Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

So I've had several breeds of geese over 20 years. The chinese geese are great layers but the honk has a nasal quality that allows noise to carry. The two males we've had over the years would grab you when you weren't looking. The embdens were ok (they all free ranged). The tufted romans are quiet, friendly, and great foragers: but I bought two pairs and the boss male was brutal to the other male and I had to separate them. It turns out they need a 4 to 1 ratio for the males to get along, and fertility is very good but they started laying in February and most eggs froze before I was home to collect them. One went broody, both stopped laying, and one hatched. I blame my housing and management for the poor results and we'll see what next year brings.
I bought some young Sebastopols (a trio and an extra mixed breed goose) but sold the trio after a few weeks. (Too many birds) they were very friendly and the lady I sold them to loves them and finds them very tame. Apparantly Sebastopols lay better than Romans.
The theory was a bird that did well on pasture and little other feed. They did mow down a lot of grass and devoured fallen apples. They got along with the chickens but we'll see how they do in their smaller winter quarters.
So I sold the boss and a goose today, the remaining birds are lost without their leader and for the first time they I had to chase them in the barn for the night.

I have a roman gander, an embden goose and a cross goose. I find them all pretty easy going for about 9 months out of the year and nasty to everything when nesting, laying and brooding young. they sure are great guard birds though! they are usually fine with the chickens, turkeys and ducks, they share the run n coop pretty well, they even come in the coop for the night.

when I introduced a pair of pekins the gander wouldnt leave the duck alone and the drake wouldnt stand up for her. I added some dead ceder trees to give the duck a place of peace and sanctuary away from the evil gander. I didnt want to separate them as I want them to all live in the same run and settle there differences. after about 2 months he finally left her alone and all is well.

I love my geese, I like watching them be geese and seeing them swim in the pond. I also really like how they are a security system and will sound the alarm at any intruder. but I also know how tasty they are and whenever they make me frustrated my mind says... "eat em!" but then I remember the above and they get to stay.