Best Housing for Geese?

[Cottage Rose]

Maybe then its the more aggressive breeds that make the good watch dogs because mine could care less about my ducks or chickens.

 

[lisahaschickens]

And nobody said anything about "controlling" hawks. That word was never used. There are many posts on this forum, including some older ones plus one I started to inquire about it, that talk about how having larger, sometimes more aggressive birds, like geese in particular, seems to reduce the number of hawk attacks by quite a bit. One lady was losing many chickens to hawks before she got a huge tom turkey to hang out with them and it's been a year and she hasn't lost another bird to a hawk. Another person talked about how he sees many hawks on his property but they never bother his birds and he has geese, and attributes it partly to that. Other people talked about how their geese took on predators like coyotes (and generally lost) in order to protect their flocks of chickens. The stories go on and on. Geese are large, noisy, protective, and aggressive, and I would think that would be a general deterrent. Surely it is not a perfect system and I am realistic about losses, but if something like a couple of geese would help my situation, I'm all for it. Chinese and Embden seem to be the best choices, from what I can read, for "guard geese," with Toulouse not far behind. We have huge numbers of raptors here and the hawk that just attacked did it when I was just a stone's throw away and in plain sight. I am only looking for a deterrent... like another set of eyes and another larger, scarier presence when I am able to let the chickens out with me. Since the attack, when I let them out, I stand there, paranoid, trying not to let them spread out too much and I yell, "no hawks! NO HAWKS!" while running around and clapping. It is pretty ridiculous and I would like a little more peace of mind than that, is all.

As for getting the geese just to be guard dogs, if that's not what they turn out to be, I'd still be excited. Like many people on here, I am a true animal lover and have been around and kept so many different animals in my lifetime. My parents kept chickens and geese when I was little, so I've got good advice there, plus my own general animal experience. If nothing else, I'm happy to have them walk around and munch grass and lay the occasional egg. I'm just hoping that while they're doing that, they'll also make my yard a less desirable target for hawks. Maybe they will and maybe they won't, but I don't think it can hurt to try.

 

[goosedragon]

Ok about geese and hawks. Chickens and ducks like to catch and eat moving things so tend to pay less attention to the skywatch. Almost any of these will give a warning to the rest of the flock if they see a hawk (or a kids kite or an airplain) in the sky and the smart ones move to cover under trees or bushes. Geese like plants that don't move so they pay more attention to the sky and are more likely to make the warning.
Second is the intimination (can't spell) factor. If you are a hawk are you going to want to pick a fight with a bird twice your size that is watching and waiting for you? All the time I had poultry I had a near by tree with a red tailed hawk nest(these are fairly large hawks) and I started my flock with geese. Sometimes the hawks would take a rodent (or baby rabbit) in the area the geese considered theirs. The gaggle would form up in fighting order with the ganders in the lead and head for the hawk at a walking pace. By the time they got there the hawk would be long gone even if he couldn't carry his kill in flight. I'm not willing to say that a hawk will never attack a goose but they usually think twice about it.
One other story believe it or not. One day a bull got out of the neighbor's, scared me up onto my deck! Geese didn't do much until the bull took a drink out of THEIR pool. They formed up and attacked the bull who stood his ground until he was being bit on all legs at once (ever been bitten by a goose?). He started for home and kept right on going, at the line the geese turned back giving their victory call which the winning gander gives when he has driven off the looser.
So will a few geese prevent all hawk attacks? I doubt it but they sure help. ~gd

 

[Cottage Rose]

Lisa you seem kind of defensive.
What I said was never intended to offend you.
I'm just going on my own experience.
Certainly I don't think my geese are the gold standard for geese behavior.
I'm only an expert in my own backyard and simply share
what I've learned from that perspective and my geese give no warnings
when hawks are over head. They just look at them.
At any rate its always nice to consider all the possibilties before making a commitment.

 

[pips&peeps]

I don't think there is any scientific evidence from the "stories" you have heard that the geese will help keep hawks or other predators in check.

Maybe the hawks found better prey or it was a juvenile offender. It happens alot when they are learning to hunt on their own and are desperate.

I have had chickens for about 9-10 years and had never had a predator problem. I got geese two years ago and now I have an owl; yes, they will take a goose.

My geese could really care less about my chickens, when my goose was being attacked by the owl all the rest ran away, it was every man for themselves. I think during breeding season they would be more apt to stand up for themselves, but that is only a couple months out of the year.

A general answer to your question is a covered run.

If you decide to get sebastopols, I would recommend a small cubbie that you can close the door on to get them out of the weather when it gets below 25 degrees as that is what I do. With the curly feathers, they don't maintain their body temperature as well as other breeds.

You sound like you want geese anyway, so just have fun with them. I really love mine and would recommend to everyone to get goslings. To me, they are like puppies and nothing is sweeter than a little animal watching and waiting on your every move. They are very social and reactive to your voice.

Good Luck!

 

[goosedragon]

Another story about one goose against the neighborhood fox (one in the 'hood fed the fox dogfood). I only let my birds freerange while I am home. The goose always makes a loud fuss at anything strange, and I grab the shot gun and go out where I hear it. 5 times I have watched the contest between my lone goose (at that time) against the half tame fox. 3 times she chased the fox off the farm by herself. Twice she ran to me for protection on the porch and I got to blast with my shotgun. Two clear shots and I missed both times!

. I ended up running over that fox by accident comming home from work one afternoon....~gd

 

[lisahaschickens]

pips&peeps - yes, I would be happy with geese no matter what they do. If it were up to me (DF keeps me in check) I would have at least one or two (probably more) of just about any animal that can be domesticated

My dad and brother are the same way and it is in my blood. Even if the geese turned out to be totally useless, I would enjoy having them. And, yes, I have a covered run. My coop and run are like fort knox! They are completely surrounded by a 12" deep, 6" thick slab of concrete with 1/2" wire mesh set into the concrete and then attached to all walls and the roof of the run. When I can't be with my chickies, they are as safe as can be! The only issue here is that I want to let them free range whenever possible. My definition of "whenever possible" is only when I can be right there with them. However, I walked 75 feet away to gather up some chickens that had strayed to the other side of my fence and even though I was in direct line of site of the bird that was attacked, the hawk came anyway.

All - so, again, I never, ever said anything about scientific evidence that geese deter predators. Why would such a silly thing be suggested? Just like I never said they "control hawks." All I said is that many people on this forum and many other websites and news venues seem to have had fewer hawk attacks with geese or other large birds around, and I would be excited if having a couple of geese in the yard along with me would sometimes make a hawk think twice about grabbing one of my chickens. That is all. I have said many, many times that I know it's not perfect and I have no particular expectations.

 

[pips&peeps]

I have a small hawk that still visits my coop area during the warmer months taking out sparrows. So they have not been a deterent to it.

They are noisy when they see something unfamiliar.

 

[lisahaschickens]

the hawk takes sparrows but not your chickens? I meant deterrent to swooping down and attacking chickens that are near the geese. I wouldn't think they would make the hawks stay completely out of my area.

 

[pips&peeps]

Yes, he's a little hawk. He's not a sparrow hawk, he's a little bigger. Probably about the size of a bantam chicken, too small to take a large fowl chicken.