Trouble in Paradise

[StillwaterHomestead]

I've been raising chickens forever, but I'm new to waterfowl. I have a trio of ducks and a Brown Chinese pair of geese, all coming up on a year old. The gander (Elliot) and the ducks are about a month or two older than the goose (Goose), but they have been raised together since she was old enough to go in with them. They have always gotten along fairly well. He's always been very attached to me and Goose scolds him sometimes when he's asking for human attention, and they will get into a little gentle spat for a moment, but that's it. Goose laid her first egg the other day while they were out free ranging. She just plopped it down on the walkway, no nest or anything. I came out to close them up in their pen for the night (we have large raccoons here), and she was standing over it quite proudly, making quite the fuss. Elliot was next to her, on guard. It was an adorable scene and I was quite excited for her first egg. I picked her up, took the egg (I couldn't just leave it, it was literally in the middle of the walkway to the henhouse door), and put them away. The next morning everything was normal when I let them out, but later that afternoon I saw Elliot in the pool in the heat of it with one of the duck hens, which definitely displeased Goose. At some point there was a fight. I didn't see it, my husband just came in and asked why Goose was limping. I went outside and sure enough, she was off by herself and limping pretty badly. Elliot heard me come outside and came to say hi, but as soon as he saw Goose he flew into a rage and attacked her. I separated them and locked him up. It's been 3 days of him being separated from them in a different cage at night, then during the day I let them free range and he goes into their normal nighttime pen (10x10 with wire mesh sides). He has not changes his disposition towards Goose. I'm not sure what to do. Each morning I've tried to reintroduce them, and each morning I've had to stop him from brutalizing her. He is still acting enamored with the duck hen, and giving Goose the boot.

Has anyone had a gander behave like this all of a sudden? I'm at a loss! I know they will sometimes try to mate with ducks in the spring when hormones are flying, but he seems to have fully rejected his actual mate and claimed the duck. Is this a thing?

Side note- her leg was fine by the next morning and she's no longer limping nor seems to have any other injuries other than a broken heart!

 

[CloneFly]

Welcome to the BYC! It's wonderful to have you join us. Poor Goose! I only have a gander, so I'm not sure if this is normal for geese, but something similar has happened to my cockatiels. It seems its usually because the male isn't completely mature yet... hormones raging and all, he gets a little confused. (If I recall correctly, geese mature at about 1yr-2yrs depending on species.) Hopefully with time, things will fix themselves
Best of luck!

 

[Goosebaby]

From what it sounds like he’s bonded with the duck and views the goose as a rival.
Part of it is horomones, heightened aggression is normal during breeding season. It’s odd that he bonded with the duck and not her but not unheard of.
If he had bonded with her he’d probably end up getting aggressive with the ducks, as it is he could easily drown or injure the duck by accident just trying to breed with it.
Personally I haven’t had good expieriences mixing geese and ducks, ducks are more instinctual than geese and they don’t really know when to quite wether it be with aggression or being horny, and this can eventually end with them being attacked pretty badly by the geese. Out and about they’re usually okay, but not in a confined space.

At the moment I’m not sure there’s much you can do besides babysitting them together without the ducks being present and making sure he doesn’t attack the goose. Once horomones start settling down in mid spring start trying to integrate them more with each other. Poor girl is probably going to be lonely, you could try looking for another female goose she can be with.

Definitly consider keeping the ducks in a separate shed at night once you’ve managed to get the goose and gander back together.

 

[Mina83]

I've been raising chickens forever, but I'm new to waterfowl. I have a trio of ducks and a Brown Chinese pair of geese, all coming up on a year old. The gander (Elliot) and the ducks are about a month or two older than the goose (Goose), but they have been raised together since she was old enough to go in with them. They have always gotten along fairly well. He's always been very attached to me and Goose scolds him sometimes when he's asking for human attention, and they will get into a little gentle spat for a moment, but that's it. Goose laid her first egg the other day while they were out free ranging. She just plopped it down on the walkway, no nest or anything. I came out to close them up in their pen for the night (we have large raccoons here), and she was standing over it quite proudly, making quite the fuss. Elliot was next to her, on guard. It was an adorable scene and I was quite excited for her first egg. I picked her up, took the egg (I couldn't just leave it, it was literally in the middle of the walkway to the henhouse door), and put them away. The next morning everything was normal when I let them out, but later that afternoon I saw Elliot in the pool in the heat of it with one of the duck hens, which definitely displeased Goose. At some point there was a fight. I didn't see it, my husband just came in and asked why Goose was limping. I went outside and sure enough, she was off by herself and limping pretty badly. Elliot heard me come outside and came to say hi, but as soon as he saw Goose he flew into a rage and attacked her. I separated them and locked him up. It's been 3 days of him being separated from them in a different cage at night, then during the day I let them free range and he goes into their normal nighttime pen (10x10 with wire mesh sides). He has not changes his disposition towards Goose. I'm not sure what to do. Each morning I've tried to reintroduce them, and each morning I've had to stop him from brutalizing her. He is still acting enamored with the duck hen, and giving Goose the boot.

Has anyone had a gander behave like this all of a sudden? I'm at a loss! I know they will sometimes try to mate with ducks in the spring when hormones are flying, but he seems to have fully rejected his actual mate and claimed the duck. Is this a thing?

Side note- her leg was fine by the next morning and she's no longer limping nor seems to have any other injuries other than a broken heart!

Hi! I found your post when looking for help with a similar(though thankfully less extreme) problem. Last year, I got a couple of baby Pekin hens, about a month later, I got Hank & Daphne(Chinese brown geese)...problem was, Hank was 2.5y/o & had lost his wife to a gator, Daphne was a gosling, but they had made friends through the wire so I bought them both so they wouldn't be lonely. Last mating season, Hank was a terror, trying to mate everything but the chickens(because they don't swim, I assume), so I dealt with it, season was almost over so it wasn't too bad... This year, Daphne has blossomed into a beautiful, well laying goose...Hank, however, has only been seen to try to mate with my Pekins(who have their own mate now)...he loves Daphne, protects her, talks to her constantly, gets very upset if he can't see her at all times(sounds like a stalker, I know)...but hasn't mated her, I've incubated all her eggs, nothing. Maybe he thinks she's his daughter or still a baby?(though I'm not sure that would matter) I'm now working on a separate pooled enclosure for Hank & Daphne for the rest of the season, they all will still be able to see each other, but he won't be able to swim with the ducks... Any other advice? Please & thank you!

 

[Miss Lydia]

My gander was 5 years old when I brought home a 4-month-old goose for him and me, lol
He wanted nothing to do with her because he was hatched and raised by one of my Muscovy so finally I had to totally separate them completely from the Muscovy's I had to put up a barrier so he couldn't even see them. This was in Aug of 2012 and it took till Jan of 2013 before he finally fell head over heels in love with Missy the goose. Mating season sealed the deal.
So I think your on the right track by giving them their own place and keep him from Seeing the ducks. It worked here pretty sure it will there too.