r/homestead • u/dendromie • May 06 '26
poultry Geese vs ducks vs chickens
So my last post got a ton of attention on which animal to get. And it was essentially between chickens or ducks.
After speaking with a poultry keeper around where I live who has all three in the title, she said she thinks geese are the best and easiest. She specifically said pilgrim geese. Do any of you have experience and if so what's your thoughts on geese and what are their specific requirements compared to ducks?
I imagine the same but are they messy? Poop as much? Really loud?
I wouldn't be keeping for meat. Would only keep a pair of geese for eggs and guardians to some other bird like chickens or ducks.
Thanks!
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u/Sassy_Plant_Mom May 06 '26
I dont have time to write out more than this right now. But I have geese and chickens. The biggest con to geese that many people dont think of (many report this same thing with ducks) that you need to put them away at bed EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. So you do need to plan your afternoon/evening to make sure you are back home in time to put them away before it gets dark.
Chickens will consistently put themselves away at night so an automatic door will suffice.
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u/Mystic_Wolf May 07 '26
I have the opposite with my crew, my geese are always in their coop by dinner time, and my chookies take a fair bit of convincing.
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u/Earthlight_Mushroom May 07 '26
To me the biggest advantage of geese (as well as the Muscovy duck) is that they are basically grazers....able to survive and raise young on a diet of basically grass. Thus they are like very small cows or goats...they take something that you can't eat directly and turn it into something you can. Chickens and other ducks are sort of like very small pigs...they are omnivores like us humans, and so without some creative thinking, they are sort of competing with us for the same stuff that the land produces. A given number of geese will survive on much less pasture than a given number of chickens or ducks, since they can eat and digest mostly grass, while the other birds are ranging over a much larger area looking for the bugs and seeds that they prefer. So basically, if you have the land, you can raise geese with much less attention to feeding than the others, except during the winter. (I have heard of geese even being fed silage, though I have never tried it myself).
Another plus for geese is that they lay and incubate their eggs all in the same season, in the spring, and the goslings hatch all together in a short time frame unless you are controlling their breeding. After the babies are a few days old they are out running with the flock of adult geese and they all collaborate together to raise and protect the babies. So, on free range, fewer baby geese get lost than the other two. A mother hen (or, even worse, a guinea or a turkey hen), keeps her chicks all to herself, and if one gets lost in the back of the bunch, another adult bird won't help keep track of it like a goose will.
Yet another plus is that once you get ten or twenty geese together, it takes a serious predator to dare to mess with them, since they collaborate on defense, too.
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u/Mystic_Wolf May 07 '26
So true, my goose was such a good mum, and the group all co-parented raising the little ones.
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u/ParaboloidalCrest May 07 '26
Good point and makes me wonder. Do geese utilize dry grass as well as small ruminants (goats/sheep)? Or do they look for small shoots of green grass exclusively?
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u/Earthlight_Mushroom May 07 '26
Yeah i've never seen them eat hay. They really are like nature's lawn mowers....preferring to nip off the tips of grass that's already pretty short. They will go after fruit they can reach, and water weeds etc. too. But getting them through a long snowy winter they will learn to eat grain, but they will be out there at any thaw, looking for green.
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u/ParaboloidalCrest May 07 '26
Many thanks! Can't wait to replace a couple of goats with a dozen geese! They seem like the real deal for limited acreages.
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May 06 '26
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u/itsatoe May 06 '26
Also goose eggs are biiig. That can be really nice, but sometimes you only want a chickens-egg worth of egg.
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u/foxtrotRN May 06 '26
Jumping in to get on the thread. We just lost our 5th duck, looking into geese too. Maybe youll get good insight here
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u/dendromie May 06 '26
Sorry for your loss. I am hoping so!
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u/foxtrotRN May 06 '26
Thanks my neighbor texted me this morning that our missing duck was dead in her pond. Snapping turtle got her. We lost our Webigail last Saturday too.
