Aggressive goose handling advice - I know it is breeding season

[NOVAHorses]

LOL! I LOVED the details and the pictures - I guess I've gotten lucky, because my gander is a sweet heart (so far) and he only hisses when I man handle his lady (he doesn't even complain if I pick him up and hold him), but my goose is the "spunky" one and she is determined to let me know that I am not welcome in HER area. I want to teach her some manners (without hurting her of course), but I also want her to feel comfortable enough to nest and raise her family there. So far she mostly hisses and carries on, but she has given a few nips (not hard enought o leave a mark) and now she's stretching her wings out, but so far she doesn't try to whip me with them.

 

[Rock Wyandotte]

I'm in Vermont and this has been my first Winter with geese. I wondered how I'd know they were getting close to breeding season. Well, there was really no mystery at all. About 10 days to 2 weeks ago my gander started getting more and more defensive. Nipping me, coming after me when I brought in fresh water etc. Today I watched as he climbed on top of both of the girls and did the deed. One of my girls has a bare patch on her neck from him holding her and both girls are starting to look a little mangy. Is this typical? He is much larger than they are and he looks pretty rough.

 

[newduckie]

This is also my first season with geese. The grumpy female that I talked about in this thread earlier..... mounted one of the others and did the deed.... so, I have 2 males and 4 females. I had 4 goose eggs in the bator . 3 unfertile and 1 developing. It quit today. it was moving yesterday and today it had a seperation. Looked bad. I would usually have waited a day or two before getting rid of it just to make sure, but it scared me a bit. I broke it open and it about broke my heart. TINY little thing. It was 2 weeks along. It was dead but perfect.. Little legs about the size of a needle. Long long neck and that huge big ol eye.Even had the beak. So sad. Still 5 ducks moving in the bator tho..

 

[AuroraSprings]

Wow, I've never really met an aggressive goose. It's always the gander. We had Africans for years and one year the lone male "picked" my mom for his mate. He would fend off everything! Goats, horses, cats, even my pit bull was assaulted by the evil gander. It was funny at first, but then it got REALLY annoying and we had to do the neck hold/dominate thing. Now my usually sweet American Blue gander is getting touchy because his mate is about to start setting and I keep seperating him from the Cotton Patch pair (which he feels like he owns). I have two huge bruise/bite-marks on each forarm, three bruises on my legs from wing flaps, and my mom has a baseball sized bruise on her arm. We've never meet such a persistently stubborn gander. He does love his mate I guess. Feel blessed most of yours haven't gotten this bad yet.

 

[hendersr]

My sweet goose has just started laying. She is not aggressive with me but is really tearing up my ducks. Any advice other than keeping them separate? Will she stop be aggressive with them? They were all raised together.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yep its started here, Wandisamo the magnifico has once again taken to trying to get into it with me. I have what I like to call the Grumpy gander hold it starts with me getting hold of his neck up under his jaw line and keeping him at arms length he will usually then try to get me with his wings in his killer wing attack which I rotate around him getting behind him and hooking my legs inside of his wings and trapping them on the outside of my legs making it impossible for him to get a good flap going and hurting himself and me

At this point he has about 2 minutes of attempting to bite me which he cant in this hold he settles down and decides that maybe he should be a good boy and not try to kill his mommy who loves him

After hes settled down and behaved for a few minutes I let him go he walks away ruffling his feather due to the indiginty of being man handled

This gander is my sons showmanship gander and is wonderful the rest of the yr.... He flips him and everything

The ladies will allow me to che

ck eggs when on nest well dot and trixie will....... We will see how last yrs girls do this yr

What great pics, the one showing it's teeth, [yep] thats what they look like to me, looks like my emden when he is upset.

 

[Oregon Blues]

When my goose is on the nest, I don't mess with her. The ganders are all bluff. The goose is deadly serious.

She has a circle around the nest. Perhaps only 4-5 feet in radius. As long as nobody gets into her zone, she stays quiet. I don't know what happens to people who reach into the nest and I'm not about to find out. She is a calm and dignified bird, but those are her babies and she's got that mother tiger thing going on.

To me, that protection of the young is a very desirable trait and I have no intention of discouraging it.