Toulouse Geese Thread

[Miss Lydia]

This is what I do with Sammy, I make him walk away from me, I just keep walking towards him telling him to back off sometimes I open my arms wide too, sometimes I will use the broom and sweep him away from me or use my pole to keep him at a distance. I never give him an opportunity to get close enough to bite me, Not this time of year. Most of the time he's easy going but in the last month his personality has changed and he is just grumpy. Tonight he was adorable but even then I don't try to pet him or touch him. What I mean by adorable is him and Miss had a 3 gal bucket they were washing in because the hoses are frozen so no pool, they were so cute washing and Sam would reach over and nibble on Miss, That's how I know breeding is just around the corner, they are more vocal for one thing and more touchy than usual. and of course he has the grumps real bad. There's a thread about Geese training that is awesome but since I can't copy paste right now you'll have to look it up in the search at the top of the page, but everyone has given great info. Honestly they can't help the way they are it's natural behavior to want to protect, they just have to know who to be nasty to and who not, Like if someone came in their fenced area with out invite I would hope Sam would be aggressive, but anyone else who is with me or ME, nope he can't act that way.

 

[Miss Lydia]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/newsearch?search=Geese+training

 

[kukupecpec]

Oh that's awesome! Thank you!

And that's exactly how I feel! He makes a great watch dog, and we praise him and give him treats when he honks at people outside the fence who get close to the yard. I know it's breeding season, but I don't know enough about geese (or Pom) to know if this is his "nice" behavior, or if this is just the mating grumps. If it's just mating grumps I'm totally ok with it, I just want to make sure I'm not encouraging him to attack ME so that when mating season ends he doesn't continue to attack ME.

 

[livininbrazil]

Oh that's awesome! Thank you!

And that's exactly how I feel! He makes a great watch dog, and we praise him and give him treats when he honks at people outside the fence who get close to the yard. I know it's breeding season, but I don't know enough about geese (or Pom) to know if this is his "nice" behavior, or if this is just the mating grumps. If it's just mating grumps I'm totally ok with it, I just want to make sure I'm not encouraging him to attack ME so that when mating season ends he doesn't continue to attack ME.

High Kukupecpec, I´m not sure you need to "reward" him for making a noise at strangers, he´ll do it anyway. He may not see your "rewards" as having anything to do with the honking, but rather just that you feed him as he wishes.....something to think about?
Also, even if it is the "mating grumps", it´s never ok for a gander to actually bite or attack the person that keeps it alive. Best take a cane with you just for him to learn not to make contact, for him to learn to respect that YOU govern the space, then see if he calms down again after the season.
Remember when you first got him? Wasn´t he reasonably ok? He was out of his territory, had to show respect to the dominant ones of the new territory, but now he views it as his gained territory. He just needs to realise that he´s not the boss. I can´t help feeling the previous owners had similar problems with him. Just carry a cane for now, carry it diagonally across your front or side, depending where he is,(don´t let him get your back,) to keep him at a distance. You´ll gain confidence, and he should change his attitude a bit, then after the season you´ll be able to see what you need to do with him.

 

[kukupecpec]

High Kukupecpec, I´m not sure you need to "reward" him for making a noise at strangers, he´ll do it anyway. He may not see your "rewards" as having anything to do with the honking, but rather just that you feed him as he wishes.....something to think about?
Also, even if it is the "mating grumps", it´s never ok for a gander to actually bite or attack the person that keeps it alive. Best take a cane with you just for him to learn not to make contact, for him to learn to respect that YOU govern the space, then see if he calms down again after the season.
Remember when you first got him? Wasn´t he reasonably ok? He was out of his territory, had to show respect to the dominant ones of the new territory, but now he views it as his gained territory. He just needs to realise that he´s not the boss. I can´t help feeling the previous owners had similar problems with him. Just carry a cane for now, carry it diagonally across your front or side, depending where he is,(don´t let him get your back,) to keep him at a distance. You´ll gain confidence, and he should change his attitude a bit, then after the season you´ll be able to see what you need to do with him.

