My brecon buff geese

[Anonymous]

Good morning from the Scottish Borders - where we can at last see green fields again and the birds can get out and enjoy their free-ranging. A wee spot of advice please if I may? I have 6 Brecon Buff geese - unsure as to gender definately one but maybe 2 ganders. They came to me last summer. At present they free-range and at night I shut them into an old dog kennel/run - so they have a wee sheltered bit and an area safe from Charlie (and the darn sheep who were always after their grain - but who are now hanging at the abbattoir awaiting my collection.......!) - they all get on great and are a brilliant wee gang. Now - breeding. I understand they might start laying sometime between Feb and May (sorry for ignorance) - and I intend to allow them to sit on their eggs and rear their young themselves. Now - what accommodation would they require - I mean I assume if each female was to bring on her young she would need an area for her nest etc - away and apart from the other birds? Not sure what to provide them with. Could somebody suggest best option. Will it need roofed and how can we ensure she nests somewhere safe and not under a tree where she would be at the mercy of predators. Will they find a wee spot in the current accommodation and nest happily there along with other females doing likewise. Just wanted to be prepared and so able to give them all the encouragement and provision they require. We would like happy goosies - just like oor piggies (my other passion - so excited cos one of my girls is brimming and I have semen on route from Ireland and am artificialy inseminating her over the next 36 hours). Geese and pigs - doesnt get much better than this! N ps many thanks in anticipation

 

[Tim]

Hi Nisbet

First year matings are not always that fertile and if they are, they can be difficult to hatch or a little weak as goslings. They are more likely to go broody in their second year.

There's an article here on pairing geese

As for housing, a draght free, dry house will be appreciated. with some nesting material - straw is good. She will line the nest with her own down feathers. They will sit on one anothers eggs so it's wise to keep the others penned out of the house when the goslings are due to hatch.

Geese will adopt youngsters - so if you do hatch with the incubator, once the goslings are a week old, the geese can be used to foster them and all of them will help to look after them.