raising a goose

We've got geese, chickens and goats. One thing I would not advise is only getting one. Geese are social animals and if you have just one pinned in a yard, you'll be the center of attraction. You don't really want to be the center of attraction. A male/female combo is good. It'll get their minds off you...somewhat.

They also stink horribly when confined. Their dung builds up and has an atrocious smell after a while. They're just as bad as ducks.

Dean said:

How big of an area do you have for your geese? Is the meat pretty game?

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We have 21 acres with a 2 acre pond on it. We don't eat the geese because they do such a good job keeping the pond clean. I couldn't tell you how they taste.

At one time, we had two pinned in a 4ft high dog pin about 12'x12'. One was an injured female and the other was a male that was too young to defend himself against the other males.They stunk it up so fast, I would think that 30'x30' would NOT be large enough to keep the stink down. If you had a half acre or so, that would be plenty though. All they do is eat and poop. Just bare in mind that if there is a water station (which there normally is being pinned), there is going to be stink no matter what.

First, they'll eat all the grass around it and then crap and splash water everywhere until you have a muddy crap puddle. That's where the stink comes in.

Washkeeton said:

As far as the pool they wash in it and I empty and refill it as it gets dirty. If you have them in a pond, I can see where that will stink over time...

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It's only the pinned birds that stink. The others are free to roam and do not defecate in only one area.

It sounds like you have to work a lot of maintenance to keep your smells down. This may be a bit more than the average person wants to endure due to costs and time in. From your post, I gather that if you don't add straw or hay, you have odor problems. So, in essence, you're covering the dung up. I would also think that the climate in alaska is a plus in this area. It gets well over 100 degrees here regularly so there isn't much in the way of colder temps to inhibit bacteria and fungal growth. Feed straw is over $7 a bail here as well. That's a little too expensive for us to put on the ground and compost. Since bed straw doesn't compost, I assume you're speaking of feed straw. Feed straw costs are up everywhere lately.

Just pointing these things out for those considering geese.

The only good news here is that I no longer keep geese pinned up.

Bed straw is grain straw. You guys are paying $6 a bale for barley straw??? That's robbery. I thought our prices were ridiculous but maybe yours is worse.

We didn't have to muck the pin the geese were in. It was the dog kennel type pin that wasn't stationary. We just moved it when it got bad.