To cull or not to cull...HELP!!

We have a pair of geese and the male is the typical aggressive goose(gander?) Anyway, I have had them since a week of age. He is getting increasingly aggressive and I am sure by the time next spring and breeding season arrives I wont be able to go in there at all. He recently pecked all the back feathers off my mallard female that I had rescued during the night while they were enclosed. He goes after anything and everyone that walks by the pen. I am thinking of doing away with him as I cannot find him another home. Any thoughts from those more experienced? I have read views on this site of people that cull the problem one. The female is pretty docile.
I need to make a decision in the next day or so.

Cull, is my recommendation. You cannot have your safety compromised by him to the point where if the female or future offspring need help, you cannot get near them to help.

He'll likely pass on that violent nature too, as well as teach it to the goslings. Better to cull sooner than later so they don't breed first and so she can bond to a better gander just in time to breed.

I've had both nasty ganders and nice ones, and they're like night and day --- same with roosters, rams, billies, toms, whatever --- it's a fallacy that male animals are automatically violent, there are many good ones out there.

Some people here train ganders out of aggression, or say they have, might be worth checking that out, but I doubt you'll achieve anythings significant before breeding season arrives and to be honest I wouldn't bother with him unless he had some kind of fantastical genetics. For every vicious animal people keep, good animals die for want of a home.

Best wishes.

If the gander. runs at you then run back at him and if he is not scared and dosent. move give him a good kick until he runs away and if he bites you kick him harder(it won't injure the gander by kicking him hard especially because when ganders fight then smack eachother harder then a hard kick) and do it everytime he charges you kick
I did this with my African cross and he learnt his lesson after 2 weeks

I'd also recommend culling.

Kicking seems a risky solution. Depending on how you interpret "a good kick" and "kick him harder", on your footwear, and on where a kick lands on his body, you could injure him quite badly. Ganders can indeed seriously hurt and occasionally even kill each other - Konrad Lorenz describes this in his book "The Year of the Greylag Goose".

I have to say that I don't like the idea of kicking any animal as a mean of controlling them. Also, even if the kicking works, i.e. the gander stays away from you, he'd still attack everything else.

If you decide to cull him, bear in mind that your female goose will then feel much more unsafe and maybe turn less docile than now. Geese need company to thrive.

The goose girl said:

I'd also recommend culling.

Kicking seems a risky solution. Depending on how you interpret "a good kick" and "kick him harder", on your footwear, and on where a kick lands on his body, you could injure him quite badly. Ganders can indeed seriously hurt and occasionally even kill each other - Konrad Lorenz describes this in his book "The Year of the Greylag Goose".

X2, a human kick is not the same thing as a gander's wing hitting another gander, you can easily stove his ribs in or break his wings. They can break bones when they fight one another, and we're much stronger than them.

Plus, no matter how justified one may feel in training an animal this way, it's illegal. All it takes is one chance observer to call to the RSPCA or equivalent and you can be banned from keeping animals for life as well as getting yourself a permanent public record of a particularly repugnant kind. You could even end up jailed or fined for a large sum.

This reminds me of a lady I spoke to recently when looking to replace my ram with a less aggressive one --- she mentioned that it had taken her 6 months to beat her current ram into submission using poly pipe whenever he approached. He may have harmed her before (he initially knocked her out stone cold from behind) but personally I believe the answer is to cull him, not spend 6 months bashing an aggressive animal into submission. I've known nice rams, nice roosters, nice bulls, nice stallions, there is no justification to the myth that all males are inherently vicious.

I have to say that I don't like the idea of kicking any animal as a mean of controlling them. Also, even if the kicking works, i.e. the gander stays away from you, he'd still attack everything else.

X2 again. Personally I don't believe in keeping animals you have to harm to get respect from --- there are animals out there who will respect you without you ever giving them cause to fear for their lives, why not breed on that positive mentality instead of one which only fears you because you've harmed it.

Your post raises some good points I agree with and thought to mention before but didn't. Continuing on this line of thought, some things I wanted to mention to the thread starter:

Many people advocate 'teaching him who's boss' (whatever species of male we're referring to, it seems to be applied quite broadly when it comes to livestock) but how can a toddler do the same? By that method your rooster or gander is justified in harming your children, or other peoples', to obtain alpha status over them. If he's part of your social hierarchy, that means anyone in your family that he can dominate is rightfully under him. I do not believe in attempting to take top hen or top rooster spot, because I'm not a chicken; by the same token at no point should they attempt to take any human's hierarchy status because they're not human, and we're not competing with one another. The same thing applies to all livestock species.

