winter feed for an African Geese pair?

[urban.friendly.farming]

I inherited a young (still less than a year old) pair of African Geese in the late summer. They happily foraged in the garden through the autumn and early winter, but now I'm pressed to know what to feed them as an essential diet until spring. I've been offering them baled (Timothy?) grass and scratch grains and they are eating both but seem a bit picky or finicky.

What's the best plan?

Thanks!

 

[Iain Utah]

I am new to keeping geese myself... but I feed my free range pair a little whole kernel corn 2x daily, along with an unlimited supply of my horses' grass hay. They are chubby, even though they live outside 24/7 in extreme cold.

 

[urban.friendly.farming]

Great!

Thanks

 

[ultasol]

Make sure you give them something with the nutrients/minerals they need... try giving them a general poultry feed. This can be supplemented by wheat, oats, barley, hay.

 

[boxedcow]

I keep their feed bucket full at all times with flock raiser / pellet layer mix, I also mix in a small bit of scratch. In the morning when I let them out I also give them a scoop of corn. Plenty of water and I throw out some grit now that the ground is kinda hard for them to forage for their own. (This is all shared between my "Gucks" -pair of geese, and pair of ducks.)

I am also looking into possibly getting some hay for them to try and see if they like it. For treats I give them romaine (they all come running for it) warm mashed potatoes, cabbage, strawberries.

 

[Chikn-Chik]

Mine get a mixture of corn and flock raiser and always plenty of water available at all times.

 

[mominoz]

I found a neat pellet form a local mill 'it's alfalpha/oat pellet at 16% protein, it's for horses, but only runs about 8.50 for 50 lb. My horses get a bit too and my ducks.I also give a poultry layer, and a handful of wild bird mix, with a bit of Calf manna, when everyone comes in at night. Corn is only about 8% protein and even though they like it ,it tends to make ducks and geese to fat if given too much. I also get some grass hay and give a flake at a time,as they consume it.

 

[Oregon Blues]

I don't recommend corn for geese. If you feed corn, keep the amount very small. Geese will build a lot of internal fat, so they can get way too over-weight without your realizing it. They can get so that the internal fat is crowding their organs.Corn puts fat onto poultry.

If they will eat hay, that is good, but also feed some sort of balanced poultry feed with added vitamins and minerals.

Mine get a whole grain pellet with vitamins and minerals. They also get a separate dish of oyster shell and whatever kitchen scraps I can come up with.

If you have a female, the oyster shell is important. It takes a lot of calcium to build a goose egg shell and that calcium must come from somewhere..

 

[urban.friendly.farming]

i finally found an all-vegetable poultry pellet that they really like. it seems to be doing the trick. she has nine eggs in her nest, as of this morning, after i "stole" the first six (which are now in the incubator with about ten days to go).

thanks for all the great advice!
-uff