Geese with Khaki Campbells?

[CountryFried]

Thinking about calling to see if I can add a pair of geese to my order of Khaki Campbells. Embdens have my eye, but Chinese are a possibility, too. Can 2 geese co-exist with 5 ducks in the same house? (48 sq ft) I'm really liking the idea of geese in the duck coop for snake patrol, but I'm not sure if they will squish the KCs. Anyone have Embdens with KCs? What about Chinese? TIA for any advice. We had Africans before, I believe, and positively loved them. I want them to mostly forage (I have plenty of that most of the year), would love some eggs next year...not so sure about meat...and to alert to predators or chase the neighbor dog back home. The geese could free range when they're grown, until then I'd probably move them around in the run with the KCs. (Planning a 10x10 run that will be moved to fresh grass and forage several times a day. I do have a large fenced yard that will be covered by trees soon if they need to be contained in a bigger area for a day if someone can't move the run that day. They can't have it all the time because my GSD hangs out there, but he's inside if no one is home, so it's available if needed.)

 

[Miss Lydia]

Geese do fine with ducks till breeding season then if you have gander and goose your gander is going to see everyone as an enemy. Not a good idea then to have geese housed with ducks. And if you have drakes there will be fighting among the gander and drakes and if you get female geese (you’ll still get eggs) but your drakes will most likely want to mate with them. So to make a long story short geese and ducks do fine together in open foraging but not penned or housed together. And they cannot chase off the neighbors dog if that dog is intent on killing. My rooster does better at alerting for predators.

 

[CountryFried]

Thanks Miss Lydia. Sounds like they would be ok together until next year when mating season starts? If not, I can subdivide the coop now or just build two LOL. They didn't have Embdens for my hatch date so I got white Chinese. I will have one drake and one gander if the sexing is right at the hatchery. (I want fertile eggs from both haha) We've been back on our property for 5 months and have only seen the dog 3 times, so he isn't a huge concern. Not worried about him attacking them (right now, obviously we will see how it goes after). We had such a bad experience with chickens that I'm leery about them right now. If the ducks go well, I may not ever add chickens, but currently I plan to get them next spring. So definitely no roos around until then.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Be sure to share pics of your new babies when they arrive. My geese have their own house they are out with the ducks and chickens during the day but just the two of them at night.

 

[Pyxis]

I do okay with ganders in with my ducks, but, as a caveat, I have the smallest domestic breed, which also happens to be an extremely docile breed. Even during breeding season the worst I ever get from them is a little hissing.

So depending on your breed, you might be able to keep them all together year-round, but it's not a bad idea to have a way to separate them if need be, just in case. I'm not sure that Chinese are considered a docile breed, so I'd watch closely, just in case.

 

[CountryFried]

Worst case I have a barn that I originally enclosed eight years ago as a huge chicken coop. After we culled our flock, I put a stall and stanchion in and put goats and a cow and calf in there. If I had an emergency, any of them could easily go in there. The only reason I’m not using it for the ducks is it’s so big I don’t feel like cleaning out all the duck poo when I get ruminants that need to go in there

 

[CindyinSD]

I ordered Buff Geese (American Buff). They’re reputed to be very gentle. I didn’t want to order the minimum so I just ordered from my feed store. More money per bird, but sexed and no min, no shipping.

 

[Miss Lydia]

It probably does help to know the personality of the geese your getting and order accordingly. I went into geese blindly always loved them so my dh surprised me with a goose egg one day way back in 2007 I had a broody Muscovy so I put the egg under her. She hatched a precious little Embden gosling who grew up to be a gander. And boy has he been a hand full come breeding season. So yes breed may play a role and how well your geese and ducks can live happily together year round. A few years ago a member had her geese and ducks together and the gander was killing her ducks. Sorry I don't remember the breed of geese she had. Main thing is to be aware there can be problems and be ready to have a plan in place when and if there is. My gander is going to be 12 yrs old next month has he changed any over the years Not really he is still the body guard of his mate and will bite and defend her if given the chance.[everything is a perceived threat during breeding season] Being protective is in the genes They mate for life and are excellent parents.

 

[CountryFried]

Hubby was trimming vines off our chain link fence and we discovered a little hoop cage that will be perfect for the geese. Decided we will use it for all of them when they outside in a few weeks and then I’ll build or make something in a few months for the ducks. Will give me time to see just how messy they are and whether they do well moving around with the run. Gonna put hardware cloth all around and under it, inside our chain link fence, and replace the roofing on it (I have about 4000 sq ft of metal roofing, had the guy stack it behind my barn when we had to replace the roof on our house a couple of years ago)