Lovers of Chinese geese... anyone..?

[curlycropchics]

Soo. I did a thing and ordered some geese, my first, 4 Chinese and 2 African no gander as of yet.
The posts are very mixed about the Chinese and how they are just aggressive and not so nice. I would love to hear a difference of opinion if there is one out there.
I am pretty confident taking care of them, but just curious if I am setting my self for a nippy and painful entrance into goose owner. Thanks!

 

[telandra2]

Since December I've been 'goose sitting' a pair for a neighbor and just got 2 more girls off Craigslist. Feed store African, so Chinese-like.

Pair 1: 2 years old. Yell when let out in the morning, yell when put to bed, yell when I bring treats, yell at deer, yell at people walking down the street. So ... they yell at threats, but otherwise quiet. Noisy for 2mins twice a day and when threatened. In general they bow their heads and yell and approach when I visit them (not sure if this is agressive or just 'hello'). They will sometimes chase me with low heads when I walk away, but play innocent when I turn around. They are also peeping stalkers at the windows andthey like to sleep on top of my duck's nestboxes.

I'm the 3rd caretaker and the neighbor hand fed them and petted them saying they didn't have a mean bone. When I first got them the gander would charge and try to fake nip but I pinned him to prove I outrank him and he stopped. He's never spread his wings or been seriously agressive. They were also kept outside w/o protection and would wake the neighbors up at night doing battle with raccoons, so some aggression is justified IMO -- they just have to get used to me.

Pair2: Hatched this year and "Were raised by my kids and used to go inside the house." Both stank of chicken poo and have wet feather. They heard the first pair and immediately had to be with them. These two are much quieter and calmer with 0 agression. One has a white chest, so must be crossed, and she ran into the coop tonight and quietly watched me do bedtime prep while she waited for her dinner. The first pair stood outside and yelled.

The gander gets randy around my flirty ducks and his girlfriend isn't interested in him. (yet, his wife is suspecting the mistresses and is starting to fight with the other girls.) The two new girls are VERY interested with come-hither nips and bows. So far the gander is not being extra aggressive but I'm watching for it.

I'm expecting to have friendly geese when it warms up so I'm outside with them more and they have a chance to get used to me.

 

[LadyoftheLandfill]

I got a few white and brown Chinese in a hatchery choice order last spring to raise for meat. They were all males. The white ones were just bull-headed (so of course my daughter loved them ). One of the brown ones was beautiful, so we decided to keep him. His name is Chow Mien, because he is Chinese and was supposed to be dinner. He is quite the Casanova, he thinks all of the girls are his. He has tried to challenge everyone at least once, but he’s a total coward so just looking at him often does the trick. He has had to be kicked in the chest a couple times, and he definitely challenges us more than our Toulouse and Embdens, but we still love him. I would say, even more than the European geese, it will come down to the individual personalities of each goose. You might get more stinkers with asian geese, but with all geese the good ones are totally worth it.

 

[yesterDAYNE]

I can't say on ganders as my chinese goose is a girl, but she is mostly sweet and sometimes sour. I'll get a nip or bite every now and then or she'll charge and bump her bill into me like she's going to latch onto me, but doesn't, just bumps me. I think she's funny. She likes to be pet sometimes and likes giving and receiving kisses on the chin. She absolutely hates my sister though amd will attack her if she is down near her. Otherwise she's just very noisy to strangers and mostly avoids them.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

I've had Chinese geese and I'm a fan. They tend to imprint very strongly on humans if incubator-hatched, and remain affectionate even while other breeds become less so as they get older.

I don't raise them now because I found them to be too hard on my chickens. I started with an adult trio (two ganders and one goose, before I knew better ) that bullied my ducks and chickens when they free ranged together. I also hatched eggs from the goose and ended up with 6 unbelievably adorable goslings. The babies followed me around like puppies, and showed the same kind of delight when they saw me.

Eventually, the goslings were integrated with the adults (when they were large enough), and they, too, began to bully the other fowl. It was less violence than harassment, but it was stressful for the targets. I suspect that the younger geese may have learned the behavior from the older ones, but that's just speculative.

That said, I would consider raising Chinese geese again. They're excellent weeders and alarm systems, and truly elegant-looking. If I were to do it again, though, I'd hatch goslings and raise them with other poultry right away in the hope that, without older bullies to model/reinforce that behavior, they might not do it. And I never experienced human-directed aggression from any of my Chinese geese.

