Personalities Swans v Geese

[subhanalah]

I find this funny, people always tell me how mean their geese are and how nice their ducks are.....I raised my duck and goose by hand in my house for months.....The duck viciously attacks me and the goose is an absolute sweetheart. My boss tells me about how devilish her geese are especially when on eggs....My goose is on eggs right now and she is as sweet and docile as ever....She lets me hold her and pet her and is just a total love bug.....but if I walk into the pen with the duck, he is all over me, biting my feet, and just being a jerk

I think this shows the difference between imprinting on female versus male waterfowl and the ensuing mating seasons.

 

[EeyoreD]

I think this shows the difference between imprinting on female versus male waterfowl and the ensuing mating seasons.

Oh that's a really interesting point! All my birds are raised by their "parents" (as in hatched under the bird and raised by whoever takes part).

My drakes are pretty much done with anything to do with reproduction after they've mated they're tails off. The raising is done by my scovy females (who, don't get me wrong, are VERY protective) but since I usually take pains to make sure they eat while on the nest - meaning I often hand feed the ones that will accept it - they're pretty ambivalent towards me.

The goslings are raised, first by the mating pair and then by the flock. And that first week or two of a gosling's life is FULL of angry charging while the mating pair keeps everyone else (ducks, chickens, other geese, two-legged feeders, etc) away until they feel it's time to integrate the offspring back in. I won't say it's necessarily a male/female thing because my female geese are just as aggressively protective, but it's still an excellent point about that first personality they imprint on.