Best way to give my girls a boyfriend?

[Dinosaur Village Keeper]

I have two female pilgrim geese that I think would like to have a boyfriend. They squat for me and my husband all the time and will not let us walk away without very long snuggles. I believe it is their attempts to “court” us. My geese live with 26 hens and two roosters. My chickens are my pets, and I love them dearly. Their safety is of the upmost importance.

I believe these are my options:
1 – Give them an adult gander. He is available at the beginning of May. Worried about how he will treat my chickens.
2 - Hatch some goslings and give them the babies when they are a couple of weeks old and hope they will accept them. I will DNA test for sexing.
3 - Give them fertile eggs to sit on if they decide to go broody. Not sure how likely this is with them only being 11 months old.
4 - Give them live babies, if they do go broody.
5 - Do nothing! Who needs a boyfriend anyways??

I hope I don’t sound too ignorant with the things I am considering. These are my first geese, so I don’t know that much about these things! Any advice, suggestions, or recommendations, are greatly appreciated!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I would definitely think long and hard about adding a gander. My geese were fine with my chickens until I added pilgrims, and a gander. Than they started to corner and kill chickens.

My chickens mostly stay out of the geese area now. My geese are hit and miss and I never know when they will target a bird, nor understand why that bird. Others they let lay eggs in their nests and share their pasture. Geese are complicated creatures.

 

[telandra2]

1: Lucy wasn't that interested in Ricky, so I got him 2 mistresses last breeding season The girls immediately demanded to meet him. This season I brought home another girl who also immediately demanded to join the group, though she is still currently at the edges. My experience is 2 for 2, girls want ganders.
2: I brought 2 goslings home last April/March. Ethel slept outside the brooder that night, went inside the next day, and was mom on day 3.
3: A month or so later Ethel and Fredericka went broody and hatched goslings ... supposedly only 11mos old.
4: see 2 and 3
5: Boyfriends are fun! And useful. Ganders do a great job of standing watch while the girls graze and sleep.

I don't have chickens, but ducks.. One of the goslings above is a bit of a duck bully, and I'd worry about him and chickens. The rest of the geese would probably live and let live. The ganders do try to breed the ducks in the water, but chickens don't swim so they might be safe. No personal experience there.

 

[3xhhheather]

Eh, don't get a gander. They have each other and if you're ever worried about what if something happens to one of them just get a third female. You'll start to see a personality shift once the breeding season is over, it's my favorite because all my girls get back to their normal chatty goofy selves.

 

[JanR1]

I have two female pilgrim geese that I think would like to have a boyfriend. They squat for me and my husband all the time and will not let us walk away without very long snuggles. I believe it is their attempts to “court” us. My geese live with 26 hens and two roosters. My chickens are my pets, and I love them dearly. Their safety is of the upmost importance.

I believe these are my options:
1 – Give them an adult gander. He is available at the beginning of May. Worried about how he will treat my chickens.
2 - Hatch some goslings and give them the babies when they are a couple of weeks old and hope they will accept them. I will DNA test for sexing.
3 - Give them fertile eggs to sit on if they decide to go broody. Not sure how likely this is with them only being 11 months old.
4 - Give them live babies, if they do go broody.
5 - Do nothing! Who needs a boyfriend anyways??

I hope I don’t sound too ignorant with the things I am considering. These are my first geese, so I don’t know that much about these things! Any advice, suggestions, or recommendations, are greatly appreciated!
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I agree with the others that your girls will be fine without a male. If you do decide to get a male then get another Pilgrim. The reasons are 1. Pilgrims are on the Livestock Conservancy List as threatened. If you are going to let them hatch the eggs it will help that breed by adding goslings. 2. Full blood Pilgrim geese are the only domestic goose breed in which you can distinguish males from females. As babies, the males are yellow and light gray with lighter colored bills. The day old female's down is a deeper gray/green with a darker bill. So you are able to tell the sex of the goslings when they hatch and you wouldn't need to DNA check.

 

[GMoose]

You're Geese are beautiful! I agree, don't need a male