.

[harrry]

Try a couple of sheep.

Never seen sheep in Thailand at least not where I live.

Rule 1 for Thai wildlife....if it is de.licious it has been eaten allready.

I think goats survive here better than sheep and coud be suitible too.

[kandahar]

Try a couple of sheep.

Never seen sheep in Thailand at least not where I live.

Rule 1 for Thai wildlife....if it is de.licious it has been eaten allready.

I think goats survive here better than sheep and coud be suitible too.

Goats are great in some respects but they will mow off your shrubs and flowers. They will also strip the trees as high as they can reach when standing up on their hind legs. They aren't picky eaters.

[Dag]

Sheep are nice.

but you might get attached.....and jealousy can set in.

[Daffy D]

Kandahar your Post #10

All you need to know about goose keeping Brilliant

[meatboy]

Sheep are nice.

but you might get attached.....and jealousy can set in.

ddyn-budr

[harsu]

Try a couple of sheep.

Never seen sheep in Thailand at least not where I live.

Rule 1 for Thai wildlife....if it is de.licious it has been eaten allready.

I think goats survive here better than sheep and coud be suitible too.

Goats are great in some respects but they will mow off your shrubs and flowers. They will also strip the trees as high as they can reach when standing up on their hind legs. They aren't picky eaters.

Not picky - but just don't let them try rich tea biscuits. Being mugged by a herd of British Alpines everytime they hear (or think they hear) the rustle of biscuit paper can be tiring, especially when you're trying to do some field work. Ours would trample each other in the rush for these, pea pods and rosebay willow herb as well. Goat milk is great too, can be frozen (doesn't seperate on thawing) and makes delicious yogurt etc. Lovely animals.

[taff33]

Sheep are nice.

but you might get attached.....and jealousy can set in.

I know all about sheep and running with wellingtons on I'm from Wales

[fredob43]

Sheep are nice.

but you might get attached.....and jealousy can set in.

I know all about sheep and running with wellingtons on I'm from Wales

Just a though how about a Budgerigar lot less agro.

[bina]

british alpines/ love alpines... had a beautiful female, got stolen along with the rest of my herd may years ago during one of our yearly goat rustling events (the holiday at end of ramadan creates a slew of goat thievery)...alpines became somewhat of a fad in israel a few years ago with everyone importing from the states and europe... tall legs good milkers good friendly anaimsl as apposed to our local baladi... but expensive. and udders too low and big for israeli thorny pasture...

sheep? no

goats, i love them but they are picky, they pick and eat what they deem tasty including trees like the guy says above, they dont eat grass. goats are foragers sheep are grazers (goats have heads up, sheep keep heads down. goats are intelligent witty affectionate fun playful and can also be dnagerous; sheep are stupid, stupid stupid and can be dangerous (the males of both).

local hens should keep grass growth down aslso, hens love to pick at fresh grass blades.

bina

[meatboy]

Sheep are nice.

but you might get attached.....and jealousy can set in.

I know all about sheep and running with wellingtons on I'm from Wales

thats lovely you know,GOOSY GOOSY GANDER WHERE SHALL I WANDER, ON THE DINNER TABLE I TO AM FROM THE VALLEYS

[Gary A]

Years ago someone gave my ex-wife a kid goat. Yes it was cute and friendly. She used to take it with her on car rides. THEN it grew up. It was a billy and it smelled very bad. If anyone made the mistake of opening a car door it would knock them down trying to get in the car. It was impossible to keep it fenced in and it went wherever it wanted to go.

I had several dogs, beagles and a German Shorthair. The German Shorthair was a BIG dog. All the dogs lived in fear of the goat. He developed a fairly large set of horns and he used them on anything or anyone he didn't like. I don't think he was really mean, but rather just ornery.

He did stop one irritation I had. The wife's brother always had new cars and he was VERY particular about his cars. My brother in law showed up unannounced too many times to suit me. On one visit he looked out the window and saw the goat standing in the middle of his car roof. The guy went absolutely ballistic and chased the goat all over the farm. I couldn't stop laughing. Anyways the brother in law refused to visit us until my wife got rid of the goat. That was good.

Her goat came up missing. My wife accused me of getting rid of him. I was innocent although I had considered it. One year we had migrant workers staying up the road. The were there for the tomato picking season. As it turned out the Mexicans stopped their car in the middle of the road, opened the door and the goat jumped in. They had a goat roast that night. I told the neighbors NOT to tell my wife until the migrants left. She would have been down there with a shotgun.

[Dag]

Sheep are nice.

but you might get attached.....and jealousy can set in.

I know all about sheep and running with wellingtons on I'm from Wales

Why would you be running ??

Oh....after or away ??

[F1fanatic]

Interesting thread. I'd seriously considered getting a couple of baby geese as 'watchdogs' - my dogs are too friendly and sleep even more soundly than me during the night....

Having read this thread I've realised its not a good idea!

Edited August 2, 2011 by F1fanatic

[billd766]

Interesting thread. I'd seriously considered getting a couple of baby geese as 'watchdogs' - my dogs are too friendly and sleep even more soundly than me during the night....

Having read this thread I've realised its not a good idea!

I got rid of my last 2 dogs as they were killing the chickens and ducks and I also had seriously considered getting geese in to replace them.

I am 100% in agreement with you on this.