1 Gander trying to kill the other gander?

[Goosebaby]

Also if you’re worried about drowning or squabbles over the water you can drain the deeper tank for the season and get them two smaller baby pools.

 

[MMelton67]

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.

interesting in that at the same time all these other shennanigans have been happening I had noticed a decided increase in water loss from the water bucket...and then observed a female trying to bathe it it...which prompted me to add the second, bigger pond.

 

[MMelton67]

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.

that's the direction I think I'm heading. I had already planned to just remove eggs as they appeared...still not thinking I would see any till next spring. I recently modified their main hutch by hinging the roof for easy access to cleaning and checking for eggs.

In general, they are not combative with each other. Just once or twice a day that I've seen, and always revolving around the ponds.

 

[MMelton67]

Also if you’re worried about drowning or squabbles over the water you can drain the deeper tank for the season and get them two smaller baby pools.

the current iteration of baby pools on the market are way too expensive juxtaposed to their ephemeral nature...fancy way of saying that $25 bucks for 5 cents of plastic that punctures easily has been tried once and won't happen again. I'll spend $18 dollars for the large size black mixing tray before I buy a blue kiddie pool again. I'm working up a plan for a wooden swim basin with drain in my head. Might be 150-200 dollars but it will last forever. pics will be posted if I execute it.

 

[JRies]

I give my geese pans of water supply one for each gander. Yep 12 pans of water and 12 ganders. Ganders preform in the water and own there pans. Girls jump in if there interested and ignore them if there not.
What I really want to say is young ganders do eventually learn there pecking order. There teachers are the girls.

 

[Goosebaby]

the current iteration of baby pools on the market are way too expensive juxtaposed to their ephemeral nature...fancy way of saying that $25 bucks for 5 cents of plastic that punctures easily has been tried once and won't happen again. I'll spend $18 dollars for the large size black mixing tray before I buy a blue kiddie pool again. I'm working up a plan for a wooden swim basin with drain in my head. Might be 150-200 dollars but it will last forever. pics will be posted if I execute it.

Yeah the price for them has gotten insane! they’re $30 where I am now.

 

[AGeese]

If I don't have a tub out they can get into they're trying to climb into a bucket. My ganders (father and son) clash a couple times a day. Some days the son is on top, other days dad is. Right now dad is on a winning streak. Saw the son with red stains all over his feathers and thought the worst, but turned out that it's just the stain from flock block I let them chew on.

Space is the thing here, I've got a lot, but not enough space is what I think is what really throws things out of balance. Good luck with them though they look great.

 

[Goosebaby]

two of my ganders, Parsnip and his dad Leo, got into a big fight over who got to kill the bucket first.

 

[MMelton67]

re: space. They are in a space about 35'x45' (150 linear feet of mesh electric fencing.) I'm going to add another section of fencing this summer when I go to shift their location around the field which I aim to do quarterly or so.

I've kept the silver sheep tank but 'lifted' the bottom by 2" or so by putting pavers in it. They have calmed down a bit though the males are getting slightly aggressive when I go in to feed and water. Just nipping at my legs. But, also, they are staying close enough now I can lay hands on them easily and pick them up.

 

[Miss Lydia]

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.

View attachment 3742782

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 cleanin@

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.

View attachment 3742782

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.

@DuckyDonna built something very similar to what your describing I hope she'll see this tag.