Does anyone have geese on their yard?

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Moobucket

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The earlier thread about a shocking theft at a yard where they took everything including the stable doors has got me thinking and i'm really starting to wonder about stepping up my security.

One cheaper solution used by some farmers on the web is having geese! I was wondering if anyone else has seen this and if they send horses into orbit?
 
I have been on a yard with geese - horses weren't bothered by them but they were nasty buggers! Used to chase everyone around and even attack the cars. Good 'guard dogs' IMO
 
Hi we have geese on our land and if there is anything untoward we certainly hear about it.
Ours are fine with us but lots of people are sacred of them ,the phrase " being goosed " is there for a reason. Ours do have you if you annoy them and then turn your back !!
Ours are in the orchard so are shut up at night against the badgers but if they were in the yard I would leave them loose .
 
My sister has one, ive never met a goose as evil as him, he really is a nasty piece of work, when you go to her yard you need to go armed with protection or he will have you. Hes a handy boy though, she got a call to say some boys were messing about at her yard, by the time she got there the goose had them trapped on the roof of one of her sheds & they wouldnt get down till she had out him away lol. She hasnt had trouble with them since :)
 
We have geese- they will chase you if you turn your back on them and walk away, but if you face them and approach them they will run off. Some ganders can get properly aggressive in breeding season and they are all noisy when they first see people.

They can smell horrible and you need to shut them up in a shed every night at dusk so not much good as night watchmen.:rolleyes: The poop is big and slimy but they do a neat job of grazing lawns.:cool:

The horses are not scared of them and they share the fields. You shouldn't let horse share water troughs with poultry because of the risk of infections like salmonella. Don't know how they cope with other wild birds though.
 
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Hahahah. It would be awful to be pecked to death by my own goose.

Its a difficult one because i'd really like to have them out at night to catch the late night burglars but then they'd be vulnerable to fox attack! Maybe I need a cassowary! :confused:
 
They are evil things. Tbh if a their knows anything about geese, he will be able to chase them off. Yes the goose might make some noise, but the ones we have had tended to make a racket at nothing. Until the fox came and chewed her head off whist she was sat on her nest...
 
Maybe try a pair of ganders? As long as you get them really young, and you don't have a goose in with them they will be fine. Although if you have lots of foxes about they Probably wouldn't last if a fox family attacked together.

The goose I mentioned above was in a pen with a very elderly arthritic gander, but they went for the goose as she wouldn't shift off the nest. Bloody thing didn't even eat her!
 
Personnaly I have never lost a goose to a fox, badgers maybe but if they were on a yard then I would leave them loose. They dont tend to attack if you look them in the eye , they only go for you if you turn your back, if you arent frightened of them then feed them regularly they will be friends with you
 
We have a couple of geese on the farm and they are very good watch'dogs', lots of squawking if a stranger comes near.

My ex has just got some to roam his farm yard as he was fed up with things 'walking' off the farm during the day. I think it was more bored teens rather than an organised gang and so far the geese seem to be working.
 
We do, they are far more effective than dogs imo. If you really made a long term effort, you can be accepted by the majority of guard dogs. Whereas the geese will make a racket & the gander attack no matter how many years you've fed them. Only problem is they have to be shut in at night cos of the foxes. Although saying that the old male would probably be fine, he's seen off more than a few dogs. Horses aren't the least bit fussed, even if mates hack over on a horse unused to farms they don't bat an eyelid.
 
Well as the person who originally posted about the theft - we do have geese!!! So they were absolutely no deterent at all. :(
We keep them penned in the centre of the yard as they attack us and are a right pain to have around the yard.
The metal box where we keep the energiser unit and battery for the electric fencing are in their pen - thieves smashed the lock off that and took it, so they would have had to be in there with the geese. It would only need 2 people, one to 'fend' off with a yard broom, the other would be free to do what they want.
They ARE useful if you live on site, as they make a hell of a racket if anyone shows up at ther yard, so if you are within earshot they are a good alarm system.
 
Oh no!!

Yeah i'm thinking it might be more tranquil to get one of those systems that buzz your phone when someone comes on site. There are houses over the otherside of the field from my stables but they yard is pretty well hidden behind trees so if they did manage to break the gates down they'd be hidden while they pinched stuff! :(
 
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