2 questions on our 6 week old chinese Goose

[drtnsnw]

This is the first couple of many haha!!

1 Ever since we brought Lucy home and started holding her she has wanted to try and eat our fingers! Not nibble, put's them down her throat. Feels very wierd but she is getting big enough it is starting to hurt a bit. Why in the world is she doing this? Is there a good way to make her stop? We are telling her NO and that has helped the biting of ears and neck but she still puts out fingers down her throat.

2 We have hardwood floors and now that we have her diaper she is walking around. If she moves at all quickly her feet slip out from under her and she fall flat on her belly!! She screams bloody murder til lwe help her up! Will she get stron enough to walk on the hardwood? My gut is she will be fine as she grows up more but asking never hurts

Chris

 

[n4zty]

i have a chinese goose too suppose they just like chewing on things even if they not gonna eat it. but by giving it ur fingers on purpose ur teaching it its ok to bite trust me last thing u wanna do i did that mistake with my white embeden i had, he got so agressive that if i rolled a tire on my yard he would of chased after it and tackled it just to try and kill it. now terms of the wood floor geese kinda of shuffle their feet than rather walk normal like we do so that explains why she is slipping alot but she might be able to adjust im not sure ive always kept my animals outside never inside.

 

[Denninmi]

I don't know why the biting/nibbling thing -- I know that they don't have hands, so the beak is the primary sensory organ used to "feel" and interpret the world. They just like to nibble, and yes, it does hurt as they get bigger. I have 3, the oldest is only 6 weeks. I understand that the behavior does diminish as they age, but never completely stops. Some people on here have commented that they have had some success by "flicking" the bill with their fingers while saying "no", and I think I recall one comment that someone was able to use distraction with a shiny object too large to swallow.

As far as the slippery floors goes, check out the duck forum and do a search about "duck shoes" -- there are a couple of vendors on their that make them, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if someone is making them in a goose size, or they could probably custom make them for you. I guess the shoes really help a lot with situations where the bird is having trouble on artificial surfaces that are too slick, too hot, too rough, too sharp, and so forth. I think they make them out of some kind of non-slip, rubbery stuff. A lot of people really swear by them.

Oh, and welcome to Backyard Chickens. You will learn so much here.

 

[The goose girl]

The easiest way to stop her nibbling and/or swallowing fingers is to remove the fingers...

As to the slipping, my goose did that too when he was a gosling. I also had to help him get up - I did it by placing my hands on each side of him, so he could get up without his feet sliding away. I also put out some small rugs for him, and he quickly learned to settle down on those, so he could get up again by himself.

The sliding problem was at its worst when he was about 6 weeks old and almost completely gone when he was 10 weeks old.

I did try the shoes, too, but the fit wasn't very good (it seemed like there were two right shoes and no left shoe). Also, he quickly grew out of them, and now that he's an adult he doesn't need them anymore. His gait on hardwood or tile floors is a kind of controlled slide and he can always get up by himself.

 

[drtnsnw]

thanks for the reply's. Was working on her and the fingers this morning and it seemed to help but she kept going for my ears. Little snot! If she just takes her time on the floors she is fine but she thinks she needs to chase the cat and ends up looking like a dork!!

Chris