Looking for a goose trio....and I have some '?????'

[cjeanean]

I'm gonna be starting a garden here shortly, and I'm wondering if geese can be used to weed regular vegetable gardens without eating my plants. I'm also looking for a trio of goslings for a reasonable price, since I can't afford to buy the 10 required from a hatchery. Also, with three of them, do I have to have one male and two females??? Or can it be a mix of both??? Thanks!!!!

 

[Frosty]

I think you can get less than 10 from Ideal, just have to have a minimum of something like $20 for your order. (Think someone said that includes shipping?) Anyhow, they can be used to weed a garden, but... They could trample some of your plants. If you put them in with corn, you have to wait until the corn gets taller or they will eat it too. Geese mostly go after grasses, not broad leaf plants (though they do love dandelion leaves!) though later in the summer when they run out of grass or it gets dry, you do need to take them out of the garden or they will start eating your plants, too. If you get a mix of sexes, try not to get two males and one female or they could fight over her. I had mine in with my juneberries last year, and for the first time since they were planted my juneberries are weed free... I love it! This year they go in with the raspberries...

 

[cjeanean]

Hmmmmm....thanks!!! I hope I can get less than 10!!!! Can't afford that many geese, unless someone in my area wants to split some with me!

 

[greyfields]

Geese can be good weeders, but in a vegetable garden it is very dubious.

In general, geese will always eat young, germinating grasses and shoots. So in a corn patch where the corn is 4' high, they'll walk down the rows and eat the weeds. However, they will eat leafy greens and brassicas of any age. So, they will go straight for your lettuce patch and go ape-shizzle before you realize what happened.

Also, my geese will work as a little team and will pull down corn stalks together and eat them (stover and all). So, you really have to keep an eye on them. The best use I have found for my geese is to leave them in the potato patch. They don't like the potato leaves at all. Corn can work. Pumpkins, zuccini, peas should all work.

But, they will find your spinach and that will be the end of it.

 

[Badhbh]

I ordered a pair of Brown Chinese from Ideal, so yes, you can get only two or three