Enjoy your birds!

 

[curlycropchics]

I've had Chinese geese and I'm a fan. They tend to imprint very strongly on humans if incubator-hatched, and remain affectionate even while other breeds become less so as they get older.

I don't raise them now because I found them to be too hard on my chickens. I started with an adult trio (two ganders and one goose, before I knew better ) that bullied my ducks and chickens when they free ranged together. I also hatched eggs from the goose and ended up with 6 unbelievably adorable goslings. The babies followed me around like puppies, and showed the same kind of delight when they saw me.

Eventually, the goslings were integrated with the adults (when they were large enough), and they, too, began to bully the other fowl. It was less violence than harassment, but it was stressful for the targets. I suspect that the younger geese may have learned the behavior from the older ones, but that's just speculative.

That said, I would consider raising Chinese geese again. They're excellent weeders and alarm systems, and truly elegant-looking. If I were to do it again, though, I'd hatch goslings and raise them with other poultry right away in the hope that, without older bullies to model/reinforce that behavior, they might not do it. And I never experienced human-directed aggression from any of my Chinese geese.

Enjoy your birds!

thank you so good to know. I am truly facinated with the way they look and it would be nice to know if there is something lurking on our property for us to be warned by more than our dog. I don't have to worry about sound to much as we have a very large property and neighbors are not close. i am hoping that my interaction with them will maybe bring out a more affectionate and friendly side, I am home all day and they will be seperate from my chickens. They might grow up with the goats in the pasture though.

 

[curlycropchics]

I got a few white and brown Chinese in a hatchery choice order last spring to raise for meat. They were all males. The white ones were just bull-headed (so of course my daughter loved them ). One of the brown ones was beautiful, so we decided to keep him. His name is Chow Mien, because he is Chinese and was supposed to be dinner. He is quite the Casanova, he thinks all of the girls are his. He has tried to challenge everyone at least once, but he’s a total coward so just looking at him often does the trick. He has had to be kicked in the chest a couple times, and he definitely challenges us more than our Toulouse and Embdens, but we still love him. I would say, even more than the European geese, it will come down to the individual personalities of each goose. You might get more stinkers with asian geese, but with all geese the good ones are totally worth it.

Yeah i have geese no ganders, I have been warned the ganders can be a little nippy and try and hold their ground. But give a little bit of who is boss and they will back down. Hopefully with my geese and time they might not be such a strong personality, but who knows just gonna give it a go.

 

[curlycropchics]

I can't say on ganders as my chinese goose is a girl, but she is mostly sweet and sometimes sour. I'll get a nip or bite every now and then or she'll charge and bump her bill into me like she's going to latch onto me, but doesn't, just bumps me. I think she's funny. She likes to be pet sometimes and likes giving and receiving kisses on the chin. She absolutely hates my sister though amd will attack her if she is down near her. Otherwise she's just very noisy to strangers and mostly avoids them.

I am hoping for at least 2 out of the 4 turn out to be friendly, gonna try my darnedest to be around them alot as goslings and have them follow me around and do some choring as well as the kids with me so that they know them as well. I do love the way they look so I am hoping for a good match.

 

[Hockey]

I am hoping for at least 2 out of the 4 turn out to be friendly, gonna try my darnedest to be around them alot as goslings and have them follow me around and do some choring as well as the kids with me so that they know them as well. I do love the way they look so I am hoping for a good match.

 

[Hockey]

Soo. I did a thing and ordered some geese, my first, 4 Chinese and 2 African no gander as of yet.
The posts are very mixed about the Chinese and how they are just aggressive and not so nice. I would love to hear a difference of opinion if there is one out there.
I am pretty confident taking care of them, but just curious if I am setting my self for a nippy and painful entrance into goose owner. Thanks!

Hi if you are still thinking about getting Chinese geese
I love mine with all my heart they are wonderful
I got my 2 at a day old I didn’t know what sex they were but I didn’t care
Lucky for me they are male and female and they mate for life
Mine are not loving in the normal sense of the word but when we went away for 3 day they were so happy to see there mum shouting so load at me
Carrie is laying eggs so gary is very protective of her
But when she had a sore foot gary let me help her
She sat on my knee and I looked over her foot
It was like they were baby’s again
Chinese geese look after all my other birds for me
If you look after them
They will look after you
I think if someone was hurting me
They would help me
They are like dogs
I hope this helps x