29 Super-Interesting Facts About Geese
- Geese help and protect other geese that are in trouble. When a geese fall out of the sky due to sickness, wound or when shot, two geese will follow it down. They will stay with it until it dies or is able to fly again. Then they fly out in formation and try to catch the flock.
- Geese, especially the Chinese geese, can be use to control weeds in plantations, crop farms and waterways. They prefer grasses to most broad-leave plants. They have been used to control weeds for crops like asparagus, berries, mint, tobacco, beets, beans, hops, onions and potato. Their use decline with the introduction of selective herbicides. But as awareness of organic farming spread, their use is increasing. In the tropics, success has been found in kiwi plantations, cotton fields, coffee, banana, plantain and pineapple farms.
- They are cheap to keep because they are good scavengers. They require less attention than any other farm bird. If you provide them supplementary feed in the evening, they will learn to come home by themselves.
- Geese (esp. the Chinese geese) can be use for security because of the loud noise they make when they see strangers or predators. Outsiders cannot calm them into silence. They have very good eyesight and wide field of vision. Geese have replaced many guard dogs in many places, including sensitive military installations.
- Wild geese usually fly in “V” formation because as each geese flap its wings, it creates uplift for the other birds behind it and this decreases wind resistance. When the birds in the front get tired other birds from behind replace them. This will extend their flying range 70% compare to when each bird flies alone. Also, the geese behind occasionally honk to encourage those in front to maintain speed.
- In the wild, geese are monogamous. Even after the death of the couple, the other one would live several years or a life time alone. One of the reasons why young geese have high life expectancy is because both parent geese take part in bringing up the goslings. Domesticated geese are not monogamous. To ensure egg fertility in domesticated geese, farmers house 1 male for every 4 females.
- Geese live in nests which they build at secluded locations in the vicinity of water. Nesting generally begins at the age of two years. Incubation period last for 30 days. When she goes far from eggs, she covers them with sticks to make them feel cosy and protected. Meanwhile, the gander keeps the nest protected from a distance.
- When goslings come out of eggs, parent geese introduce them to open water within 24 hours of their fetching.
- The female geese always build the nest. She lays 1 egg per day until a full clutch of about five eggs is obtained. Wild goose will lay up to 5-12 eggs per year and domestic goose up to 50 per year. An egg can weigh 120-170g. Chicken eggs can hardly reach 80g (normally 64g).
- It is very difficult to defeathers a geese when you want to cook it.
- They are found worldwide and they can survive both hot (so far as shade is provided) and cold climates.
- It takes about 2 years for geese to be fully mature.
- The Chinese geese are good egg producers but gives poor meat yield. The embden geese are good for meat production.
- A group of geese on the ground is a gaggle; when flying they’re called a skein, a team or a wedge; when flying close together, they are called a plump.
- Domestic geese can reach up to 10kg in weight and so they can hardly fly.
- Migratory geese will fly up to 3,000 miles to return to their place of birth to mate and nest.
- Males are called gander and females are called geese. Babies are called goslings
- Few years ago, geese were almost hunted to extinction. But they’re back again and constitute nuisance in some places.
- Baby geese can walk and swim a day or two after hatching.
- Geese like habitat that are grassy and near water.
- They spend most of the day grazing and hunting for food.
- Geese prefer intake of fertilized grass in their food rather than unfertilized one. That is why they can be easily seen at golf courses, playgrounds and well-preserved lawns.
- The male community of geese display caring and protective nature towards their female counterparts and will even stand between danger and her, risking their life.
- A day old gosling is capable of diving and swimming as much as 30 to 40 feet underwater. At the age of three months, goslings begin to fly.
- Young goslings stay with their parents during migration period and return to their original place after a year with their parents.
- There are very few birds which do not split from their family after breeding season, geese is one of them.
- An adult geese undergoes molting every year, during which lose their flight and tail feathers. It takes nearly 6 weeks for new feathers to grow back. Meanwhile, the geese dwell near water regions, primarily to get protection from its predators.
- Geese predators include foxes, owls, raccoons and snapping turtles.
- There are around 30 species of geese in the world.