Geese vs. chickens? It’s a standard query and debate when you’re interested by yard birds. The plain selection for a lot of is chickens. However perhaps you’re additionally contemplating geese. Each birds may be enjoyable, helpful and productive yard companions.

Which one is best for you will depend upon a number of elements, although you may also take into account maintaining each. 

For the Backyard

In order for you working birds on your gardens, each sorts may be helpful in comparable however other ways. Geese are wonderful eaters of slugs and grasshoppers, whereas chickens will hold the tick inhabitants down and snatch up Japanese beetles with a vengeance. 

Geese create ready-to-use fertilizer on your backyard. Their manure may be immediately utilized to the backyard safely, as its waterlike consistency rapidly breaks down and is absorbed by the soil. Rooster excrement can also be implausible on your vegetation, but it surely must be stored composting for about 6 months to a yr earlier than it could safely be added to a vegetable mattress or flower pot.

In these methods, each geese vs. chickens may be helpful in flower and veggie beds. However chickens could do extra injury than they’re price, relying on what you might be rising. Whereas geese’ flat toes and tendency to take a seat on all the pieces could be a hazard to small seedlings in spring, they’re comparatively innocent to mature vegetation. 

Chickens, nonetheless, will scratch all the pieces, mud bathe all over the place and might typically be caught leaping and flapping to achieve the perfect tomatoes on the vine. The place chickens excel is within the aeration of compost piles and backyard cleanup on the finish of the season, once they can clear undesirable seeds and scraps from the soil.

Eggs

If eggs are what you’re after, with geese vs. chickens, each may be wonderful suppliers. Once I say egg, you suppose hen. However geese are nice, dependable egg producers as nicely. Some breeds even outlay their hen counterparts. 

Duck eggs are extremely nutritious and higher for baking than hen eggs. In addition they hold longer and, due to their distinctive protein make-up, may be eaten by many who in any other case have egg allergy symptoms. Duck eggs are additionally greater, richer and creamier than these of a hen. And should you intend to promote them, duck eggs will go for a better worth. For those who actually love eggs, hold each to take full benefit of what every has to supply.

Or perhaps you merely wish to hold birds since you love the birds. Wherein case, each geese and chickens may be fabulous companions with their very own bizarre little personalities and behavioral traits. Each may be extraordinarily pleasant pets when dealt with typically and are all the time enjoyable to observe.

No matter your motive for wanting birds there are some things it is best to find out about geese vs. chickens and their particular wants, earlier than selecting one, the opposite or each.

Learn extra: Contemporary duck eggs can present your farm with a supplemental earnings.

Habitat

One of many fundamental variations between geese vs. chickens that you might want to take into account is their house and the way they occupy it. Chickens (some breeds extra so than others and particularly bantam breeds) are likely to acclimate nicely to being penned in smaller areas. Geese, for probably the most half, take pleasure in a level of freedom. 

Whereas I all the time suggest free-ranging any kind of farm hen you retain, if house is a matter and free-ranging isn’t a viable possibility, chickens are in all probability the higher selection. When you have even a small yard on your birds to forage in, geese could also be again on the desk.

Geese love inexperienced grass and dandelion leaves and can admire any pure house you permit them to wander. Chickens, alternatively, can fortunately occupy themselves scratching within the grime for days.

That mentioned, should you’re in a position to free-range, it’s price noting that whereas most chickens will stick comparatively near house, even when let free, many duck breeds are likely to journey farther to forage. For those who’re surrounded by woodland or open fields, your geese will take pleasure in little adventures. When you have shut neighbors who don’t admire feathered pets as a lot as you do, chances are you’ll wish to rethink or take into account fencing.

Regardless, within the geese vs. chickens debate, each may be simply educated to return house on the finish of the day in order that they are often safely locked away for the night time. Each kinds of birds may also take pleasure in and admire small buildings or brushy areas below which to cover and calm down in relative security in addition to to flee excessive warmth, snow or wind. 

Well being & Habits

By and huge, geese are usually more healthy than chickens, extra proof against illness, hardier and fewer fragile. Chickens are inclined to a variety of points from mites to inside parasites to crop points. They’re additionally more likely to turn out to be egg-bound or fall sufferer to the aggression of their very own flock.

Whereas geese aren’t immune to those illnesses, they have an inclination to fare higher than their hen buddies. Although with each species, should you hold males in your flock, it’s important to keep up wholesome ratios to keep away from mating accidents. 

Each geese and chickens have a pecking order, however you’ll discover infighting far more in chickens than in geese, and the accidents may be worse. Roosters have spurs, sharp beaks and lengthy toenails. Duck squabbles look far more like an harmless spherical of neck wrestling.

And whereas I’ve recognized just a few chickens to eat their very own, I’ve by no means seen such habits in geese. 

Learn extra: Geese can convey actual worth to the yard!

Feeding

The feeding scenario for geese vs. chickens isn’t a lot completely different as adults, however what to feed child geese is necessary to know. Every may be fed with generic pelleted feed together with contemporary veggies, dried bug treats and numerous kitchen scraps. Whereas every has their very own, barely differing, particular dietary wants, correct formulated meals for geese and chickens is definitely discovered at any feed-supply retailer.

