1 Gander trying to kill the other gander?

[Miss Lydia]

If you decide to rehome one of the ganders I would choose the sub gander there is no guarantee he may change once in charge but he may not. But he will defend his females. Hopefully both of them.

 

[MMelton67]

@Miss Lydia

Hi, I just want to make sure I understand what you said. IF I try to rehome, rehome the sub gander and leave the dominant one with the girls?

Thanks. Right now, I think I'm going to try going with a shallower pond and see if they will work it out w/o killing each other. I am on the property 90% of the time and if I'm not out near them, the kitchen window looks right down on the field so I generally take a look at them, and the chicken run, every 30 minutes if not much more often.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Oh sorry I meant keep the sub gander I didn't type that right. But of course try all you can to keep them together. Putting in shallower water sources to see if that helps.

 

[JedJackson]

It's strange that they just fight in the water. I had two pairs kept together long ago, and the males attacked each other with beaks and wings on land until I sold one of the pairs. Then everything was just fine.

I think you should get rid of the sub gander if it comes down to that rather than the dominant one, the reason being is that the females have probably already formed bonds with the dominant gander, and selling him can cause chaos with the remaining birds. That's just my experience, though.

So your options are to sell the pair, which would work fine. The only problem is that if you wanted more than one female, the female you keep may not accept a new female. Geese fight almost as well as ganders when they have a mind to. The other option is to sell the gander, or, finally, to eat him.

These are just a few things to consider before making your decisions. Good luck!

 

[Jenbirdee]

just my 2 cents on the deep water vs shallow water
merely the presence of a small bucket of water gets them excited. and you can’t take away ALL their water, they need it.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I was thinking to keep the more mellow of the 2 ganders because he maybe less aggressive to humans that have to be around him but my birds are my pets so that would be my thinking, but when I made the decision to rehome my 2 young goose and gander I knew no one would put up with my Embden gander he was a real jerk especially during breeding season and even though I threatened to roast him many times during his 14 yrs I could never have done it.

 

[MMelton67]

I was thinking to keep the more mellow of the 2 ganders because he maybe less aggressive to humans that have to be around him but my birds are my pets so that would be my thinking, but when I made the decision to rehome my 2 young goose and gander I knew no one would put up with my Embden gander he was a real jerk especially during breeding season and even though I threatened to roast him many times during his 14 yrs I could never have done it.

So far, none of these geese have been aggressive to either of us. I was around them every day since we got them at 8 weeks'ish. My wife dubbed me the 'Goose Father' (in a nod to Terry Pratchett) as when they were young and in their 8x16 pen at night and 5x10 tractor during the day, I experimented with 'walking' them and sure enough, they would follow me around the property and then back into the pen every evening when I transitioned them from the tractor back to the pen.

A pic from one such walkabout where I was also acclimating the dog and geese to each other.

ftr, culling would be a very last resort only if I couldn't rehome (if I decide to try that) and the health and well being of the majority would be best served by doing so. I'll joke about it a lot though.

I think I'm going to build a shallow pond out of wood and use either FlexSeal or one of the the liquid products you use to seal under a wet tile installation....or, I could get crazy and build a wood form and do a fiberglass layup. In either case, it has to have a drain for cleaning.

 

[MMelton67]

just my 2 cents on the deep water vs shallow water
merely the presence of a small bucket of water gets them excited. and you can’t take away ALL their water, they need it.

of course not. they have the larger size flat back bucket as their drinking water, refreshed at least twice a day most days...they muck it up quick. the stock tanks were for their entertainment. we started with a blue kiddie pool but the poked a hole in it quick.

I built a wood 'log cabin' to fit the bucket, flipped it upside down with the bucket in it and foamed the inside. Let it cure and then pulled the bucket out. There's 1.5" of wood and another 1-2 inches of foam around it and the bottom of the bucket is in contact with the ground. It's not proof against freezing by any means but so far it will keep it from a hard freeze till about 25 degrees...enough so they can bust the ice themselves till I get down in the morning to replace the water.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I love that idea with the bucket. My goose Missy would be in it bathing also many of my ducks. I have to put a piece of thin wood across the middle of my heated and regular bucket to keep any from climbing inside.
You have the more mild-mannered geese too. I started with Embden because I traded Muscovy eggs for Embden egg and had no idea what personality I would be dealing with.

 

[Goosebaby]

Hi, All. Last June we bought 4 geese (Pilgrims, theoretically. 2 female, 2 male) and I think 1 of the gander's is trying to kill the other.

We have them in a space roughly 45'x35' enclose with electric netting. They have a ~4'x8' house open on one 4' end.

They have had a 6'x2' stock tank about 18" deep as a pond for 5 or 6 months now.

Last week I saw from the house (they are in a small field about 150' down the hill from the house) that it looked like one gander was trying to push the other under water. I ran down and by the time I got there they were both out of the tank and walking around. I also seemed to notice the geese were being excluded from the water tank as well. So, I added a 2nd stock tank, one of the Rubbermaid ones about 3'x5' and 26 or 28 inches deep.

I just saw the same situation with the two ganders.

I'm guessing they are starting to get possessive about the 2 geese?

Do I need to isolate or get rid of one of the ganders?

We don't intend to breed.

I'll attach a pic of the set up later.

TIA

Breeding season shenanigans….

It sounds like they may have been trying to breed with each other, that’s normal. With two ganders it usually turns into a wrestling match for who can be on top, fairly often it can turn into a fight. After the fight they’ll parade around congratulating each other about the fight and be best buds again. Ganders are funny little weirdos.

They‘ll be more prone to fights until hormones subside sometime in summer. If they’re otherwise getting along and it isn’t non stop warfare between them I don’t think you need to separate them.

If you don’t want to breed just keep removing the eggs.