Advice please

[Eddiesabrina]

Hi guys,

first time with goslings... mammy, daddy and 5 goslings altogether doing well in one pen... another goose with 4 goslings in another pen (but can all see each other).. daddy seems to be very agitated by the other goslings... he keeps trying to peck at them and get through the wire...

Will he hurt them if he gets near them...

 

[Eddiesabrina]

Also should mention I had to take 2 goslings from other goose as she kept pushing them away and not letting them near her.. her goslings are 4 days old..

 

[Goosebaby]

He sounds like my Leo when he was a year old and hadn’t figured out what babies are.
Some ganders are excellent parents that will even adopt and raise goslings that aren’t theirs + ducklings and even chicks. Other ganders aren’t always sure how to treat babies and can be nippy towards them, these have to be supervised around babies or you could get some injuries.
I would watch him and if he seems aggressive, or tries to bite the goslings bring the two girls and their goslings together in one pen and keep him in the other where he can observe from a safe distance, he’ll cry about it but there’s not much to do about it. When the babies are two and a half to three weeks old they’ll be more sturdy and able to handle him more without your supervision, that age also is when my gander Leo finally figured out that they were babies and not odd looking rodents invading his nest.

 

[Goosebaby]

Also some girls don’t always share nests peacefully so make sure they’re in a large enough pen with different shelters they can choose between to lessen them arguing over one and trampling the goslings. Don’t be surprised if the goslings go back and forth between the moms too, biological connection isn’t important with geese parental instincts.

 

[Eddiesabrina]

Thank you for you help.... really appreciate it..