Hi, anyone else own Egyptians? I have a situation... and here's the history in case it's relevant. If it's not, so sorry to bore you with the details!
I have a pair of Egyptians. This current pair in question is the original goose that lost her mate 2 yrs ago. She inappropriately paired up with a muscovy drake a few months after her mate was lost, so I penned her away from him to break the pairing, which they maintained through the fence wire. Last Fall, I replaced the lost gander with another, normal variety, same as her previous mate, and placed them in the same pen after his quarantine period. She repeatedly rejected him, treating him really poorly, through the winter preferring to be romanced by the dang muscovy through the fence. She laid one clutch of infertile eggs because she wasn't bonding with the egyptian gander, I suppose in honor of Mr Muscovy. I discarded the first clutch after the appropriate time period. Then she started to "tolerate" the egyptian gander, and laid a second clutch, also infertile. Mr Egyptian then started to take on the role of protector, etc, of Mrs Egyptian's second clutch. I discarded the second infertile clutch after the appropriate time frame. They then bonded together-eating, drinking, hanging out and I got rid of the muscovy drake, her first crush, so as not to add to her confusion. That was last month that I discarded her eggs. They began acting like a true pair immediately after that. I have not seen him breed her yet. NOW, 2 weeks ago, he started being very aggressive towards her, running her around the pen incessantly until she went to the pool. Now he keeps her in their pool for almost the entire day. I am concerned that she is perhaps not getting her share of the twice daily feedings, so I moved their food dish closer to the pool she's been grounded to by him. IS this normal behavior? Should I be concerned that he, who was once meek and abused by her, is now too aggressive for her? Is it normal practice to separate a pair after breeding season? I don't think it is, and I didn't observe this behavior with the original pair (her being the remaining of the original pair). This gander is year old now.
Any help or advice given would be greatly appreciated. I just want to be sure this is normal, albeit annoying behavior that has me greatly concerned, for Egyptian geese. And I would appreciate a pair of normal acting birds, and would like to know how I can cure his behavior that I believe is detrimental to her well being.
Thanks in advance!
Julie
I have a pair of Egyptians. This current pair in question is the original goose that lost her mate 2 yrs ago. She inappropriately paired up with a muscovy drake a few months after her mate was lost, so I penned her away from him to break the pairing, which they maintained through the fence wire. Last Fall, I replaced the lost gander with another, normal variety, same as her previous mate, and placed them in the same pen after his quarantine period. She repeatedly rejected him, treating him really poorly, through the winter preferring to be romanced by the dang muscovy through the fence. She laid one clutch of infertile eggs because she wasn't bonding with the egyptian gander, I suppose in honor of Mr Muscovy. I discarded the first clutch after the appropriate time period. Then she started to "tolerate" the egyptian gander, and laid a second clutch, also infertile. Mr Egyptian then started to take on the role of protector, etc, of Mrs Egyptian's second clutch. I discarded the second infertile clutch after the appropriate time frame. They then bonded together-eating, drinking, hanging out and I got rid of the muscovy drake, her first crush, so as not to add to her confusion. That was last month that I discarded her eggs. They began acting like a true pair immediately after that. I have not seen him breed her yet. NOW, 2 weeks ago, he started being very aggressive towards her, running her around the pen incessantly until she went to the pool. Now he keeps her in their pool for almost the entire day. I am concerned that she is perhaps not getting her share of the twice daily feedings, so I moved their food dish closer to the pool she's been grounded to by him. IS this normal behavior? Should I be concerned that he, who was once meek and abused by her, is now too aggressive for her? Is it normal practice to separate a pair after breeding season? I don't think it is, and I didn't observe this behavior with the original pair (her being the remaining of the original pair). This gander is year old now.
Any help or advice given would be greatly appreciated. I just want to be sure this is normal, albeit annoying behavior that has me greatly concerned, for Egyptian geese. And I would appreciate a pair of normal acting birds, and would like to know how I can cure his behavior that I believe is detrimental to her well being.
Thanks in advance!
Julie
