Hello, as a child I was attacked by a flock of the most beautiful domestic geese. The bruises and scraps healed but left a fear of geese, yet, I must admit to longingly watching other peoples geese. I do have children and this above mentioned fear. Is there a breed or perhaps a way to have geese which will not attack my children or I? Must I have a pond for geese? I currently have 2 goats (pregnant) three sweet tempered rabbit does, a sweet tempered rabbit buck and chickens, dairy and beef cows.

-- Faith Ever (foureverfaith@hotmail.com), January 12, 2000

Answers

We have Toulouse geese...just two. They are both female and get along fine with our cats, sheep, chickens and ducks. They sometimes push the ducks out of the pond when they feel that it's their time to bathe! However, they don't *need* a pond. They hang out with the sheep and eat grass and sleep in the barn with them at night. We don't have dogs, but these two let us know immediately if something isn't kosher in the barnyard. They have intimidated little kids by honking and carrying on (since the geese don't know them) but they have never attacked kids or anyone....which is more than I can say for our obnoxious rooster who attacks me whenever he is in the mood!

I would think if you raise goslings and handle them a lot, you shouldn't have much problem. Always a good idea to caution strangers, especially kids, about being around strange animals. Since you have big critters, I am sure you are already doing that. Good luck!

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), January 12, 2000.

Any geese (and particularly ganders) are going to be vicious while nesting. Chinese geese are smaller than the European ones, so aren't as frightening and can't do as much damage. They also make a smaller, handier-sized carcase for cooking.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), January 13, 2000.

After I posted last night, I remembered lambing season last year.

Geese had nested in the barn and made it very noisy and distressing (!) while we were assisting lambing. They do get very territorial when nesting and while they didn't attack us, they were really obnoxious. Hard to think in the wee dawn hours anyway...I was glad we didn't have any delivery problems.

This year, first sign of eggs and they are banished into the ram barn and I will remember to collect eggs every day.

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), January 13, 2000.

I was looking through the latest McMurray Hatchery catalog, and see a new listing: Buff Geese, described as being friendly and sociable. You might try to find out more about this breed. Good luck!

-- Jil (kairojoe@yahoo.com), January 14, 2000.

Try looking at the information on www.feathersite.com. They have a lot of information and links to various poultry related sites.

-- A.C. Green (ratdogs10@hotmail.com), January 16, 2000.

I have owned a small waterfowl business. My favorite goose is the American Standard Toulouse. I have hatched hundreds of this breed and have found them friendly, especially if you handle them from day one.

I originally bred them for an all purpose meat goose, however, most of my birds ended up as pets! My customers called me to say how much they enjoyed the geese and they named them all. One hint. My geese hated to be captured. So if I went after them, they turned tail and ran away. Toulouse do not require a pond. Good luck. Would like to hear from other rural folks.

From: living in the woods of New Hampshire

-- diane r. legge (dlegge@ttlc.net), January 16, 2000.

Hi Diane,

I am in Washington State....a long ways from you! But Hello!

We got our Toulouse Geese (not sure if American or? but they are certainly "American" now!) as a rescued pair from a pet shop. A guy I know at work took them home, because as goslings they were going to become python food. So he rescued them and we ended up with them because he didn't have room for them when they got big.

We enjoy ours (except lambing time...see above post) and they have always been named. We don't name our chickens or ducks, though. Guess we'll never eat our geese, huh?

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), January 16, 2000.

Hello Washington State!

Yes most likely your Toulouse are American Standard. I mentioned that because I have also raised French Mammoth Dewlap Toulouse. The French breed is where your smaller Toulouse originally came from! They are the very largest of the geese and have the same coloring,except they are HUGE and have a dewlap under their chin. Not an easy bird to breed. The French goslings will bring $50.00 for day old and a mature pair will command $300.00! verses $7.00 each for my Standard goslings.

Any of these males are testy around mating time and will defend the goslings. One day a thunderstorm appeared out of nowhere. I grabbed a bright yellow rain slicker and started herding my babies and mothers into their building. I didn't want the babies soaked in a chilling hard rain. The male always saw me in dark jeans and dark flannel shirts. He didn't recognize me and proceded to climb onto a stone wall. He launched himself and flew right into my side, while I had my back to him. Needless to say, I am 5'4", average weight and he took me right off my feet! We both ended up on the ground . I started scolding him and it was then that he recognized me and allowed my to finish my task. Another trivia nuggett. Geese are THE smartest of all the birds and they are all decendant from swans. They have their own social order, mate for life and the male will rear the babies if the female dies. I enjoy them and respect their integrity. And I rarely eat them. The ducks are anothet matter. The Pekins are more likey to end up on my dinner table! I like to raise Call ducks for pets. They are my favorite duck.

How is your winter weather? We are experiencing frigid temperatures and high winds. So far only a few inches of snow with more frocasted by the end of the week. Must go and put another log in the stove and finish making my oatmeal bread.

Cheers!

Diane

-- diane legge (dlegge@ttlc.net), January 17, 2000.

Hi Diane and all,

Interesting post! Thanks. I was just perusing the Murray McMurray Hatchery catalog and looking up geese a few minutes ago. I was thinking about an escort service for my two geese! Well, maybe just a gander! I noted that there is a 10 gosling minimum which is probably why Faith was looking into getting 10. Our girls will just have to go without dates for a while longer....

I also have a lot of respect for geese, both domestic and wild...their mating for life, longevity, care for others who fall out of formation (shot, etc). We could learn a lot from them! They certainly are a lot different than other poultry. We have ducks (khaki campbell/mallard crosses) and chickens (variety of mostly brown egg layers). Respect is not a word I would associate with either ducks or chickens...I do love the eggs though!

Weather here has been wet all year (last 2 winters are La Nina which is even more precipitation than usual). Yesterday we had horrendous winds and attendant power outages, etc. Other than that, same ol' slog through the mud out to collect eggs, feed sheep, etc. Be glad when spring is here!

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), January 17, 2000.

Any geese out there that can free-range in coyote areas? The Toulouse are the right coloring for blending with the vegetation,but aggressive enough? We have 4 peafowl that run free and have no problems yet. We do have bears but they have yet to enter our compound. Our 4 dogs run the property day and night. The peafowl stay close to the house,but will geese wander far? If this is possibe at all, how many geese would be enough? About the bears, we have an Avacado orchard some distance from the house and many of our neighbors say the bears are little problem because they fatten on the fruit. Most of us, for many miles, have large Avacado groves. Some are owned by large companies with 100s of acres devoted to Avacados. It`s not uncommon to see bears very close-up, yet they seem totally uninterested to us.

-- Viv Lander (century2kay@webtv.net), September 19, 2000.