Animals can live together on a property but the animals will have to go through an adjustment period, this adjustment period will help both animals feel comfortable with each other
If you’re wanting to introduce geese to chickens then this article will be of help to you
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Introducing geese to chickens:
Introducing geese to chickens can be tricky, introducing any new birds to a flock can be tricky in fact, the new birds will have to figure out their place in the flock, and this isn’t always pretty.
You can however help with this situation, this is how you introduce geese to chickens:
Always add more than one goose:
While you may be introducing a goose to a flock of birds the goose still needs one of their own so it doesn’t feel lonely.
Chickens and geese are not the same so the goose will need another of its kind as a friend to feel comfortable and keep from being lonely among of flock of other birds
Sites that sell geese usually require you to buy more than one goose at a time, doing this is highly recommended.
Allow them to see each other:
Once you’ve gotten your two geese you can start introducing them by placing the two breeds of birds in close proximity to each other where each type of bird can see the other, but don’t let them interact
Doing this allows the birds to know that another bird is around that isn’t threatening or intimidating. Doing this helps the two birds get used to each other being there.
Do this for about a week or two, the birds would have gotten used to each other by then
Get them together:
Once the week or two of getting to know each other is done you can allow the birds to interact with each other.
Only introduce the geese to the ducks if they are old enough and big enough to fend off the chickens or run away from the chickens should the chickens pester them.
These birds need a lot of space so make sure that you provide ample space for all the birds once you’ve introduced them to each other. Not giving the birds enough space to be with each other can cause conflict to develop among the birds.
Tips when raising ducks and geese:
Feeds:
These birds eat different types of feeds. Ducklings and chicks need separate feeds as ducklings need more niacin than chicks do and chicks don’t need this extra niacin. Serve them different feeds in different feeders.
Adult ducks need to eat layer pellets or waterfowl feed and chickens do best on chicken feed designed specifically for them.
Ensure that these birds only eat the feeds that are designed for them.
Housing:
These birds may be able to live together but they don’t sleep and nest the same.
Ducks like to nest on the ground, on the other hand, chickens like to perch off of the ground on a roost. You can have separate shelters for the two types of birds which accommodate how they prefer to sleep.
The birds can free-range with each other during the day. But the birds will still need enough room to avoid each other during the night.
Males and females:
The males of both of these groups can be tricky. If you introduce two geese then you just have to make sure that the chicken males have enough hens to mate with
If you introduce a male goose you’d need to add at least 3/4 female geese to make sure that the females aren’t over mated.
If you only introduce one male and one female goose then the male goose may over mate her resulting in missing feathers, eye injuries, leg injuries, cuts from the drake, and even death.
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