Do your geese shake/tremble/shiver?

[Amanda39]

Hello everyone. I'm trying to figure out body language on my 5 month old geese. My male and female approach me with necks out right up to my face and then start shivering, as though afraid. When I give treats, the shiver, when my male is chewing on my jeans, he shivers. What is this? Is this normal?

 

[Kevin565]

I've seen my geese do it occasionally. My gander was notorious for it before he used to charge at me.

 

[cvamoca]

I have 5 adults that just came to me. The older male is rather aggressive, and he shivers when he's totally furious.

My other three babies- just 3 months old, tremble when they are really happy with me, like when I bring them awesome treats and when we have goose hugs before bed- so I think it's an excitement thing, maybe? Can be good/happy, or bad/mad?

 

[The goose girl]

The neck shivering is the earliest stage of apprehension/agitation. They do it whenever they encounter something new and/or (in their minds) potentially dangerous.

 

[Amanda39]

Wow apprehension/agitation? I'm shocked! I turned their eggs and raised them from day 1. They come when I call them, eat out of my hand, follow me everywhere and I pick them up and have them on my lap for up to 20 minutes. They run to me when I come home and honk in excitement for me and the treats I have too. I don't see how any of my actions would cause apprehension/agitation. I have 1 goose and 1 gander that were hatched by me within a day of each other. We have a routine down and the kids will sit with them for hours. I hope I'm not agitating them or that they are apprehensive. I can totally see that when strangers come over, or the UPS guy LOL but I'll be outside playing on my phone for an hour and they will both be at my side. When I start to pet them, they shake. When I'm greeting them I squat down to their level and they come to me honking and shaking, everyday!

I hope this doesn't mean that as they mature they won't be as friendly.

 

[livininbrazil]

Wow apprehension/agitation? I'm shocked! I turned their eggs and raised them from day 1. They come when I call them, eat out of my hand, follow me everywhere and I pick them up and have them on my lap for up to 20 minutes. They run to me when I come home and honk in excitement for me and the treats I have too. I don't see how any of my actions would cause apprehension/agitation. I have 1 goose and 1 gander that were hatched by me within a day of each other. We have a routine down and the kids will sit with them for hours. I hope I'm not agitating them or that they are apprehensive. I can totally see that when strangers come over, or the UPS guy LOL but I'll be outside playing on my phone for an hour and they will both be at my side. When I start to pet them, they shake. When I'm greeting them I squat down to their level and they come to me honking and shaking, everyday!

I hope this doesn't mean that as they mature they won't be as friendly.

My 4penneth would be that they´re just going through their silly 'teenage' stage, where they encounter everything with suspicion. Don´t forget that geese naturallyt don´t choose to peet each other, so they tend not to want us to do it either, though of course there are always the exceptions. If you have ganders among them, it´s probably best to stand up when they come, so as not to let the young ganders think they can try it on with you.... They´ll settle as they get older, I expect.

 

[The goose girl]

Wow apprehension/agitation? I'm shocked! I turned their eggs and raised them from day 1. They come when I call them, eat out of my hand, follow me everywhere and I pick them up and have them on my lap for up to 20 minutes. They run to me when I come home and honk in excitement for me and the treats I have too. I don't see how any of my actions would cause apprehension/agitation. I have 1 goose and 1 gander that were hatched by me within a day of each other. We have a routine down and the kids will sit with them for hours. I hope I'm not agitating them or that they are apprehensive. I can totally see that when strangers come over, or the UPS guy LOL but I'll be outside playing on my phone for an hour and they will both be at my side. When I start to pet them, they shake. When I'm greeting them I squat down to their level and they come to me honking and shaking, everyday!

I hope this doesn't mean that as they mature they won't be as friendly.

Geese just come pre-installed with very fine-tuned instincts regarding potential danger. They do learn a little from experience, but in most cases they have to override their in-built instincts. Hence the neck-shaking. It's not anything you do wrong.

The littlest things may set them off. I've seen mine do the neck shaking when a tiny ant approached her! And a quarter-sized spider on my kitchen floor made her scream, jump back, and hiss at it for minutes. She's always alert whenever there's anything above her in the sky, and she usually makes a wide berth around any stick-like objects on the ground. And I can guarantee she's never in her life been attacked by ants, spiders, airplanes, or sticks

.

 

[Amanda39]

Thank you so much for explaining that Goose Girl! Yes, mine are very aware of airplanes and anything in the sky! Bugs don't seem to bother them, but if the neighborhood children come up my driveway, my gander sticks his neck out and hisses. I have no idea why, they kids are only 5,6,7 years old. same size as my kids, but I guess they are strangers. I have noticed they really shake their necks when I get the meal worms out. That is their favorite treat by far! So I know it can be a happy thing too. When I pick them up to load them in the carrier, to go up north, they shake then too, so I know it can also be a nervous thing. But sometimes, I'll just be sitting in my chair on my phone, and my gander will come up to me, shaking then proceed to chew on my clothes. Silly geese!

 

[cvamoca]

Mine do that, too- I don't mind them chewing, as it seems to be what we do to bond. (I'm talking about my 3 goslings, not the grown up flock) When I sit in the grass with them or on the barn floor they still pile into my lap and chew rings and shoes...
Hopefully I'm not setting a bad precedent with them to become sassy/bad later. Mine actually do like to be patted, more like scratched on their breast...but they do seem to like it. At least they don't object to it.

 

[seminolewind]

I'm surprised that they let you pet them. Mine don't like being touched but they will surround me and chew on everything. The 2 that are more attached to me do the shivering thing. I've thought it can't be bad because they are the closest to me. I figured it was just a heightened excitement or emotion.