Raising geese

GEESE!
If you haven't discovered the joy of geese, well you just aren't having enough fun!

Last year I took a french Toulouse buff dewlap goose egg from a friend and put it under my tiny bantam mother hen.....just for a laugh. 
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Now two more geese later I wonder if I am addicted? They are all about 5 months old, intelligent, fun, attentive, inquisitive and beautiful. The Chinese/American buff gander hybrid (Pepper) is the one with the most character, but yes, also the one who bites. He gets frisky every time a person comes on the land but a good guardian. 
The Toulouse goose and gander (Honey & Sweet Pea) are sweet, huge and fun. 
All three strut their stuff over the homestead, hissing at bold raccoon invaders, herding chickens, investigating the resident rabbits, and mowing the grass.

GOOSE TIPS & solutions:
 CHEWING:Each breed has quirks you may not like. My Toulouse in particular chew all kinds of things. especially plastic. When honey first arrived I did not know this was a problem. He dug up so much plastic tape off cardboard mulch that it was everywhere. He consumed so much plastic pieces his craw blocked and I eased it with apple cider vinegar water. I was forced to remove anything on land that could be problematic-and this continues.
HONKING:
Pepper the Chinese hybrid, is a talker. It was fun at first, but when he entered breeding season in December it became constant. As he thought I might be a goose friend he honked literally constantly. And it was not a cute sound. Imagine: honk honk honk honk while you clean out coop. He followed me all over, and in first months of dominance, he would test me with nips. I had to train him this would not be acceptable.
MORE HONKING:
After breeding season hit in December/January nighttime honking became more obvious. With three ganders in high breeding states it could be several things. Alerting to predators at night. checking in amongst themselves by honking every hour or half hour. Or just general hormones!
SOLUTION: I am buying an adjustable rechargeable ultrasonic dog barking device. I read online forums which list this as one goose owners solution that worked. You can set them at a rate that only goes off with loud honking. enabling them to communicate but not disrupt sleep for me!! Lets see if it works.
SUPPLIMENTING:
NIACIN: I have already had some stuff I did not prepare for: Goslings need additional Niacin for growth (so do ducks). Most ametuers do not know this. So I added brewer yeast to my goslings feed, but when I went to buy geese off craigslist, no one else seemed to do this. SO BE CAREFUL.....
DRIED NETTLES: I did buy one goose with obvious legs facing more inward and feather scruffiness. I added niacin to his 5 month old diet. I also began supplementing all the birds with dried nettles from my garden. 
MITES?? Later Honey also showed signs of chewing his feathers. This can be stress from sexually maturing or parasites like fleas or mites. I only saw one scurrying insect on him but doused him every day in diamiatrous earth and added it to entire coop areas. I then ground up my dried greek oregano in sparse additions to both his back and all the birds feed.
All in all the nettles and oregano seems to prevent insects on the poultry and BONUS- one banty chicken began laying! Bright orange yolk seems to be the result of adding herbs. My mini dutch bantams are notorious for not laying late fall to spring, so one egg a day is amazing after 15 years of this breed. It also puts my mind at ease with bird flu drama coming off internet. Boosting the bird immune systems is always a good idea.
POOPING:You may have heard....geese poop a lot. And it adds work for cleaning coops. I used to clean chicken coop one a week, and with bantams it was easy- not very much poop so I bought a bale of hay every three months. Now I use a bale every month. I have to either layer over pooped hay - EVERY DAY- or scoop the pooped on hay EVERY DAY.  However if they free-range from 8am to 7pm (less in winter) the poop is slightly more manageable. So make sure you have land to free range or even leave geese out in a safe fenced yard. They discourage predators, but are not safe from them.

Sweet Pea is now huge! But this was her after hatching. She had to have bandaid therapy on her legs after being born splayed legged (probably incomplete incubation by her tiny chicken mother). Whoever discovered this solution is a genius. In one day her legs straightened out and were strong.

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GOOSE HOUSING-prepare in advance!!

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GOOSE COOP
I am building a vineyard grazing area for the geese but in the meantime added this recycled material coop for them at night.
It is made of old wood, used hardware, pickle barrels, reused gutters and funky polycarb roofing.
I added the bifold doors so a housesitter can feed and water the geese without going inside....as most folks are fearful of gander bites!!

GOOSE AMENITIES
​The goose coop also has a water storage area to suppliment the heavy water use of bathing and such for geese. See the recycled tongue and groove? I wanted to make it feel safer inside since geese don't really sleep like chickens at night. Predator sitings can be minimized.

Additional changes to a typical poultry area:
RAT PROOFING: I have been adding a concrete ditch below the coops and runs I build. It keeps the rats from digging under. I also use only hardware cloth and try to have no holes over 1/2 inch.
INSULATING WINTER WATER: I added silver roll insulation to water barrels, it works! water froze but was always easy to break. Geese need daily bucket changes and with coop far from water source, self replenishing water barrels are a must.

Sweat Pea and her mate, Honey. The Buff Dewlap Toulouse goose: Quiet, big, and a sweet breed.