Backyard Poultry Forum

Just starting to research - dabbling with the idea of keeping a pair/trio of geese. They seem a bit difficult to obtain - could fertile eggs be posted and incubated, are they as easy as chicks to hand raise in a brooder? Any general info on keeping geese would be handy though I've been searching on byp too.

Have to admit to an ulterior motive - my neibours kids come into my paddock and steal my hens eggs, hassling the hens. I found a couple of big sticks in one chook pen and the chooks were 'roughed up'. Putting a padlock on each pen/run would be a pain. The paddock is only half an acre - not really big enough to run a large animal in but would it be suitable for a couple of geese? I imagine they may scare the kids from comming over the fence. Though of course, its another excuse for me to have some more poultry and chicks. The thorny bushes along that fence line will take a while to grow....

Geese eggs like all waterfowl are hard to incubate, having them posted thru the post would also decrease the fertility.

As for hand raising them, I do this for all my chicks, ducklings and goslings. Day old to week old in the house, separate brooders, week old until the feather up into a shed, once feathered up, they cam ego outside into the sun and have fun.

goslings would be better

see this link

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Thanks, already on to it, have pm'd shaun