9 Things to Consider When Keeping Guard Geese

With the growing popularity of the homesteading movement, many beginning farmers are happily jumping into agricultural adventures. Adding livestock to an operation is not without the risk of suffering losses, particularly due to predation. One of the proposed solutions to predator loss of ducks or chickens is guard geese. There are a couple of important points to consider when selecting livestock guardian geese (LGG) as the right option for you and your situation.

1. Geese are social animals. You will need more than one goose for your LGG to be happy. Otherwise, plan on them making friends with you.

2. Geese will seek you out and stay close. Plan to keep them contained somehow with your other livestock. If using tractors for your ducks/chickens/rabbits etc, plan to have a moveable fence. It doesn't take much to keep them contained, but you will want them contained somehow unless you want your geese to hang around on your porch.

3. Geese can be aggressive to other livestock. If you plan to have geese to protect ducks, raise your geese from day one (or as close as possible to day one) WITH your ducklings to ensure that geese see them as part of the flock. Otherwise, your geese will chase your ducks around and compete for resources rather than living in harmony with your fowl friends.

4. Have a plan for excess males. While geese do well with more than one male in the mix, having a skewed sex ratio with too many males can lead to fighting and injuries.

5. Geese are LOUD. Make sure you are in an area that allows geese. It is NOT an animal that you will be able to hide from neighbors.

6. Geese can be aggressive to people. Even geese that have been lovingly hand-raised can turn into pants-biting goblins when they reach maturity. This is especially important to consider when children are involved in the farming operations.

7. Not all goose breeds are created equal. Some breeds are more aggressive (and maybe better LGGs) than others. The most aggressive breeds include African geese and Chinese geese.

8. Fresh vegetation is extremely important. Geese are vegetarians, and having fresh grass to graze on is important to maintaining your birds' health.

9. Geese are not impervious to predation themselves. Geese are vulnerable to many of the same predators that attack chickens and ducks, including raccoons, coyotes, bobcats, and more. Consider housing them at night to protect them from predators.

With point #9, you may be asking yourself "Why add geese if they are going to be eaten, too?". Geese are not going to match a livestock guardian dog when it comes to guarding your flock, but where geese DO excel is in predator detection. They are constantly scanning the skies and can alert the flock to and even deter aerial predators, such as hawks and eagles. So if you are in an area where that is a major concern for your flock, guardian geese might just fit the bill (no pun intended).

Geese are intelligent, social, and interesting animals to add to your homestead or farming operation. Even if they end up not fitting into your homestead dynamic, they are a delicious bird to grace your table. See our Goose Recipes blog for more details.