Basics of Raising Geese and Raising Ducks

The backyard poultry hobby of raising geese and raising ducks has exploded in popularity, especially among backyard enthusiasts raising chickens. RaisingGeese.com and DuckHobby.com both boast a large readership that has grown considerably, showing just how much these two waterfowl species have grown in popularity. The reasons for raising waterfowl like your own geese or ducks depends on the individual. In this backyard poultry article, we'll detail the basics of raising geese and how to raise ducks.

How to Raise Geese

Raising geese is not nearly as popular of a past time as raising chickens, although raising geese has earned an increase following among backyard poultry hobbyists. It's quite easy getting started raising geese. First, you'll need to choose why you want to raise geese. Is it for selling your geese to market (meat)? Or perhaps you want to raise geese for goose eggs? Perhaps these goose eggs are for brooding geese and hatching goslings! A lot of people also raise geese for simple pleasure and ornamental purposes. Once you decide why you want to raise geese, you must choose your goose breed and learn the farm basics of feeding geese goose feed. Because feeding geese often involves substituting chicken feed for goose feed, you need to know what to look for in terms of choosing the right feed for your geese. And, of course, you can feed your geese on pasture land (free-ranged geese).

Reasons for raising geese: Goose eggs, goose marketing (meat), or ornamental purposes.

Types of goose breeds: There are over a dozen types of goose breeds.

Source: RaisingGeese.com

How to Raise Ducks

While raising geese is popular, raising ducks are even more popular (but still not as popular as raising chickens). Regardless, raising ducks enjoy a much larger following than goose hobbyists. There are dozens of types of duck breeds, so choosing the right duck breed is an important step before starting to raise ducks. Once you choose a duck breed, such as the Pekin duck, you must decide how to start your own duck flock. Do you want to hatch duck eggs and brood ducklings? Or perhaps you want to buy adult ducks! Once you have your ducks, you can raise your ducks in an outdoor enclosure with other types of waterfowl should you so choose. If you want, you can raise your ducks on pasture, although its still important to know the other ways of feeding ducks. Raising ducks can be very rewarding.

Reasons for raising ducks: Duck eggs, ornamental duck care, and marketing ducks for meat.

Types of duck breeds: Most popular duck breed is the Pekin duck.

Source: DuckHobby.com

Which is better: Raising Ducks or Raising Geese

Compared to raising chickens, raising ducks and raising geese (or other types of waterfowl) isn't as popular. Of the two waterfowl species, ducks are more popular than geese. This could be because raising ducks is more manageable than raising geese, and sometimes cheaper.