That definitely sounds like a good plan! I held him yesterday until he chilled out. It was really fast, but as soon as I set him down he went back to trying to bite me. I think the biggest trick will be getting him into his house at night.
He WAS pretty good when we first got him. I'm glad he knows this is home now, but I definitely need to work with him around me. It's a whole new experience! It;s fun to learn though. I definitely want more geese someday. The space we have is just big enough for the two of them so though I want to add a couple ducks, I definitely won't have room for more geese yet unless we fence in the front yard.
Thanks for all your help! This is exactly what I needed to know. With just the two of them it's hard to really learn from them since Trina just does what ever he tells her. DH thinks Pom is a bully to her, but I was trying to explain that he's just above her in their pecking order. He eats first, he gets treats first, he's the first into the clean tub water every day, he decides where they go and when. I love that she has a pal and someone to protect her. He taught her more about how to be a goose too haha. She's no longer afraid of the chickens and won't let them steal her food. Although my little serama roo got out yesterday and went straight for the goose food and he and Pom started to get into in. If I hadn't been worried about my tiny rooster I would have video taped it instead of breaking them up.

 

[livininbrazil]

That definitely sounds like a good plan! I held him yesterday until he chilled out. It was really fast, but as soon as I set him down he went back to trying to bite me. I think the biggest trick will be getting him into his house at night.
He WAS pretty good when we first got him. I'm glad he knows this is home now, but I definitely need to work with him around me. It's a whole new experience! It;s fun to learn though. I definitely want more geese someday. The space we have is just big enough for the two of them so though I want to add a couple ducks, I definitely won't have room for more geese yet unless we fence in the front yard.
Thanks for all your help! This is exactly what I needed to know. With just the two of them it's hard to really learn from them since Trina just does what ever he tells her. DH thinks Pom is a bully to her, but I was trying to explain that he's just above her in their pecking order. He eats first, he gets treats first, he's the first into the clean tub water every day, he decides where they go and when. I love that she has a pal and someone to protect her. He taught her more about how to be a goose too haha. She's no longer afraid of the chickens and won't let them steal her food. Although my little serama roo got out yesterday and went straight for the goose food and he and Pom started to get into in. If I hadn't been worried about my tiny rooster I would have video taped it instead of breaking them up.

Well he does sound a bit bolshy! My gandesrs are real gents in comparison!

But it may be a good idea to wait a bit with the ducks...you could end up with even more problems considering it´s just about the breeding season. Maybe if Trina goes broody you could set a few duck eggs under her? Then they´ll at least be familiar with them when they get older.

 

[kukupecpec]

I've actually been on a waiting list for duck eggs and they are hatching today lol he want behaving this way when they arrived so I didn't think I'd have a problem. Should I keep them away from the ducklings?

 

[livininbrazil]

I've actually been on a waiting list for duck eggs and they are hatching today lol he want behaving this way when they arrived so I didn't think I'd have a problem. Should I keep them away from the ducklings?

I doubt they´ll do anything to the ducklings, they usually want to adopt little things. It just gets different when they bigger!

 

[kukupecpec]

I doubt they´ll do anything to the ducklings, they usually want to adopt little things. It just gets different when they bigger!

Ah ok. DH wants me to give them the ducklings to raise. I didn't know if that would work. We have lots of itte chickens in the brooder right now so I'm debating who gets to go where and when haha.

 

[livininbrazil]

Ah ok. DH wants me to give them the ducklings to raise. I didn't know if that would work. We have lots of itte chickens in the brooder right now so I'm debating who gets to go where and when haha.

Well if you want to try Trina with them, have a go...you´d be best to introduce them with an eye on them. The ducklings need to be able to climb up into Trina´s feathers to keep warm, but she may not want this as she´s not been broody. See how it goes, but they´ll probably take to looking out for them easily enough, would be great if one of them actually wanted to brood the babies. Just try it. But keep an eye on the gander.