Is our GUARD GOOSE working?

[@GooshawnXD]

My ducks and chickens are pets. After over 10 years I lost my sweetest duck to a hawk. Broke my heart. I've just invested in a Pilgrim goose in hopes she is a good hawk deterent and protector. I was thinking maybe I made a mistake getting the female but I was afraid of a male hurting my female ducks. Glad to see your female is a protective lady, hopefully Barbra Jean will be as well once she's grown.

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

Sorry about your loss. I was between a pilgrim and a Toulouse. I ended up with a Toulouse just because it’s what was available at the time. I hope you’re experience with the pilgrim goes well.

[@kadaver100]

about 10 years ago i worked for a package delivery company in The Netherlands. i had to deliver a package to a farm house, so i opended the gate to the yard to walk to the front door. there were 2 big dogs, some chickens and 2 huge geese casually walking around the yard. as i was been to many farm before, i know to be wary of the dogs. so i kept an eye on them. As i was almost at the front door, i could hear wings flapping behind me and i see the 2 giant geese charging me! 🤣 i tried to stand my ground but the went for my legs and bit me through my socks..i ran like a little girl back to the fence 😂🤣 at this point the farmer came up to me and called in his geese, and told me it was safe now. and they stayed next to him when i walked back in. that was insane lol. when i came back to my car i looked at my socks, cause it started to burn. they were covered in blood! Ik can tell you...geese work for sure! 😄

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

OMG that is hilarious! Well to hear it probably not to have lived it 😆. She’s been a great protector and isn’t too aggressive with us until she’s laying eggs. For now it’s just been a lot of hissing and wing flapping when she’s laying eggs. Thankfully the egg laying is only for a couple months. Thanks for sharing your story and giving me a great laugh for the day.

[@darinbennett3638]

Stan, glad to see that the goose is working. It's interesting to see that this is their nature...I've never seen/known a nice goose when you get near them! It will be fun to see how you train the guard goose for when Miss Madison gets older and of dating age!? Those boys will be running from your home!

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

Haha, that would be epic to sick a goose on her date. Let the training begin 😆

[@goodwinsfarmgifts2078]

We just got our first geese. Very excited to watch them grow. Thank you for the update

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

Our goose has been my wife’s favorite addition to the homestead. The brooding of them was awful, because they’re so messy. Once past that, we’ve loved her

[@zsuzsuspetals]

I love it! Now your guard goose would be a female pilgrim goose, right? I'd love to get pilgrim greese because I read they are so docile. But yours definitely isn't! You have a really nice setup and happy birds!

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

Ours is a Toulouse. I wanted either a pilgrim or a Toulouse. She is very docile other than the few months a year that she lays. When she’s in egg laying she doesn’t want anyone near her eggs. Thanks and appreciate you taking time to watch

[@juliejaco5902]

😂 you had me laughing this morning. I think that goose will do it’s job for sure. Very glad that you had no more bear incidents. Love the channel and have learned a lot. That hissing would scare the crap out of me.

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

Haha, it’s pretty intense. We actually let the little chickens out a bit ago and her motherly goose instincts are even more fierce now 😬. I may getting pecked before too long 😆

[@shanengivone3973]

I've been considering a guard goose when I finally get critters! Thank you! I'm so glad the bear is not an issue now. Blessings!

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

It’s been a great addition. Just enough attitude and lots of entertainment!

[@Matt-cl4mp]

I do cameras for a living. You might wanna look up point to point wireless antennas. Basically its two wireless antennas that aim at each other that plug into a network switch, then you run your cameras to that switch, or wirelessly if you have a wireless access point connected at each switch. The point to point antenna is kind of like a dedicated wireless signal between two points that can span miles as long as there is line of sight.

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

Oh wow, neat and interesting information. Thanks for sharing

[@spartanstorm6810]

Thanks for the tip , " Rural King " Fantastic products , wish they was in Norway

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

Rural King is an awesome store. We love it.

[@katystorts388]

I have a female guard goose for my hens. She is very protective. I highly recommend!

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

Awesome! We love having it. She’s been great

[@katystorts388]

@@RockyCreekHomestead Me too!! She got broody recently and wouldnt guard (downfall to having a female) so I got her a fertilized egg to hatch. She now has a gosling I believe to be male bc hes meaner than a snake. Hoping they will keep their guarding instincts. :)

[@PrepperDawg]

How do you like that soft cover for your lawnmower?

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

I do. We’ve had it now about 3 years. We typically use it to store hay in. It was a bit of a pain to put together, but it’s held up well.

[@buett4581]

How’d it work out?

[@chickencoop4thesoul]

Does the goose have a name!? I love the goose! Just a cool animal to add to the mix for sure. Also I saw good ol Qtip running around in a few clips 😂she cracks me up!

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

Not yet. We’re waiting until next spring to see if get eggs or not. Then we’ll know for sure if it’s a boy or girl.

[@SarahPerine]

Thanks so much for this video. I’ve been planning for a guard goose or two (one with each flock). I love how active your Cornish Cross are- wow- that is rare!! Do geese have any favorite treats so maybe you can train it to like you?!😹

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

The goose has definitely been a fun addition. Our goose loves watermelon when I put them in there. I’ve heard if you handle them a lot from birth they can become attached. I handled it a bit the first few days but after that I just tended to it as needed. This was a first for me so I wanted it to attach to the chickens more so than me. I’d definitely get another in the future if I need another one.

[@hannahbischoff6619]

Been looking at automated doors for my coop. What size and brand is yours?