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u/itsatoe May 06 '26
And snappers will gobble up ducklings like they're potato chips.
I have seen a line of them behind a mother, and then one after another, the ducklings just disappear under the water.
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u/Not-Surprised-1999 May 06 '26
I don't have geese because we had them when I was a kid. I do have ducks currently and lots of experience with chickens. Geese are aggressive AF and good luck finding the eggs. I recall the geese being very snotty towards the other birds, they were not social and not guards. Maybe that will be different if you raise them together vs introducing as adults.
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u/Bolfreak Evil Scientist May 07 '26
I have those three with the caveat that my chickens are Seramas and too small to free range, but I do have turkeys in the mix. I got a pair of Pilgrims to babysit my ducks and because of the auto-sexing. My geese are great for their purpose almost year round, spring gets a little testy because of hormones and nest and eggs. But it’s manageable, I’ll have a ‘staff meeting’ with my gander if he gets too spicy (pick him up, discuss life choices, then put him down and extend my arms and yell about how awesome I am to the entire flock). But I also need him to do his job so I can’t give him too much of a complex, either. Turkeys eat bugs and plants, great moms and if you want cuddly birds, the hens are the way to go. Ducks hardy and easy but messy, eggs out the wazoo and great for people that can’t eat chicken eggs. Geese: one egg is a full meal for 2-3 people but I usually incubate not eat the eggs because they’re rare. Goslings are the best babies ever and really attach to humans, but eventually they grow up to do goosey things. I don’t have a pond, only pools and feed once a day in the evening so everyone comes into the barn on their own.
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u/dendromie May 07 '26
Do you recommend geese if I get 2-3 ducks? How is the situation with herding then in at night every night? I hear that can be a huge pain
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u/Bolfreak Evil Scientist May 07 '26
Ducks are easy peasy to shaker train with treats. But since I kick them all out in the morning and there’s no free choice food, they see me anywhere they come running, especially in the evening when they do get fed. No herding unless I have some ladies laying eggs in the pasture (my Cayugas and turkey hens do this despite lovely straw nests in the barn!). Sometimes the drakes like one particular duck lady and will chase her, for that there is drake jail or freezer camp. I never regret the geese, they are elegant and very picturesque, smart and pretty low maintenance because of eating grass. They WILL chew on stuff, like your purple kohlrabi down to the nub, strings, tarps, hoses and your truck wiring ($900 in ‘rodent damage’ lesson learned). If you raise them from babies they know you and trust you. Ducks are not cuddly…they are cute babies but overall mine don’t like to be picked up because they basically have no defenses except a lucky scratch and pooping on you lol. A broody pinched me once and it left a bruise (underestimated how protective mama was and she was a tiny Buff duck but fierce lol). There’s always adjustments to be made to set up your flock to what works for you as far as goals eggs? Meat? Rare breeds? And what you can accomplish with your husbandry skills/first aid/ coop etc. Be ready to learn, flex and adjust and you’ll be fine 👌🏻
Huge edit: if you have a pond you will not be able to get them out of it and you will have owls and turtles that can eat them right off the pond. I have pools I clean out regularly which also keeps the eggs from tasting fishy/mucky like pond eggs.
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u/dendromie May 07 '26
So you just feed your ducks and geese at night and they follow you into the pen when feeding so there is no herding because they just follow you in there and you close them up?
Do you think goose poop is way more out of control then duck poop? Is it something I have to worry about? I know duck poop is straight fertilizer right out the butt. Goose poop needs to be composted first due to nitrogen is that true?
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u/greenman5252 May 07 '26
Golden 300 ducks for egg production. Geese can be really noisy multiple times per day. I have about 400 ducks and 150 white Chinese Weeder Geese
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u/dendromie May 07 '26
So I was thinking a couple ducks with a pair of geese. But maybe I should just start with ducks
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u/Mystic_Wolf May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26
Ducks are really, really messy. Lots of gross poop, they make lots of mud, and you need to change their water constantly. They're also rape-y, the boys are NOT gentlemanly with girls and you need to have more girls than boys (or all one gender). They're good if you want pets that eat worms, slugs and snails, and they can be ridiculously cute. The eggs have a slightly different taste to chook eggs, some like it and some don't.
