NAVIGATION
I enjoy hiking the many nature trails around Charlotte, North Carolina, and when I walk near a body of water, I often find myself surrounded by wild but friendly geese — and they’re always looking for treats! It got me wondering what do geese actually eat, and how can I avoid feeding them things that will make them sick?
The answers to these questions, it turns out, are fairly straightforward. So, if you want to feel confident giving these seemingly always-hungry waterfowl snacks and food they can both benefit from and enjoy, then you’re in the right place.
Hi, I’m Ryan
I love raising animals on my homestead and interacting with them in the backyard and the wild. It’s fun to feed them treats, but knowing it’s important to avoid any potential health complications, I did my research and came up with a list of what geese like to eat that’s also good for them.
What Do Geese Eat, And Why Is It Important To Know?
Nearly incessant grazers that they are, geese forage for a majority of their diet, so the answer to the question what do geese eat really comprises the natural diet both wild and free-ranging domestic geese find and eat on their own.
Educating ourselves on what foods they naturally eat when foraging helps us avoid feeding them unhealthy filler foods that can cause diseases — more on that later.
With the right foods, we can complement their eating habits with healthy, tasty treats based on their nutritional needs and natural grazing habits.
We’ll examine what wild geese eat and what foods are good for feeding geese whether you’re at the local pond or raising them on the homestead. There are some important similarities and differences to note.
What Do Wild Geese Eat Every Day?
In the wild, geese eat protein-rich foods like grass, insects, seeds, berries, roots, and grains. Their natural diet gives them the nutrients they need to be healthy and strong, but often, well-meaning nature lovers will throw them easy snack foods — high-carb, filling snacks like bread, popcorn, and crackers — that stuff their stomachs without providing any nutrition.
If birds fill up on these processed or high-carb foods, they’ll stop foraging for healthier options. Without their natural, protein, and nutrient-rich diet, geese can experience malnutrition and serious health problems like angel wing, metabolic bone disease, and other diseases spread through their waste.
Learning what wild geese really do eat when left to themselves helps us understand what’s best to supplement their diets when we give them treats. You might be wondering … can geese eat bread? Can geese eat grapes? I’ll answer all that and more.
What Can I Feed Wild Geese?
If you enjoy interacting with wildlife or taking your kids to feed the geese at a local park, I don’t want to dampen the joy that brings. You can still relish this pastime as long as you have the right foods on hand. When you’re feeding local geese when out and about or by a public pond, it’s best to stick with the following foods:
Never give geese raw or dried beans, as in this form, beans can contain phytohemagglutinin, which can be fatal for birds.
What Do Domestic Geese Like To Eat On The Homestead?
If you’re raising geese on your homestead, you’ll be much more involved in what they’re eating from day to day. You’ll find that your domestic geese like to eat many of the same foods as wild geese, and I recommend allowing them to free range as much as possible so they can get the majority of their nutrition from the plants, grains, and insects that make up their natural diet.
At the end of the day, when feeding geese on my homestead, I also like to throw them some treats from my garden or scraps from my kitchen as snacks to round out their foraging diet — mostly fruits and veggies like watermelon, berries, lettuce, or peas.
How Much Food Do Domestic Geese Eat Every Day?
If the geese in your backyard or homestead aren’t able to forage and fill up on grass, they will need to eat between 140 to 200 grams of food every day, which is about 5 to 7 ounces, or just under a cup of feed. Thankfully, though, if they do have access to a lot of grass and treats in the form of veggies, fruits, bugs, water plants, etc., you’ll really only need to provide a little bit of feed (maybe an ounce or two per bird) each day to fill in any gaps.
Feeding Geese A Balanced Diet: The Protein Ratio
Geese require a fairly high-protein diet, which is mostly filled in by their natural grass and bug intake.
Mature geese need about 16% of their diet to be protein. If you’re feeding them only poultry feed, this is easy to monitor by checking the percentage of protein on your feed bags, but it is healthier for birds to get their protein more naturally through foraging.
While you won’t be able to monitor an exact percentage with free-ranging geese, you can make sure they’re eating plants, fruits, veggies, and bugs that have a variety of nutrients as well as some amount of protein.
What Do Baby Geese Need To Eat?
Baby geese need a little bit more protein than adults — 20% of their feed should be protein for them to grow properly. However, too much protein can actually cause them to develop too quickly for their bodies to handle. So again, finding the right balance is important.
Other Considerations For Feeding Backyard Geese
Aside from their basic dietary needs, geese also need access to plenty of water, and their foraging habits can come in handy on a homestead or in your backyard. Let’s take a closer look at how much water geese need, both to drink and swim in and how raising geese can help with grass and pest control around your home.
