Economics of keeping geese

How much does it cost to keep geese? Can you get them to pay for themselves? In this article, we’ll discuss goose-enomics, the financial side of raising geese!

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Financial considerations of goose keeping

There are many benefits to keeping geese: their superior grazing skills, built-in alarm systems, visual aesthetic, and — of course — their winning personalities. But if you’ve ever wondered if keeping geese can return more than satisfaction, or if keeping a bunch of feathered pets might break the bank, then this article is for you! 

Part 1. Set Up Costs

This article is mostly focused on the cost of maintaining your goose flock, and assumes you have the proper set up for keeping geese. However, if you’re reading because you are “goose curious,” then you will need a basic sense of what it takes to get started…

a. Cost to buy geese

• Adult geese will run you about $50-$140 per goose depending on the breed.
• Goslings will run $25-50 from a reputable breeder (more than $100 for rare geese such as Cotton Patch or Roman Tufted or “Fancy” breeds such as Sebastopol).

However, I will always recommend adopting geese from a waterfowl rescue operation. Many are at capacity and will happily deliver geese to you within a reasonable distance.

Important note: You will need at least two geese. No exceptions! Sources that claim geese are “fine” being by themselves with a flock of chickens are wrong. End of story. Get two geese.

b. A safe shelter for nighttime

The cost of sheltering your geese at night is going to vary widely depending on:

• the number of geese you want to keep,
• the outbuildings you may or may not have available, and
• whether you’re going to build the thing yourself or buy something / contract someone else to build it for you.

So, let’s put shelter costs at anywhere from $0 (you already have a safe shelter that requires no improvements) to $5,000 (you contract someone to build a nice home for a mid-sized flock).

c. Adequate fencing

Geese will roam unless there is a fence. Depending on your setup, you’ll need fencing materials (I recommend sheep wire or field fencing) or movable electric netting to keep them in the area you desire.

• 330 feet of wire will run you $200-$250.
• 6-foot T-posts are around $40 each and you’ll need to space them every 10-12 feet.
• 168’ of electric poultry netting runs around $200 and you’ll also need an energizer.
• A solar energizer will run anywhere from $160 to over $400 depending on the area you need to cover. Usually an energizer in the $200 range is sufficient.

d. Water source

If there’s not a water source on your property, you’ll at least need several water containers large enough to allow your geese to submerge their heads and bathe. Ideally, the water source is large enough to allow your geese to swim and dive.

Cost? Again, it depends on the size and setup you choose:

• A 4-5 gallon rubber bucket (I do not recommend plastic or metal if you live in an area where water freezes in the winter) will run you about $15.
• A 15 gallon oval tank (suitable for one goose to take a bath) will run you about $30.
• Or you can get a kid pool for anywhere from $15-40 depending on how fancy you want to get.

e. Shelter/coop bedding

When it comes to bedding for your goose coop, I recommend straw, pine or aspen shavings, or hemp bedding.

• A bale of straw will be around $10,
• a package of chopped straw or pine shavings is around $15, and
• hemp bedding will run you around $30.

In summary, expect to spend anywhere from $50 (adopted geese, most infrastructure in place) to thousands of dollars to get your setup right to keep geese.

Part 2. Ongoing Goose Maintenance Costs

Now that the initial costs are out of the way, let’s address the ongoing or daily maintenance costs. Again, this is going to vary depending on your setup.

a. Feed

Feed is the largest goose keeping expense. However, if your geese can free-range and graze on grass for half the year or more, your costs are going to be significantly less than if your geese are dependent on feed every day of the year.

Feed costs will also vary by brand/quality:

• Mazuri Waterfowl runs $50 per 50lb bag (via Chewy.com).
• Lower quality waterfowl or all-flock feeds run around $20 per 40lb bag. Cracked corn is about $16 per 50lb bag. You get the idea.

If there is no grass or plants to forage, then a goose requires about ½ lb (or 1 cup) of food per day. This is approximately the quantity of Mazuri Waterfowl feed we give our geese in the winter (1.5 quarts, twice a day, for a flock of 12).

So, feeding our geese Mazuri results in a winter feed cost of $0.50 per day per goose ($50/50lb = $1/lb. Each goose gets about ½ lb per day = $0.50).

A goose will eat up to four pounds of grass per day, and if you’re going to free-range them (assuming your pasture is robust) you will need at least ¼ acre per pair of geese. If you have less than this, you will need to supplement with food, even during the lush growing months, so as to not to over-gaze your land.

Depending on how active your geese are, how much space they have, the enrichment you offer them, and individual breeds, feed amounts may also vary.

Here in the High Desert of Colorado, our geese need zero supplemental food from May through August (125 days). In September, October, and April (90 days) they require about ½ cup of feed per goose per day, or $0.25 per goose per day. $0.50 per day per goose from November through March (150 days).

Averaged over the whole year, feed costs are approximately $97.50 per goose per year or $0.27 per goose per day.

b. Medical

An important factor to keep in mind is that owning any type of bird comes with challenges if they require veterinary care.

