Having geese with chickens

[AGeese]

It's all still just questions for now. I won't be getting them anytime soon. Next spring at the earliest, but probably even longer. I like to ask questions and research before I come up with my own plans because I get ahead of myself and set in my ideas. I have nothing set up yet, but we're not expanding to any extra animals. We've got chickens and their LSD for now. My family has over 10 acres, so space isn't the problem, we just have to build something (too bad it's not as easy as "just" doing it though). I'm still learning about what they need for an ideal enclosure, but obviously a pond and coop (or whatever you call it for a goose). I'm assuming a separate water that isn't swam in. And it probably needs to be covered because they'll try to swim in it. And I assume my local farm supply shop will have feed, if not, then I'll figure that out well before we even build anything IF we even decide this is right for us. And for free ranging, I don't let my chickens out without supervision because of predators. I deeply love my animals and it hurts when one dies. But we're working on fixing things up (we got a coop with a huge penned area but unfortunately the fence sucks and it's uncovered. The electric fence was broken and nothing to stop predators from digging under it, as my lab kindly showed us regularly when she stole the chickens scrap food/treats). So when we make the goose pen (or whatever comes next), we'll do it properly, unlike the last people who had this place and didnt care to have things made well. So it'll be buried fencing, electric on top on the outside side of the fencs and netting to keep predators out. But again, I'm still learning and researching. I'm nowhere near ready and I am aware of that. We won't be doing anything until we fully repair and upgrade the chicken area. Any advice/tips/knowledge is appreciated. Thank you

So how big of an area are you going to confine them in? You might find it's too much of a mess because they need water all the time and they poop large wet poops. I try to let them range as much as they want and only in the winter do I bring food and water inside because of this.

So if you are going to confine them maybe go with mini geese.

 

[Goosebaby]

Thank you for all the information! I'd ideally not get a gander, but I'm sure it happens where they mess up sexing them. And that's so intriguing to me that they hate "caves" so much. And I absolutely am against the lamps too. We do have one that's good quality that we used our first time having chicks (and for at least a decade for my dogs who hate being indoors) until it was warm enough. But my coop stays warm enough without extra heat. I'd make sure to build a warm coop for my geese too. Or bring them in the garage if it's too cold. I'm not sure what they can tolerate compared to chickens, I'll have to figure that out too!

During nesting season their feelings towards enclosures can change. My girls tend to like building nests in dog igloos or travel crates.

 

[AGeese]

Yeah and also if you've got males and females you're in for it. So you'll need multiple enclosures in case you need to separate any of them.

 

[Pgw]

I've got eleven hens and two roosters but am currently waiting for more hens, I know it's not a good ratio. I was looking on the Meyer hatchery site and saw a bunch of breeds of geese. I'd never get a single goose (even if I wanted to, Meyer has a minimum of 2), but I have some questions.
If a gosling grows up into a gander, will he mate my hens? Or would he leave them alone if the other goose is a girl? Would my roosters fight a gander if he tried to mate a hen?
Will the goslings actually grow up to like the chickens if they're raised with them?
I've heard that geese can be deterrents for hawks, is this true? Will they actually fight a hawk that's going after a hen? (This I'm just asking out of curiosity. They've got netting up and a LSD, so the goose isn't needed for protection)
What is owning a goose like? I know I could read articles and whatever, but I'd rather hear first hand experience. Will they attack my dad who works away and isn't home every day? Or my other family who aren't the main caregivers? How do they react to new chickens if they're around them? How do they like their coops? Can domestic geese fly well? Would my hawk net hurt the geese if they flew into it? Would they fly to a pond that's separate from the chickens?
And anything that I didn't ask that should be said, you can tell me anyway. I care deeply about my animals and would never want to get one to later realize I didn't know enough.
Thanks in advance!

What is an LSD? Electric fence?

 

[donteatbees]

No they are not safe in the pond. They sleep on the banks and swim to the middle when threatened but most predators can swim as well. I lost a few to a bobcat and the rest to a coyote pack because they insisted on staying on the pond.

Yeah that's kinda what I figured. So sounds like I need a pond small enough to scoop them out with a net lol

 

[donteatbees]

Yeah and also if you've got males and females you're in for it. So you'll need multiple enclosures in case you need to separate any of them.

Yeah, that's true for any animal. But I'd ideally have just geese and no ganders. But I know with chickens sometimes they get sexed wrong so I asked about ganders more because of that possibility (if that's as common with geese as chickens)

 

[donteatbees]

What is an LSD? Electric fence?

I meant LSG dog, I was just in a rush typing it and messed up terribly. Sorry!

 

[donteatbees]

So how big of an area are you going to confine them in? You might find it's too much of a mess because they need water all the time and they poop large wet poops. I try to let them range as much as they want and only in the winter do I bring food and water inside because of this.

So if you are going to confine them maybe go with mini geese.

Honestly, I have no idea. My chickens have an insanely large amount of space, like more than 50 by 50 feet. And I have less than 20 chickens. I wouldn't have that many geese, but probably around that same size. We're going to redo our chicken pen to be 50×50 feet so the hawk net fits over it. So that 50×50 pen size idea will probably be used for other animals.

 

[donteatbees]

During nesting season their feelings towards enclosures can change. My girls tend to like building nests in dog igloos or travel crates.

That makes sense

 

[AGeese]

I say get mini geese.