How Much Water Do Geese Need?
Geese need enough water to be able to submerge their heads multiple times daily. While they need plenty of drinking water, they also rely on water to flush their eyes, nostrils, and beaks, since they don’t have tear ducts. Because of this, keep their drinking water fresh and separate from any swimming water, and make sure it’s deep enough from day to day for them to dunk their heads inside when they drink.
If you have backyard geese, it’s ideal to have a pond. A place they can swim, dive, feed, and exercise will considerably increase their overall happiness and health. Plus, it’s just plain fun for us to watch geese enjoying the pond on our homestead. If you aren’t able to provide a pond, a little kiddie pool goes a long way in giving them a small taste of aquatic life.
Just keep in mind that a kiddie pool won’t fill in the portion of their diet they get from aquatic plants and such, so you’ll want to make sure they have access to plenty of grass along with some extra garden scraps and high-protein snacks like bugs (fresh or dried).
Do Geese Eat Grass And Bugs?
Because geese do eat bugs and grass, I love using them on my homestead as a natural form of grass and pest control. It’s a win-win because geese naturally gravitate to the foods they need and love to eat, most of which can be found right on the homestead.
I like letting them out to graze during shady or cooler times of day, and they really do help keep my grass and weeds down while also decreasing the bugs that attack my garden. Overall, it helps keep the wild grasses and bug population in check, resulting in less maintenance needed from me. Knowing geese will be eating the grass on my land, I’m careful to avoid using pesticides wherever possible.
FAQ About Feeding Geese
Now that we’ve gone over the basics of what geese can eat, let’s look at some common foods people like to feed geese and whether or not they’re healthy for them.
Common Foods Geese Eat
- Bread: It’s not a good idea to feed geese bread. While it won’t necessarily hurt them, bread acts as junk food, and too much of it can cause sickness and malnutrition.
- Grapes: Yes, grapes are a great option to feed geese, as long as they are chopped. Whole grapes can be a serious choking hazard to birds, but chopped up, they are delicious and nutritious.
- Apples: Yes. Apples are especially good for geese that need to gain weight because they provide a natural boost of sugar and calories. Make sure you remove the core and seeds before feeding slices for the birds to peck.
- Bananas: Yes. As long as they aren’t spoiled, bananas can make a great treat for geese. Spoiled bananas are toxic for birds, though, so make sure you don’t just throw them the brown ones you don’t want anymore.
- Strawberries: Yes. Strawberries, blueberries, and most other berries are good choices to feed geese because they provide a sweet treat while still containing lots of vitamins and antioxidants.
- Carrots: Yes. Geese usually eat the green carrot tops, but some enjoy the carrot root itself. You can slice carrots up for these birds, if you’d like, but often geese will peck at whole carrots as well.
- Corn: Yes, corn is okay for geese in moderation. I recommend giving them cracked corn (dried and crushed corn kernels), as it’s easier for them to eat.
- Lettuce: Yes. Geese enjoy lettuce, just not iceberg, as it can give them diarrhea. Stick to romaine, arugula, and other similar leafy greens.
Do Geese Eat Worms?
Yes, geese eat worms along with other bugs when they forage in the wild or your backyard. If you feed geese frequently, whether while you’re out walking in the park or at home by your own pond, it’s handy to keep mealworms, earthworms, or freeze-dried crickets (or other insects) on hand for a quick and nutritious treat that will complement geese’s natural diet. They really like to eat this stuff!
I like to store dried insect snacks in large, sealed canisters with a measuring scoop. When I want to give the geese some treats and boost their protein, I scatter about a fourth of a cup per bird.
What Do Geese Eat In The Water?
Geese love being in the water, often spending a quarter to a half of every day floating when left to themselves. They can also eat many types of aquatic plants, water bugs, and even small fish swimming beneath them. If you watch them on the water for any length of time, you’ll probably see them “dabbling” or sticking their heads underwater with their rear ends in the air to grab underwater food.
What Do Geese Naturally Eat In Winter?
If you’re wondering what geese eat in the winter, you won’t be surprised to hear that a lot of them will migrate to warmer climates for the winter months before returning to their birthplaces in the spring. However, in mild climates, they’ll often stick out the winter by eating insects, weeds, aquatic plants, and whatever they can find.
Now that you know what’s healthy and what’s not ideal or even toxic for geese at your local pond or in your backyard, you can confidently feed them treats and meals. Like with any wild animal, knowing what geese like to eat when left to themselves is always the best indicator for the top things to feed them without inadvertently causing harm.
Your Turn!
- What foods do you see people feeding the geese at public ponds?
- What specific treats have you found that are both healthy and enjoyable for geese?
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