Great Guards for your property! Though they will also guard against you! (Geese)

Member Name: CokaCola

Product:	Geese
Date:	07/03/09 (84 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fabulously entertaining, edible, egg laying, add extra security to your property

Disadvantages: Potentially Big, Nasty and Messy, but great if you have loads of land.

Unlike ducks, geese can only really be kept by people with a substancial amount of land and no close neighbours, as they are particularly noisy and space-consuming. Having said that, if you have a little patch of ground to offer to some geese, perhaps even a small lake or large pond, then I am sure you will be entertained by the antics of these fantastic birds. Geese can also do the same job as a Doberman would, and are particularly fierce when a small flock of birds is kept.

There are lots of different breeds of geese. Some breeds, like pilgrim geese, are miniature, and less noisy/aggressive than the big old ugly white embden geese with the drooping breast bones. Some breeds are designed for eating, others lay quite a few eggs every month, and many Goose species are ornamental and kept for their beauty.

I have already mentioned that geese can be used as "guard dogs" although I suppose it would be more appropriate to use the terminology "guard geese". Allegedly, a Goose has the strength in its wings to break a mans arm. Some Ganders are so nasty, they will attack anything that comes near them, including you the owner. Whilst this can be funny, and you can generally send them running if you arm yourself with a brush, it can be quite inimmidating, especially when the novelty of having the geese wears off.

They are not especially hard to keep, and can be fed on a similiar diet to chickens. If you are seriously consideirng getting some geese, buy yourselfa good book from amazon on the subject, and do your homework properly in advance. A good place to have a look for some geese are the local poultry auctions held in many cattle markets periodically across the nation. There are particularly big autions in the tows of Salisbury, Ross on Wye and Melton Mowbray, that will have many different pens of geese available, in both the utility and ornamental classifications.

Summary: I love geese, if you have a smallholding or some land, give geese a go.