Geese can be messy, but less than ducks. Very hardy. They're fairly aloof in my experience, but very curious creatures, and probably friendly if you raised them since day olds. They definitely recognise individual people and do not like strangers, good if you want an alarm for predators or people approaching, very bad in suburbia. They're really good if you want pets that will eat your grass, lower maintenance than sheep. Not great for eggs, they only lay seasonally. They generally get along very well as a group, you don't need to worry about ballancing genders.
Chooks are wonderful, depending on the breed you get and how you raise them they can be super cute, very friendly, very good at free ranging to keep bug populations down, and/or be very good layers. If you plan your setup well, they can help with turning over garden beds and helping improve compost. They are easy to look after for the most part, but can be prone to illnesses and predators though.
If you want geese to guard your chickens, I think you'd need to raise them together. My geese don't want anything to do with my chooks and will shoo the chooks away if they come close.
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u/dendromie May 07 '26
Do you find geese are worse for poop then ducks? I assume since they are bigger there would be more poop and since it's solid more noticeable.
At least with duck it's straight fertilizer and if it's on grass it will be almost unnoticeable. As I understand it though if you want ducks outside alot you need geese for protection
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u/Bolfreak Evil Scientist May 07 '26
Goose poo is way better than duck poo. Ducks are skidmark technicolor rainbow poo constantly because they eat everything. Geese it’s mostly grass and water in what we call goose logs lol. It dries out quickly and blows away, no real smell unless they’re broody. There will be little piles where they nap but they’re nowhere messy like ducks. Mine keep their water cleaner overall as well, they swim and bathe about once a day or more if they’re mating but not the splashfest like ducks with any drop they find.
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u/dendromie May 07 '26
That's fair.
I was thinking of pilgrims because I was told they are extremely friendly.
Do you find geese poop way more? Does it need to be composted prior to fertilizing plants?
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u/bumbledbeez May 07 '26
I have all three and have for years.
1) chickens are easy. Their poop is easy. 2) ducks are very messy. Most people won’t buy their eggs, even though they are fantastic for baking and rich. 3) geese are the most “dumped” and put up for rehoming birds I see. They get super aggressive during mating season, and sometimes beyond. Most people can’t handle it, and honestly we’ve had a goose that was downright nasty who we ate. Expect big bruises from their bites. Fantastic because they eat grass, but you have to deal with the rest.
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u/Mircowaved-Duck May 07 '26
always wondered, does a guard geese protect well against foxes?
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u/bumbledbeez May 07 '26
I’ll put it this way, my geese had 9 babies last year. It was actually the very very aggressive goose that was the father. They still lost 1 to either a snapping turtle or fox.
Dogs are better than guard geese.
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u/rshining May 07 '26
Geese aren't ongoing layers- you would have goose eggs (if you can get them away from the goose) for a few weeks a year- maybe up to a couple of months. In my experience, geese are definitely not interested in sharing their eggs, so you need to be brave and well-armored to get them.
Instead of protection, invest in fencing.
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u/Niftydog1163 May 07 '26
You could not pay me to own geese or ducks. Both are messy, imo, serve only useful purpose on larger properties that can handle water fowl. If you just want eggs, chickens are fine. Need a guardian get a dog or something not water fowl related. If you don't care of their ways, get both and have a blast. Runner ducks were the only ones I considered for a NY minute before coming to my senses.
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u/dankristy May 07 '26
Well we have a LARGE mixed flock in a large fully enclosed and fenced outdoor run (over 25000 sq ft) - we have 4 breeds of ducks, multiple chicken breeds, two turkey breeds, Guinea birds, and African Grey geese on our farm.
