Advice Needed on Buff Tufted Goose

[goosedragon]

Quote:
not likely unless she was taught to fly. but she might walk/run away so keep an eve on her!

 

[rarely bored]

gd, thank you! I had been catching it by grabbing the neck gently, and then pinning the wings down to its body and picking it up, two handed, while keeping the wings contained. Good to know about the legs. Awesome on the garden information -- nice to have a professional weeder! One less chore for me.
Funny on the rooster, last week I finally pushed the old, grumpy roo into much better pastures (freezer camp) and the new (temporary) roo is less than 4 months old and has no fight in him yet. Good timing!
Guess I'll wait till spring to see if an egg appears...

cdnley, thank you for the pictures. My goose is definitly not a Buff Tufted... He/she has a white skirt and some white mixed in with the lacing, and no tuft. Other than that the coloring is much like your Buff Tufted. Will post a picture soon.

I kept him penned in until I had time to keep an eye on it, and then let it free range. All he wanted to do was follow me around and honked like crazy whenever I went into the house! The goose seems to want to be near, but doesn't want physical touch - am I reading it right? How does one pet a goose without teaching it bad manners that will come back to bite one in the rump? And no, I haven't had to use force at all -- the postings by Olive Hill regarding dominant male geese are great but rather intimidating.

This unexpected pet is quite the adventure! In the past I've always had time to learn what I needed to learn before the animal came home, so this has been a rather overwhelming experience. Thank you all for helping.

and yes, I'll be here for awhile.

 

[cdnley]

I wonder what breed of goose you have? I look forward to the pics. I don't touch my flock very much at all. Perhaps once every couple weeks. They don't seem to like it that much so I don't do it. Basically I walk around outside for a while which makes them (led by the geese) follow me. I stoop or sit down and look them in the eye and talk to them. They will all come around me and bite at my sweater and if I want I will pet them a little bit. We do this for a while and then eventually they go off to the pond or I go inside the house.