Raising baby geese with chickens, problems?

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My daughter is about to obtain baby geese and add them to her flock of ck of chickens and ducks. Are there any special problems putting dthem together? What kind of feeding trough should be used for geese and should it be kept separate from chickens? We would appreciate any experiences your readers may have in this regard. Thank you!

-- Stephen Padgett (spadgett@warwick.net), March 02, 2001

Answers

There shouldn't be any problem till the geese get big. The can become rather territorial (as will ducks while brooding).

When the geese get bigger, the males will defend their territory against all intruders..... possibly including your daughter. Make sure she spends some time with them and imprints them to her - then she won't have a problem....

Geese nip a lot. They will leave some terrible bruises. If imprinted, they usually don't do that.

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), March 02, 2001.


There are a couple of things that you need to be aware about when raising goslings with chickens. I would recommend creating a seperate area to brood your new additions.

Goslings need the temperature at 90 degrees for the first week and then dropping 5-10 degrees each week after that until equal with your normal air temp. You probably don't keep you adult birds at this temp.

The adult chickens will most likely peck at the clumsly and slower moving goslings, especially the eyes, head and feet. The ducks probably won't be as aggressive but may run over the goslings and trample them.

Waterfowl should not be feed medicated chicken feed. They eat more than chicks and can overdose.

The best starter feeder for goslings, that we've found is a shallow pan, like a pie pan. Waterfowl crumbles are ideal for starting goslings and they can be started on grass/greens almost immediately also. Again, I would keep it seperate as chickens can be a bit aggressive about food and the goslings wouldn't stand a chance.

As adults all our birds live together fairly well so I would recommend just starting your goslings off in a seperate area and when they get older you can add them to your other flock.

I hope this helps some.

-- Trisha-MN (tank@linkup.net), March 02, 2001.


I totally agree with Trish - there are several points where the needs of adult chickens vary greatly with those of goslings and I think they need to be separated, even if they have to be kept in the same building, maybe in a big cardboard box covered with netting or something to keep the chickens out. Once Dad had some banty chicks and a pair of African goslings - got them at the same time and the little chicks acted like the goslings were their mamas, crawled on their backs and under their wings and it was soo cute; but they were all just babies, so no problems.

-- Cynthia Speer (farmsteader@gvtel.com), March 02, 2001.

Geese are in a wet environment, chickens need a dry environment.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), March 02, 2001.

I raised 4 geese, White Chinese, African, and Touluse, 4 ducks and 20 Rhode Is Reds, barred rocks, all together from chicks and had no problems. The area was about 4x4 ft square untill they were about 8 weeks old. I was worried the geese would trample the chicks, but they got along fine. As adults the geese will sometimes try and peck the chickens at feeding time, but the chickens are much faster, so they just jump out of the way. I have a pond that is enclosed where they all live together, so there is enough room to move around. Cougar-bobcat killed the last of my chickens last week, so all I have left are the geese and ducks. I'll be getting some new chicks next week, so hopefully I won't have a problem when I introduce the new chicks to the geese. Here are a few pics if you'de like to look.

http://www.zing.com/album/pictures.html?id=4293703179&show_all=1&start =1

-- Kent in WA (kent@premier1.net), March 03, 2001.



I bought a full grown Toulouse goose and put her in with my ducks and the chicken that was outcast from the chicken flock, and everything was fine. She used to be a great alarm, and would keep the ducks in line from fighting, physically trying to impose her body between fighting ducks. She and the one chicken got along well. She was never agressive, and very gentle in taking food by hand after I'd worked with her a bit. She was a great favorite of mine.

There is also a gander at a farm I go to for sales horses who is in with her general poultry flock (chickens, ducks, geese, peacocks) and he's never been any problem for me, follows me around like a dog, rather friendly.

One thing in passing with geese is to be very careful of their green feed so that it is absolutely fresh, as they suffer (and die) from botulism rather easily from my experience.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), March 03, 2001.


I dont know about baby geese and adult chickens but I do know that when I bought a baby goose and baby chic I asked the same questions. They all said they would be fine together. For the first week they were fine together (the chick following the goose everywhere)but soon after a week went by I found my chick in the coroner of the cage with a missing toe and blood all over the cage where the goose continued to peck at her. I seperated them and the chick is fine but when ever I have them together for a short period of time(supervised)the baby goose goes right for her feet and just wont leave her alone.

-- Ellen Scusa (eascusa@yahoo.com), April 22, 2002.

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