4 months Gander starting to get aggressive. Help!

[Aty439318]

Hello everyone! Thanks for your tips and experiences. Also, I wanted to add that I’ve noticed that my neighbors (My husbands uncle) and his family tend to taunt the geese. The same thing happens when they have their granddaughters over. I’ve tried to ask for them to stop, but to no avail. Could this be a contributing factor for their behavior?

 

[JRies]

To be honest, that person’s “Olive Hill” advice is how you reinforce aggression in geese.
If you have a large flock that you’re raising commercially which only see you at feeding or slaughtering time and you don’t want to put up with occasional aggression and just need them to fear and avoid you then those are great suggestions.

But if you have a small hobby farm or just a few geese as pets that behavior will teach a gander that he has every reason to hate you and treat you like a threat and rival to himself and his mate and each time he challenges the “threat” will be more violent than the last unless you’re planning on beating the absolute shit out of the goose and then the bigger question is why have that animal and why anyone would think it’s okay to abuse an animal like that?

Wether it be geese, parrots, horses, or dogs the human is the one with the bigger brain, if a person has resorted to extreme violence as a means of controlling that animal they’ve failed to use their brain.

None of my geese fear me I spend allot of time with them but they do know Im in charge. If im late walking them to the barn they line by the barn do lots of talking and wait for me. When they want fresh ponds they all hover around the front porch and call me. When Im in the field weeding they all come and lay down close to me waiting to help finish the job. when I walk out the door they all come running flapping there wings from across the field. Oh and forget to tell them good morning on there morning flight when they come out of the barn they will get really loud till I say good morning and good job.

But when 2 ganders get into it I let them finish there flight and when the winner takes a victory dance, I look him in the eye, back him down, make him retreet and take the final victory dance. When my girls are being pushy with anouther bird. I just have to point at them put my head forward and grunt. Really its just mimicking the flock behavior in there language and reminding them Im the top bird. I have never hit or physically hurt on of my birds. We are bonded as a flock.

 

[Goosebaby]

Hello everyone! Thanks for your tips and experiences. Also, I wanted to add that I’ve noticed that my neighbors (My husbands uncle) and his family tend to taunt the geese. The same thing happens when they have their granddaughters over. I’ve tried to ask for them to stop, but to no avail. Could this be a contributing factor for their behavior?

Could be.

 

[Aty439318]

Could be.

Hello @Goosebaby ! Its me again. Haha. I’m sorry for all the questions, but your advice has helped me a lot since I started this journey with my geese. From their behavior, voice and knobs I’ve noticed I have 3 boys and two girls. Will it be too much for the two gals to have three boys around them? The boys have started to be aggressive to each other as well. However, there is one of the boys who seems, until now, more passive than the other two. I was thinking that maybe I should only keep one boy and the two gals. What is your advice regarding this? In the long run I’m really not interested in breeding them since I’ll probably want another breed of geese. However, I do feel guilty separating them. But I also have to keep in mind what’s best for the gals.

 

[Goosebaby]

Hello @Goosebaby ! Its me again. Haha. I’m sorry for all the questions, but your advice has helped me a lot since I started this journey with my geese. From their behavior, voice and knobs I’ve noticed I have 3 boys and two girls. Will it be too much for the two gals to have three boys around them? The boys have started to be aggressive to each other as well. However, there is one of the boys who seems, until now, more passive than the other two. I was thinking that maybe I should only keep one boy and the two gals. What is your advice regarding this? In the long run I’m really not interested in breeding them since I’ll probably want another breed of geese. However, I do feel guilty separating them. But I also have to keep in mind what’s best for the gals.

The girls will probably end up with whoever is most dominant, though this can change fairly frequently. The females do have a choice to some extent, sometimes they’ll want to hang around a specific gander and try to avoid others.

Ganders can bond with each other and will prefer to be with each other, this doesn’t mean that they won’t fight with each other or breed with females during breeding season, but it means it’s possible to have a separate gang.

Fights between three ganders can turn very ugly, especially if two are high energy and one is more passive. The two who are more aggressive can feed off of each other’s energy extending the fight longer than it should, and the passive one can become an easy target to focus this on.

I can’t tell you what to do with your geese, if they need separating for breeding season or reforming, it really depends on what you want or ar willing to do with them and what you think is best. You know their personalities best.

 

[Aty439318]

The girls will probably end up with whoever is most dominant, though this can change fairly frequently. The females do have a choice to some extent, sometimes they’ll want to hang around a specific gander and try to avoid others.

Ganders can bond with each other and will prefer to be with each other, this doesn’t mean that they won’t fight with each other or breed with females during breeding season, but it means it’s possible to have a separate gang.

Fights between three ganders can turn very ugly, especially if two are high energy and one is more passive. The two who are more aggressive can feed off of each other’s energy extending the fight longer than it should, and the passive one can become an easy target to focus this on.

I can’t tell you what to do with your geese, if they need separating for breeding season or reforming, it really depends on what you want or ar willing to do with them and what you think is best. You know their personalities best.

Thanks for your input! @Goosebaby

 

[blackbox]

Hello everyone! Thanks for your tips and experiences. Also, I wanted to add that I’ve noticed that my neighbors (My husbands uncle) and his family tend to taunt the geese. The same thing happens when they have their granddaughters over. I’ve tried to ask for them to stop, but to no avail. Could this be a contributing factor for their behavior?

I'd say definitely, I feel like there's nothing that makes a goose madder than being teased or provoked. It's part of the reason why people think geese are aggressive, kids will taunt them and get a nip in the behind for it. Hormones will often make any gander into a hissy, head-shaking, bitey menace for a while, but it's a whole different level if they're being gamed into it.

 

[McChooky]

I rescued a gander and a goose 2 months ago from a lady who needed a place for them immediately so I took them in until we could find them a new home.We found a couple who have guardians dogs to protect their flock but best of all they have another gosling ! Its been eerily quite ever since the geese left but I know they're happier there.They also have a creek!

 

[McChooky]

I'm glad I was able to find a home for the pair I had before breeding season.The hen was quickly approaching laying age and I have a small place.They liked to chase my chickens away from the food and spreead their wings and charge them.They were very bold to be so young lol