Many vets will not see “exotics,” which includes birds. If you are lucky enough to have an avian vet within driving distance, chances are that they will be pricey.

The good news is that — compared to ducks and chickens — geese are hardy birds and do not often develop medical issues. We have been raising geese since 2018 with our flock as large as 20, and as small as 4 (when we were just starting). In recent years, I’ve kept the flock size between 10-12 geese.

At the time of writing this article, I have only had one goose require medical attention (for an abscess in the oil gland). Still, I encourage you to brush up on your avian first-aid care, and have basic medical supplies on hand (aka a goose first aid kit). Remember, geese can live well upwards of 20 years with proper care, so there’s a chance they may need your help at some point.

Here are my recommendations for a basic goose first aid kit:

• Vet tape ($10): a multi-purpose must-have. Good for wrapping feet (for rare occasions of bumblefoot), wounds, or for the wings of young geese showing signs of developing angel wing. (Angel wing is a joint deformity that can occur when a gosling has a nutrient deficiency, protein excess, or is simply a fast-growing large-breed goose. The flight feathers end up growing faster than the underlying structure allows.)
• Betadine ($17): a powerful microbicide for wound care that you do not need a prescription for. Dilute until it is tea-colored. Great for soaking bumbles.
• Vetricyn spray ($25): for cleaning out wounds.
• Luer-lock syringes ($7) and parrot feeding attachments ($19): For administering medication – it is vital you do this correctly so as not to cause aspiration. (See: How to tube feed ducks, which also applies to geese.)
• Enrofloxacin 10% for birds ($28): broad spectrum treatment for bacterial infections. This is great to have on hand if you do not have a vet nearby. Note that you cannot sell eggs or meat for human consumption if you use this antibiotic. 

Your basic goose first aid kit will run you about $100 with shipping, taxes, etc.

Part 3. Potential income opportunities with geese?

While we use our geese mostly for permaculture efforts in our orchard (resulting in an indirect monetary contribution through the sale of our apples and cider), geese can offer goods that may help them pay for themselves.

1. Goose eggs

Goose eggs are a delicacy! These can be sold for $20-50 per half dozen when you find the right market.

Shipping goose eggs can be quite challenging, but if you figure out a reliable system, there are many people across the country who are excited to buy them. 

2. Down (ethically sourced) 

Ethically sourced down is another potential source of revenue from raising geese. Admittedly, I have not gone through the painstaking chore of hand-gathering goose down from nesting areas, but it can be done.

Ethically sourced goose down is a luxury material that can fetch good money… But I’m unsure if the price it fetches would be worth the many hours to collect it.

(By the way, down is a rather terrible industry with little regulation. Geese are lucky if they are not live-plucked. “Ethical” down in most cases means the down has been collected as a by-product of butchering. Hand-collected down is extremely rare).

3. Geese for rent

You may be able to rent out your goose flock seasonally to orchards and vineyards. That’s because geese are excellent weeders and mowers.

4. Breeding

I don’t love the idea of breeding more geese because there are so many adult birds in need of homes. However, purchasing goslings from a reputable breeder on a small farm or homestead is much better than putting baby birds through large-scale hatcheries that ship them (often unsuccessfully) to farm stores.

Goslings sell for $25-100 depending on the breed and “show quality.” (You can refer to The Livestock Conservancy for a list of goose breeds and their ideal genetic traits.)

5. Meat

We do not raise our birds for meat, nor do I eat it. However, goose meat is a sought-out speciality around the holidays, with many people preferring the tender meat over turkey. Geese are very sustainable to raise, with a nearly non-existent carbon footprint.

A whole goose from a speciality store can sell for $250. However, keep in mind that in order to sell, you will need to butcher through a USDA-approved facility which can be a traumatic experience for the goose. Some people get around this requirement by selling “shares;” someone essentially buys the goose beforehand so that it is “theirs,” and then purchases the finished product. This allows an individual to take the goose’s life in a way that inflicts the least amount of fear or struggle.

Geese: a good return on investment, but so much more… 

For our purposes, we enjoy geese for their beauty and silly antics, and utilize their natural propensity for grazing to keep our orchard tidy of windfalls (dropped fruit) and weeds. Half of our geese are adopted from other homes or rescues, and they came here simply to have a safe place to land.

That said, the potential to have geese “earn their keep” is certainly there. And if your goal is only to have a lovely flock of miniature feathered dinosaurs, they are relatively inexpensive compared to a dog or cat.

Each goose (for our setup) averages just under $100 per year to keep (assuming no vet bills). By contrast, our one dog requires about $300 in food per year, plus the mandatory yearly vet check up, which adds another $150 or so.

Is the cost of keeping geese higher or lower than you expected? Do you know what it costs to keep your flock? Let us know in the comments! 

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Other helpful goose articles:

• 7 reasons why you shouldn’t get geese
• Male or female geese – which should you get?
• What to feed geese: all your questions answered
• Adult geese vs goslings: which should you get?
• How to hatch goose eggs
• How to poach goose and duck eggs to perfection
• Top 10 reasons to raise geese
• How to introduce new geese to your flock

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