Are your geese affectionate?

My four Sebastopols are, eh, okay. I bought three of the four as this year's goslings, and the fourth is the mom/dad to one of them, and kind of old. So naturally, on their first few weeks here, the goslings followed the older one and all of them were shy but slightly curious. As the weeks went through and I fed them more, they associated me more with good stuff called food, but really - The most I get is them runnng up to me, wings spread, for . . . You guessed it, food. Only one eats out of the hand and occasionally tries nibbling my pants.

I still find them cute, but they also bully our chickens and eat a lot.

 

Mine follow me around and chatter at me, observe what I am doing and talk about me in front of my back...it scares them to be picked up for the most part...they just don't like it and I respect that...I would love to carry them around and hug gooses all day, but I think if I did that they would begin to avoid me and I don't want that...they come when I call them...when I clap my hands and tell them it is time to go home, which is their night pen behind electric wire, they all march home with the ducks trailing behind...if I stick my head out the back door and holler across the yard, "Where are my goosies?" They all answer me and come to look for me...I think that has to be enough...my Pom gander has the cutest, most fluffy goose butt I have ever seen and I would just love to have him in my lap...I think instinctively they know they are on a lot of menus and they aren't willing to take any chances about being on my menu...two of the fourteen I bought as adults, but the twelve I raised from the egg onward feel the same as the older ones...they have a "look but don't touch" mentality.

 

No. As babies they are very inquisitive and interactive. As adults they are still very nosy, but stand-offish. My Toulouse will follow me around the yard as I do my daily work, but as soon as I make a move toward her she retreats. She will then "eyeball" me for a while from a distance to make sure I have no evil plans in store for her. Once she decides I am not up to anything, she will continue to follow me round.

 

My two will follow me around and chat to me. If I try to pick them up they won't allow it. But if I do get a hold of them my gander is the more affectionate one of the two. This may be because he was held more as a gosling. He will put his head on my shoulder as if to hug me and also will try to preen me. He truly is something else and my "fave" of the two. I do lobe my little girl dearly as well but he has a special place in my heart.

 

I had two toulouse geese when my daughter was younger and they used to chase the neighbor boy across the yard every time he came over. It was real funny. After a year or so they finally calmed down. It's been ten years and the thought still makes me snicker.

 

I have one goose out of 17 that I would consider affectionate. He spent about a week of his life only with people and by the time I got him was fully imprinted. Even though we put him with two other geese, he never lost his love for humans and always preferred us over them. We pick him up every day to keep him tame and are dreading the day he figures out he's a gander..

The rest of my geese are kinda meh.. They were all raised in a rather large flock, so they know us and tolerate us, but they don't want us to touch them or anything. They see our role in life as the treat bringers and bedtime herders. My gander that I raised in the house for 4 months is the meanest thing. I went to college and he decided that he hated my guts.. I've decided geese hold grudges.

 

It totally depends on how imprinted they are as hatchlings. After that it's a big deal to get them to eat out of your hand. Sad to say, I wouldn't get my hopes up that they will get more affectionate than that.

Even human imprinted geese have different tolerances for affection. Some geese just looooove to be held. I have two hand raised geese and a rescue goose. My imprinted geese come up to me, tolerate me picking them up and loving on them, but the rescue goose, who was not imprinted, is more affectionate, go figure. She runs from me but when I pick her up she nibbles my whole face gently and seems to enjoy the attention.

My imprinted female goose doesn't like to be held more than a minute or two, but she always nibbles my lips, very gently, never hurts me. I figure those are kisses.

 

Ida will only let me handle her during nesting season -- and then she transforms from a fairly standoffish and self sufficient bird into an obsessive lap-goose. I suspect she thinks I'm her gander
The rest of the year she's companionable (likes to see what I'm doing, follows me around, 'talks' to me) but not affectionate. If I try to touch her for any reason then it's pretty clear she finds it annoying and would like me to get out of her personal space, so I don't push the issue unless there's medication involved or something similar.

[edit:] Oh -- Ida was raised by free-ranging geese on a farm, in a flock of geese with minimal human contact, and she was with them until she was 6 months old. Now it's just her (and the new turkey). So I don't think it's just about imprinting, although that would certainly help!

 

Three out of four of my Chinese are standoffish, our gander is less so. If my hubby and I are sitting in our lawn chairs in the forage yard, they will all come and chew on us. They like to see if they can chew off our tungsten carbide wedding rings (we have tungsten rings for a reason...gold got to dinged up with the lifestyle we have). Our gander, Pippin (yes, my geese are named after hobbits) is fairly affectionate. He lets me pet on him and tolerates me picking him up...as long as I don't try and carry him away from the girls. He nibbles on my clothes and skin gently....however, he does occasionally bite me. Usually he will bite the heck out of me when he's ticked off at my hubby or kids for being in his space. Pippin knows I wont let him go after the kids...I stand in between...so he bites me to get his vengeance.