Our most recent acquisition of farm animals has been a gaggle of geese. We wanted something that would graze the grass and weeds around our small pond. We had previously raised muscovy ducks but they are not grazers and the area became a small jungle.
Buy from a reputable breeder
We got five goslings that were 1 day old from a breeder that was close to us. We ordered them in early winter and we had a choice of four breeds, Brown Chinese, Embden, Saddleback Pomeranian and Toulouse. The Toulouse breed was chosen both for the size and the looks as well as not being as aggressive as some breeds.
Use a brooder to keep them warm
We put the goslings in a brooder with feed and water and shavings for absorbency. Geese love water and will make quite a mess with it. A heat lamp was used and kept the temperature at 90 degrees Fahrenheit for the first week. We lowered the temperature by 5 degrees every week as their feathers grew in. It took about 4 weeks for the goslings to have their adult feathers and look like full-grown geese. By now the weather had improved outside so we move them to their new home.
Goose house and yard
Our geese have a 6′ by 8′ wooden insulated house with windows and a door on the south side to let the sun in. It has a wooden floor and we lay down shavings and straw for absorbency and warmth in the winter. It gets topped up every couple of weeks and then in spring and fall it gets a total cleaning. They have a rather large run which includes a pond, trees for shade and a lot of pasture to roam. We let them out every morning rain or shine and then close them up at night for their protection.
Fencing against predators
Their yard is fenced in with hardware cloth on the lower 4 feet and the cloth is bent outwards at the bottom to prevent animals from trying to dig their way under. Then the fence has 1-inch chicken wire about 5 to 6 feet high on top of this to prevent predators from jumping over. We used 8-foot steel posts to hold the fence and buried them 2 feet in the ground. The total area is about 50 x 50 feet. This year we hope to fence in around our apple tree and expand their area a bit.
The goose pond
Our pond is only about 15 x 15 feet and maybe 2 feet deep. It is just a wider area in our creek that runs through our property. If it’s a wet year the pond stays full for most of the time but if we don’t get a lot of rain the pond can dry up and we supplement with a large trough for them to swim in. In winter the pond will freeze during the coldest weather so we use heated buckets of water for them to drink from. Geese need to be able to submerge their heads to clean their nostrils and eyes.
Feeding Geese
Geese are grazers much like our horses. They eat grass and weeds during the warm seasons when the grass is available to them. During the winter we give them hay and game bird feed. We give them a flake of hay every week and that seems to keep them very happy. Geese are probably the easiest keepers on our hobby farm.
Are they noisy?
Geese can be a bit on the noisy side so if you have close neighbours it could be a problem. They have a warning honk that they use whenever they sense something different in the area. It could be people, an animal, a bird, a blowing bag or a cloud in the sky and they let each other know about it. This can be a good warning alarm for your farm but you would need to see what the issue is each time. We find the males are the protective ones. They will stretch out their necks and give a little hiss to warn you to leave them alone. Otherwise, they go about their business of eating grass and waddling about as a group.
Eggs and meat
Our hope for our little gaggle of geese is that they pair up and produce a few goslings this year. We will let the geese raise them up and then process them at about 18 weeks or in November. Giving us a Christmas goose to put in the freezer or sell to others is our goal as well as trying a few of the eggs as they begin to lay in the spring. A goose egg is the equivalent of 3 chicken eggs so a goose omelet will be on the menu this spring too.
So do you think you would enjoy having a gaggle of geese on your hobby farm?