If they're confused about what species they are, or overly aggressive, culling is the answer, not violence. My roosters and other animals respect humans without being harmed to obtain respect; trust and affection or a positive association are far more reliable controls than fear and distrust.

When using force to dominate animals, you should bear in mind that some develop actively resentful mentalities from this, and will often breed that on, and become more cunning so they will attack from behind, or wait until someone is incapacitated and unable to defend themselves --- or, my personal 'favorite' (sarcasm) they may take to attacking the most helpless humans only, especially when those humans able to dominate the animal physically are not around to defend them. The most helpless humans are usually babies and small children, but any infirm, or frightened person also qualifies for some bullying.

Most training of ganders or roosters (or whatever male livestock) usually involves violence, but this can often beget more violence. You can end up trapped in a vicious cycle of fear based dominance, reinforced by violence. Not the sort of human-animal interactions that are peaceful and positive for anyone or any animal to live under. If you accept that an animal is part of your hierarchy, then you need to keep in mind that dominant animals will always get their comeuppance sooner or later... Their subordinates are always watching and waiting for their opportunity. It's natural for the alpha to be regularly challenged. It's not normal, really, for a once-off alpha contest to happen and never be repeated.

If you decide to cull him, bear in mind that your female goose will then feel much more unsafe and maybe turn less docile than now. Geese need company to thrive.

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I thought to suggest before that perhaps she should have another goose added, maybe a female, for company before the male is culled, but then I thought of potential trio incompatibility when another male is added, i.e. the 'odd goose out syndrome' if the extra female is not accepted by the alpha pair. There's no guarantee the original goose wouldn't end up the odd one out, either. Can be next to impossible to say how to keep things socially peaceable.

Best wishes.

IGmom said:

We have a pair of geese and the male is the typical aggressive goose(gander?) Anyway, I have had them since a week of age. He is getting increasingly aggressive and I am sure by the time next spring and breeding season arrives I wont be able to go in there at all. He recently pecked all the back feathers off my mallard female that I had rescued during the night while they were enclosed. He goes after anything and everyone that walks by the pen. I am thinking of doing away with him as I cannot find him another home. Any thoughts from those more experienced? I have read views on this site of people that cull the problem one. The female is pretty docile.
I need to make a decision in the next day or so.

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What breed is it? Are the two actual paired off, as a couple?
Any chance of getting a young gander that´s from this year to put with her? But separate the older gander so he can´t do it any harm, but within sight of the others though so it doesn´t stress too much. See if the goose is ok with the youngster. Maybe a couple of days. She should be with it, after a bit. Then the older gander disappears....
And try to get a gander that´s from one of the milder breeds, like Buff, Pilgrim or Sebastopol.
Do you actually want to breed them? If you only want eggs, then you could get another female and do the same as above....

I think it is African but some say Chinese. Yes they are a pair. What I want to do is get another female but no one is wanting the Gander. He isn't horrible to me but has been really nasty to me at times. I take care of that but he is super nasty to anyone BUT me and is nasty to a little duck we rescued. At present I have no where to put the gander, cant put him with the chickens as he pulls their feathers out and torments them. We have plenty of acreage but it isn't fenced for geese.

thanks first of all for replying. it is nice to know I am not alone and there are others who have experience to help. I don't kick him, I push him or hold him down for a few seconds. it doesn't last long though and if you turn your back you better watch out.
the goose is with a young mallard we rescued would that be sufficient company? or I can get more ducks or female geese. ideally i'd like to find someone who wants a breeding pair.

IGmom said:

thanks first of all for replying. it is nice to know I am not alone and there are others who have experience to help. I don't kick him, I push him or hold him down for a few seconds. it doesn't last long though and if you turn your back you better watch out.
the goose is with a young mallard we rescued would that be sufficient company? or I can get more ducks or female geese. ideally i'd like to find someone who wants a breeding pair.

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So do you want to sell them, then?

sell or give away to a good home where they wont b eaten.