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

We have this one : www.omlet.us/shop/chicken_keeping/automatic_chicken_coop_door_opener/

[@omardickens8766]

Get Arlo camara those are great I used mines 150 feet away from the house

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

My friend has arlo and he likes them too. We’ve since been using a Reolink camera tied to a cell signal and it’s been working great

[@donnalovintexas8760]

Lead Farmer73 just did a video about having a package stolen and his Blink outdoor wireless camera. He has a link and a set of 5 cameras is supposed to $189. He also shows how to set up solar to the camera and has a link to the solar setup. He also talks about setting it up to your phone vs home internet. I hope this info helps.

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

Awesome thanks for sharing. I’ve heard of the company, but haven’t looked at them. I’ll be sure to check that out. Appreciate the help. Hope all is well.

[@PoisonShot20]

I want to get a geese! Which breed is better for the purpose of guarding my hens? I have foxes, and my friend told me that fox hates them.

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

From what research I did prior to buying one, Chinese geese sound like they’re the most protective breed. They can also be some of the loudest though. I wanted a quieter goose when danger wasn’t around which narrowed it down to a pilgrim or a Toulouse. Ultimately I chose a Toulouse

[@PoisonShot20]

@@RockyCreekHomestead So, if I have nayghbors 500 ' from my house, I should get the one you got! I don't want to keep the nayghbors up all night!🤔. My son just killed one fox, two days ago, chickens were in the coop. The male came chasing a hen, and stopped about 10' from me, they're getting brave.

[@NonaMaryGrace1952]

I found this very interesting. I was wondering if when you feed the chickens does the goose alway hiss at yo . I have a nice rooster now and don’t fear going into feed the hens. Will this be a scary problem with a goose? 💕NonnaGrace 🐓

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

Thankfully the goose has been fine. She really just makes some noises once in a while. She’s gotten pretty used to us now and rarely pays us much attention.

[@reeree6682]

What's the goose's name?

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

We ended up naming her Gertie

[@HuGANityNsanity]

Just got a goose and this is the result we hope to achieve.

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

We love ours. She’s quite protective during the few months she’s laying eggs, but once she’s don’t laying she’s pretty chill

[@MosaicHomestead]

Guard goose works, but if you want to try another Guard bird, try Turkey, a Turkey protects my cornish cross, no netting or fencing, and I have mongoose and hawks as predators

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

Thanks for sharing. We’ve considered turkeys in the past. May need to actually try it one day

[@Roy-BBQn]

What breed is the goose?

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

I believe the goose is a toulouse

[@ladyhawk1083]

A lot of our geese was our pets they would slide down the long gravel road over my head and I was just a little girl probably 2nd grade I was they would even eat out of my hand they were my pets

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

This goose has been great. The 2-3 months she’s laying eggs can be a bit of a test because she’s super protective then. The rest of the year she’s pretty calm

[@bradsimpson8724]

Your goose's willingness to physically defend your chickens means nothing. Raptors know what size of animal they can take out. They're built extremely lightly, so they can't risk a fight. Their whole schtick is delivering an incredibly fast killing blow on a target that is either wholly unaware, or becomes aware far too late. Even if the goose is willing to intervene physically, you still have a dead chicken 99.9% of the time; the hawk just might not get a meal out of the deal. The goose's greatest advantage is being wary and raising the alarm call to make chickens aware of the threat and encouraging them to seek shelter. Every year I go to the falconry association field meet(probably the coolest hunting sport out there, but way too time-intensive for my lifestyle right now), and can personally attest to the killing speed of those birds; the accipiter hawks that are popular with falconers around here would be the same kinds of hawks you're dealing with, judging by the terrain you're surrounded by. With hawks having just moved into our windbreak, I am considering a guard goose, though. Our dogs are irreplaceable, and no land-bound predator dares approach our fenceline, but they don't recognize the hawks as a threat. I'll never trade them for the world and tell all and sundry they should have a pack of guardian dogs, but they definitely have their shortcomings. I'm thinking a giant goose might be making an appearance in our chicken yard this spring.

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

Thanks for the interesting read. I understand a goose in general wouldn’t be able to go one on one with a hawk. It’s just another layer of protection. I will say this, our former rooster sure put a whooping on the hawk we had an issue with and that hawk didn’t come back. Unfortunately that rooster became too aggressive over time and we had to part ways. I have really enjoyed our new farm alarm addition and I’d recommend anyone giving them a try.

[@omardickens8766]

I’m gonna get goose I have a big problem with hawks

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

She’s been great. I don’t know if she’d actually be able to fight a hawk, but she’s constantly analyzing what’s going on and alerts the chickens of a potential issue.

[@splashluvallover]

I’ve considered a guard goose but I have smallish kids (between 4-9 years old) so I worry about the goose chasing and biting them. Geese can be so mean! Which is great for guarding chickens but not great for kids who feed the chickens lol

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

Understood. We’ve been lucky with it being around my two children. It definitely squawks more when my son is around though. Hopefully we’ll stay with just the squawking

[@CynthiaYarbrough]

Is that goose a male or a female?

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

It’s a girl

[@PrepperDawg]

Fear the goose!

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

Haha yep.

[@Whocaress700]

My grandma has a Doberman, 2 geese and an ostrich. I’d be more scared of the geese.

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

Haha that’s hilarious.

[@RussellBarth]

"i dunno if it will attack a predator?" dude, it will go insane and attack cars even

[@RockyCreekHomestead]

😆 they can be quite feisty, especially during egg laying season