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Post by steev on Nov 23, 2010 20:15:20 GMT -5
I've been mulching/sheet composting a lot with bunny bedding and am getting a vigorous growth of oats. I'm wondering whether geese would eat the young oat plants, or if they're too big a grass to appeal to geese. Anybody have a clue?
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Post by raymondo on Nov 24, 2010 5:09:16 GMT -5
Don't know but geese do seem to like new shoots so they may well go for it.
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Post by flowerpower on Nov 24, 2010 7:09:19 GMT -5
Feed the oat grass right back to the rabbits. But I'd think the geese would eat it. Ducks would. Especially the new shoots, as Raymond pointed out.
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Post by garnetmoth on Nov 24, 2010 7:44:58 GMT -5
I seem to remember reading encouragement to feed small tufts of grass not handfulls to the rabbits- and tender growth is better than old. fresh grass can make fiber knots (bezores) that stuff up their bellies.
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Post by synergy on Nov 24, 2010 13:51:46 GMT -5
www.metzerfarms.com/UsingWeederGeese.cfmThis Metzer farms site is an excellant reference on keeping ducks and geese. I think you might have to manage your geese and/ or protect your oat grass. This link has mention of familiarizing goslings with edible weeds so they actively forage them when they are older.
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Post by steev on Nov 24, 2010 17:57:11 GMT -5
I think I'm gonna give geese a chance when I can. Feeding the oats back to the bunnies isn't practical as it would entail weeding them out, which I'm trying to avoid. I get the bedding free for the hauling. I'm just thinking I might get the oats out and some roast goose, too. Thanks for the input.
synergy, that is an excellent site.
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Post by seedywen on Nov 25, 2010 21:29:49 GMT -5
I have two flocks of ducks(used to have geese)who graze quite a lot of grass/weeds in addition to a pre-measured amount of daily feed.
I release one flock everal hours every morning to range the farm, eating both grass and hunting for insects before giving them, 'breakfast'. By late afternoon, they're let out to free range a different area while they're hungry and then given 'supper' when they return to the shelter at night.
The other flock has access to an orchard and hay field all day for grazing. Both flocks seem to need about the equivalent of dry food a day so I think of the wet feed(pasture/weeds) more as a nutritional supplement.
It would be fantastic if the ducks could get their protein reqirements from eating insect. Although this diet keeps the ducks, healthy and happy, for sustained egg production, I hedge the bet, by feeding a measured amount of daily feed wth a 16 % protein level.
I often time some of my garden chores, weeding, watering, harvesting etc.with the over-turning of mulch cover materials, held by boards, bricks or logs with one flock's free range time. They grown to expect good food(sow bugs, slugs, etc.) and are my constant companions to grabbing insects while I work. They've even learned to shake the landscape path fabric at the edges so that insects scatter on their own. Ducky see. Ducky do.
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Post by synergy on Nov 28, 2010 12:47:09 GMT -5
Seedywen, why did you switch from geese to ducks? I am planning to have very small flocks rotating of each. The geese primarily for around the orchard type plantings and a few ducks for around the stableyard and gardens to keep down slugs , snails and bugs.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Nov 28, 2010 12:58:34 GMT -5
Seedywen, why did you switch from geese to ducks? Geese are mean... They bite hard and hiss even harder... |
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Post by grunt on Nov 28, 2010 18:23:15 GMT -5
You just have to establish who is the alpha what with geese. I had geese when I was first on the lightstations = when they started going after my 3 year old son, I gave him one of those large hollow plastic bats, and told him to fend for himself. They left him alone after the first couple of encounters. My wife, on the other hand, always had them put the run on her = never did get to where she could get them to back down. Hilarious when they were walking the boardwalk together = a three year old riding shotgun for mom.
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Post by steev on Nov 28, 2010 22:30:20 GMT -5
I feel the same about dogs and geese: the one that bites goes in the pot and gets bitten back.
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Post by flowerpower on Nov 29, 2010 7:16:03 GMT -5
Dumb question now.  I have 2 female ducks, a large pekin and a muscovey. I want a male goose. Is this do-able? I want him because they are territorial. I had my neighbors ( 3 guys I don't know at all) looking in my window one day this summer. A goose would not have let them on the deck, would he? |
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Post by grunt on Nov 29, 2010 12:18:37 GMT -5
They may be able to get to where they can look in the window, but you will know they are there.
The Haig (used to be Haig&Haig) distillery in Scotland has a double fence system with geese running between the fences as a security system. Nobody gets to sneak in = lots of noise.
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Post by flowerpower on Nov 30, 2010 7:28:22 GMT -5
I'll have to check with this one man I know. See if he still has geese. He had the curly ones, which were pretty cool looking and fairly large too. The dog is getting kind of deaf. A watch goose is sounding pretty good right now.  |
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Nov 30, 2010 10:53:19 GMT -5
had the curly ones, which were pretty cool looking and fairly large too. Sebastapols? OOOoooooooooo, Love them! |
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I have 2 female ducks, a large pekin and a muscovey. I want a male goose. Is this do-able? I want him because they are territorial. I had my neighbors ( 3 guys I don't know at all) looking in my window one day this summer. A goose would not have let them on the deck, would he? 