Six Figs Farm LLC

About 4 years ago, we lost a chicken to a hawk. We had the chickens behind electric fencing to protect from land predators, but hoped that with two roosters, at the time, they would be safe from aerial predators. We were wrong.

We started reading up on what we could do so that our chickens would not be a moving buffet. Several people recommended fishing line strung overhead, but that would be difficult when we move the chickens. Others recommended livestock guardian dogs, which, while effective, would necessitate much better perimeter fencing, and did not seem cost effective for what was, at the time, a small flock. Our human presence outside in close proximity did not seem to be a deterrent.

We were starting to fear that our plan of keeping pastured chickens for nutrient dense eggs would be over, when we found information about using geese to guard chickens. With two kids, we were concerned, because geese are known to be aggressive. Despite our worries, we decided to get two day-old Toulouse geese, keep them close to us and especially to the kids, to hopefully bond.

We were, and are, all outside most of the day, working on our small farm, and we kept the goslings with us while we worked. They always stayed close, almost underfoot and the kids spent lots of quality time with them.

Saffron and Snowy grew up quickly, with super sweet personalities. They take their job seriously, supervising everything we do. Snowy is a little more aloof, but Saffron loves to get snuggles when she can.

They are extremely watchful, always keeping an eye on the sky. They alarm immediately when anything flies overhead- hawk, crow, airplane. Then, the roosters take over, getting all the hens to cover and guarding over them. The geese seem to give the roosters a second or two head-start to prepare.

One morning, I was standing among the chickens when I heard the geese alarm loudly. The roosters crowed and herded the hens to shelter. One of the hens lingered in the open, and George Washington Rooster chased her into the shelter, and then both roosters stood guard. All this took place in an instant, and before I even knew what was happening, much less could react in any way, a hawk dove down over my head, ending up face to face with Kanga Rooster, who was ready for action, jumping at the hawk with spurs out. The hawk flew off in a hurry. We watched one other unsuccessful hawk attempt from a distance. I can only assume there have been other attempts when we were not watching.

We know that it is still possible to lose hens to predators, but since getting our two Toulouse geese, we have not lost a single chicken, despite having hawks in abundance. Many times, we have heard hawks call each other from trees located on either side of our chickens, as well as watched them fly overhead.

The geese also “guard” our house. They are often the first to alert to someone driving down our driveway, sometimes even before the dogs. In addition, they are cute, sweet, and loving. And, now, they give us delicious goose eggs, as well.

Since then, we have gotten four female African geese, as we have increased our flock of chickens and added ducks. The African geese are louder and even more territorial. We have lost one more chicken to hawks in the year since, but the hawk was frightened off before it had its meal, and we have had no losses since. We see hawks fly overhead daily, and they are often watching from nearby trees.

The geese don’t really love the chickens, but they accept the chickens in their area, and since they are extremely territorial, they protect the chickens by default. In addition, big loud birds wandering about make our chickens much less desirable as a meal- the hawks here are too small to carry away a chicken, and who wants to eat with 6 big birds honking and snapping at you?

As far as geese being aggressive, they certainly can be. They are territorial, and their social hierarchy is different from humans. The come toward people with their heads out, honking loudly. We have found that if you back off, they will chase and nip. However, if you think of them as loud aggressively affectionate family members, and come toward them the same way they are coming toward you- bending a bit at the waist, head out, talking loudly, they continue for a moment, then calm right down. For a little while they had a bit more dominant behavior with the kids, so we had the kids do this, and push the geese a little with their foot if the goose didn’t back down. Now, the kids have no issues at all. We have loud face to face conversations every morning, but then they settle in and just gossip. We no longer think of this as aggressive, but rather just how you begin a conversation with a goose.

We’d love to hear any questions or comments you would like to send our way! Tell us what you think of our geese!