For those who select to accommodate them collectively, many feed pellet blends will meet the wants of each and may be fed communally. 

The most important distinction within the feeding of geese and chickens is within the water. Whereas chickens merely require accessible contemporary water, geese will want it deep sufficient to completely submerge their beaks, as that is how they clear tinheritor nostrils and hold their nasal passages clear. Geese may also muddy water a lot faster than chickens, thus rising the frequency with which you will need to change out their waterers. 

Housing

Whereas geese and chickens may be housed collectively, there are some particular wants for every. Chickens roost at night time and require perches in a well-ventilated, however draft-free coop, shed or barn. Geese, alternatively (apart from the Muscovy), will sleep on the bottom wherever they’re, with little regard for climate, cowl or bedding. That mentioned, they need to nonetheless be supplied, at minimal, a three-sided shelter with a roof the place they will conceal from the weather, ought to they select to.

Chickens require nesting packing containers the place they ought to reliably lay their eggs all through the day. Geese will lay, principally within the morning, and wherever they occur to be, or in a communal nest if somebody begins it. They’re additionally recognized to cover their eggs, so should you present them with straw bedding, it doesn’t damage to dig round a bit.

Geese additionally require extra frequent tidying. Chickens will scratch and transfer bedding round, rifle by their straw or wooden shavings and in any other case aerate their house. Geese have very moist poop, fling water all over the place after which sit in it, making a smelly, mushy scenario that must be scooped up comparatively ceaselessly.

Holding the 2 collectively can scale back this considerably, particularly in case your hen depend is greater than your duck depend. However any time geese are concerned, there can be extra mess and also you’ll need to retain dry areas for the chickens, who significantly dislike having moist toes.

Housing the 2 collectively is comparatively straightforward. A small coop that has perches for chickens and enough flooring house for geese will fortunately be shared. A safe connected run with 24/7 entry provides the geese the choice of sleeping outdoor, too. Water ought to be stored in runs and never within the coop itself. It will lower down on the mess that geese make and the humidity within the coop which may have unfavorable results on chickens, notably in winter. 

Noise

Neither geese or chickens are notably noisy creatures. Nonetheless, the place noise degree is worried, it’s the males which can be quieter amongst geese, whereas the other is true in chickens. If eggs aren’t a consideration for you, male geese are the quietest of all of the yard birds. Their comfortable little rasps don’t attain nice volumes and you may hold a flock of fully male geese, as long as there isn’t any feminine current, as lovable garden ornaments and outside companions. 

When contemplating noise in chickens you actually wish to restrict the variety of roosters in your flock. One will crow often. Add one other, and he’ll wish to match the opposite. Add a 3rd, and also you’ll hear conversations all day. 

Each geese and chickens will “chat” amongst themselves virtually continuously, with the feminine geese being barely louder than all of the others. That is considerably depending on breed, nonetheless. Muscovies, as an example, are usually very quiet birds, whereas bantam geese comparable to name geese (which may additionally fly) are usually louder and chattier creatures. Geese may also often chat all through the night time, particularly when startled, whereas chickens are all however comatose as soon as perched for the night.

Whatever your motive for getting chickens or geese, whichever kind you select, it’s price trying into particular person breeds to establish what is correct on your scenario. Some chickens are hardier in chilly temperatures than others. Some duck breeds lay eggs extra ceaselessly. Some birds are homebodies, whereas others could journey a bit farther. 

There are additionally completely different sizes amongst breeds from bantam varieties to extra-large breeds. Some make higher moms or lay numerous coloured eggs. Some breeds of chickens are recognized to be friendlier should you’re searching for pets, the place others are higher free-rangers due to their skittishness and heightened consciousness. 

On the finish of the day, chickens and geese are equally joyful creatures to have round, straightforward to supply and comparatively straightforward to maintain. They aren’t costly to feed, home or take care of and could be a nice supply of scrumptious eggs. 

Extra Data

Water Wants

By way of their pure habitat, geese do love water. That doesn’t, nonetheless, imply you want a pond to maintain them. They’ll be proud of a kiddie pool crammed contemporary day by day, a small meandering creek in your yard and even only a huge puddle to play in.

Whereas they will reside with out water, I like to recommend offering water deep sufficient for them to drift. There may be nothing extra joyful than a duck in a contemporary pool.

Although water for swimming is nice train, it isn’t important for rising geese. “Swimming pools or small ponds can turn out to be dirty rapidly, and if not flushed typically, the rank water may be detrimental,” writes David R. Laatsch, an interim College of Wisconsin Extension agricultural educator, in Care of Geese. “Geese will keep clear and wholesome with adequately adjusted drip-type watering techniques and wire flooring. Contemporary consuming water is crucial for prime efficiency.”

This text about geese vs. chickens initially appeared within the March/April 2023 problem of Chickens journal. Click on right here to subscribe.