Treats for goslings?

[chickintexas]

I found a thread last night that was all about the huge variety of treats you can give chicks. I was wondering if there are any special treats that I could give my goslings. They are either Toulouse or Africans (feed store purchase in a bin labeled 'Mixed Geese') and they are about 2 weeks old if not older.

 

[WNCUrbanAgrarian]

They LOVE lettuce. Also if you want them to be weeders you can feed them the types of things you want them to weed. I also dig up a piece of sod and put that in with them. Geese are vegetarians so they love most anything green. They also love green beans. I had so many last year when I went out to pick I gave the bigger ones to them. Tried some frozen green beans this year that I was gifted when a friend moved out of state. They ate them, but weren't as crazy about them.

 

[chickintexas]

Thanks so much and the weed thing is great to know! Every day when I take them out, they go nuts over the weeds! They make me laugh when they start to play tug-of-war with a weed that won't give up it's tasty leaves!

 

[Friend2Fowl]

Definitely greens of any kind, I would cut up spinach and put it in a little bit of water for mine. You can also take them out on the grass, they'll find their own treats

Just remember that geese are herbivores, they eat only vegetation. So don't be offended if they turn their beaks up at a nice, juicy worm.

Though my embden did eat a fly when he was a baby, but he was between my feet and it landed on my leg

I think he was protecting me

Edit: Just be sure if you give them lettuce that it is something like romaine, or other dark green variety. Iceburg has very little nutritional value

 

[WNCUrbanAgrarian]

Good Point on the lettuce! I forget that some people don't know that. Red lettuces are even more packed with nutrition than green leafy varieties.

 

[chickintexas]

I had already figured on not using iceburg lettuce. I've owned all sorts of critters including an iguana and iceburg was a big no-no for all of them.

Thanks for the treat suggestions.

 

[amity3520]

Is iceberg actually bad for them, besides just having no nutritional value? We've been giving ours iceberg, and our chickens, and they both love it. It's more of a treat and something for them to do, we supplement it with mash and corn and other things, but I was just wondering after reading this!

Thanks!

 

[Friend2Fowl]

It is bad for them because it has no nutritional value. So they are filling up on junk, more or less. It would be much the same as feeding your kid potato chips. Yeah, the kid won't cry that he or she is hungry, but they probably won't grow very well either

 

[fowltemptress]

It's not bad for them since it's just a little treat. People are always forgetting that the original reason people said iceburg lettuce is bad for animals is because many people were feeding it as a part of the main diet. It was never really meant to be interpreted as, "Don't feed this ever, even as a treat!" If that were true, by now people would have stopped giving their chickens any sort of pasta, bread, or scratch. Yeah, there are better treats to give them, but it's not the huge "no-no" people can make it out to be.

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

my goose goes crazy over thawed out- frozen peas. yummy!