Merging 2 mature flock of Embdens

Hello everyone, I had a pair of 2 yrs old. Our muscovies helped hatched 7 of their eggs. 3 of the older goslings are now with the pair and was readily accepted.

We then bought 3 young females and a young gander. The 3 young females were readily accepted but the gander was very badly injured. We moved the young gander to the duck shed and he's happy there now with the 4 little goslings that was still with their muscovy mom.

Yesterday we adopted 9 rescued semi wild geese (it's what's left of an original flock of 40) that needed a new home. They are currently in a field of their own but there's no shed there i can put them away at night though they are used to living outside for years (due to abandonment). They are really mild mannered but there's a fox around

Question 1: is there a way I can integrate my 2 flocks (leaving the flock of the young gander out for the moment) and how do I go about it?

Question 2: I was told that there's 8 geese and 1 gander in the rescued flock; though I think that is highly unlikely. I was also told that if there's no gander around for pairing 2 geese of same sex would pair up with each other and that pairing is for life? is that true?

Question 3: I have a lot more geese than I do gander at the moment, how do I add gander into the flock without them getting brutally attacked?

1 have 3 fields and they are each in a field but I m dreading having to put electric fencing on 3 acres so if I could get them together it'll be really good.

1st picture: my 2yrs old pair with his new flock


2nd picture: the new 9 rescued geese


3rd picture: the injured young gander with the 4 goslings that will be his flock

Welcome to BYC and what a nice thing to do rescue these geese. They are all beautiful..

Usually letting the 2 yr old pair live right next door in separate fencing with the new group will start the integration, it can take as long as a few weeks or as long as months but getting them together now will be alot easier than waiting till mating season so your at a good point for trying. can you keep them side by side for a while where the new group will have a safe place to sleep for the night? Your thinking the right way about their safety especially if there is a fox around it won't take it or something long to figure out there is free food around. I wish there was another way of doing this but I'm thinking if you just put them all together with out first them getting to know each other there maybe a free for all. Sounds like you have the property to keep them all on eventually just give them a bit of time to get to know one another first. If you have plenty of females having a few ganders shouldn't be a problem once they get to know each other. There maybe some pushing and shoving but hopefully that will be all. Just like in other poultry there has to be a pecking order established.

As for your young gander that was injured do you plan on keep him and his gosling separate or will they eventually be incorporated into the flock too.

Miss Lydia said:

Welcome to BYC and what a nice thing to do rescue these geese. They are all beautiful..

Usually letting the 2 yr old pair live right next door in separate fencing with the new group will start the integration, it can take as long as a few weeks or as long as months but getting them together now will be alot easier than waiting till mating season so your at a good point for trying. can you keep them side by side for a while where the new group will have a safe place to sleep for the night? Your thinking the right way about their safety especially if there is a fox around it won't take it or something long to figure out there is free food around. I wish there was another way of doing this but I'm thinking if you just put them all together with out first them getting to know each other there maybe a free for all. Sounds like you have the property to keep them all on eventually just give them a bit of time to get to know one another first. If you have plenty of females having a few ganders shouldn't be a problem once they get to know each other. There maybe some pushing and shoving but hopefully that will be all. Just like in other poultry there has to be a pecking order established.

As for your young gander that was injured do you plan on keep him and his gosling separate or will they eventually be incorporated into the flock too.

Click to expand...

Thank you Miss Lydia, we kept the rescued flock in a field but let the 2yrs old flock roam so they have been interacting with each other. we may try to let the rescue flock roam freele as well in a few days and see how they get on.

I plan to let the young gander establish his own flock with the 4 young goslings because they are not his siblings. will keep them saperate until he is strong enough to run away from our 2yrs old before trying again but if the abuse continues i'll keep the young gander's flock with the muscovy ducks because they are living peacefully at the moment.

chrisngo73 said:

Thank you Miss Lydia, we kept the rescued flock in a field but let the 2yrs old flock roam so they have been interacting with each other. we may try to let the rescue flock roam freele as well in a few days and see how they get on.

I plan to let the young gander establish his own flock with the 4 young goslings because they are not his siblings. will keep them saperate until he is strong enough to run away from our 2yrs old before trying again but if the abuse continues i'll keep the young gander's flock with the muscovy ducks because they are living peacefully at the moment.

Click to expand...

Sounds like a good plan, let us know how it goes.