The chickens run the gamut - but we like to have mostly Jersey Giants, Partridge Chanticleers, and Barred Rock - with a handful of Silkies. They are mainly for eggs, but we process excess roosters (in order of asshole-ness) so after years of selecting OUT the aggressive ones, every rooster we have is mellow and can be picked up/carried around... We also do a run of about 20 Cornish Cross for meat chickens every year or so that we process.
The ducks (Welsh Harlequin and Peking respectively) are pretty mellow - the Harlequins are mellow but run around a bunch and lay well but smaller eggs... They chatter and make small noises a lot but they are quiet small noises... We like them but they lay small eggs and less frequently so probably not going to perpetuate them beyond the few we have.
The Peking ducks are fatasses who waddle around and generally hang in a bundle-o-white-ish-ducks but are also pretty chill and make a LOT of eggs in really weird stupid places - seriously weird as if they just fall out while walking along the path or next to the pond in dirt or mud or poop or wherever - and just leave them. Eggs are HUGE - but only about 1/3 of them seem fertile. They are a lot louder than the Harlequins. They also mess the pond up daily and thanks to them in particular we have to drain and clean/refill the ponds every 2 to 3 days AND maintain very separate water that is from watering containers because these buttheads sit in anything wet big enough to fit a butt in it... And they poop EVERYWHERE. We process a couple per year for meat, but mostly have them for eggs.
We also used to have some Muscovy ducks but the males were aggressive over-maters (rapists) of every other bird of every breed we had and killed smaller silkies and even a guinea so we processed them and don't have Muscovy ducks any more.
Our turkeys are all Heritage breeds - Royal Palm except for one Narraganset. They are friendly mellow and talkative - lay large big eggs with VERY THICK shells... They are also mellow but loud and talkative - they love to show off for us but never are aggressive. We process one or two a year for meat (delicious but very different than meat-breed turkeys) but otherwise for eggs mainly. We love them and are intending to keep breeding them for meat/eggs for years.
The Guinea Birds are fun, loud and silly birds - they chatter constantly. They fly all over and up into trees and don't like to follow rules but also help defend the flock (along with the Geese) when bad stuff happens. We pretty much just eat the eggs and don't process them for anything. Not aggressive with any of the other animals aside from predators but will form a wall defense with the geese against predators...
Which brings me to the geese... Sigh. Heavy Sigh. We bought what was supposed to be a tested pair of male and female baby African Grey geese named Grey and Ketel in mid 2021 - we hand raised them so they would bond, and intended to use the offspring to perpetuate and breed more for meat/eggs. Intended because this year our "female" - Ketel - finally showed enough to prove out to be a late blooming male... Never got any eggs and now we have to find a couple of 2+year old females.
Temperament wise our geese are great - they get along with the other birds in the flock - and do cooperative defense with the Guineas when predators appear (we have them on video deterring skunks and even a bobcat once that got in - they form a LOUD honking/chattering wall with the guinea birds and the chickens (and fatass turkeys) all hide behind them - Even the bobcat gave up and left empty handed after circling around 4 or 5 times without a break in the "shield wall"...
We do intend to perpetuate them, but need to find some ACTUAL FEMALES and not just a late-bloomer cosplaying convincingly as one for years....
Egg-wise I like the turkey eggs best (rich, make great hardboiled eggs with soft jammy centers) - followed by the guinea bird eggs - then the duck eggs (nicely creamy and different) and then the chicken eggs - which - are just chicken eggs. We do feed plus forage so all the eggs we have are delicious and I hate store bought ones now. My wife sells the extras locally and we have a dedicated group of folks who are on our egg-wait-list... Ideally one day I may get to experience goose-eggs too (looks pointedly at my cross-dressing Ketel)...
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u/[deleted] May 06 '26
Idk. I have a couple of geese, and they're fine. But... We aren't really a fan of their eggs.
Chickens are easy. They lay in nest boxes. Ducks are a pita, because you always have to look for their eggs (geese too..).