Extremely aggressive gosling... has anyone ever seen this before?

[lovesgliders]

I am going to try to keep this short.

My little Sushi is now six weeks old. We've had her since she was two days old. She is a brown Chinese.

At four weeks, she began showing the first signs of aggression, though I was a bit in denial and kept making excuses about it.

But at five weeks, she became an impossible-to-ignore terror. I never dreamed a baby animal could be this aggressive. She attacks me unpredictably, but she is quite reliable in that she will always attack anyone else. (I hope that makes sense.)

We socialized her so well, never let her get away with nibbling or nipping, I was stern but fair and loving with her. I have very much failed her and I don't know how. I have lots of experience with many different species of animals and I thought I could raise a gosling.

Now she is still so little that she doesn't do any true damage... however it's not for lack of want or trying. These are not little lovenibbles. Her eyes change, she charges her victim and starts biting HARD on whatever she can reach, repeatedly. If I pull her off someone she quickly turns on me.

If anyone has ANY advice for me whatsoever, I'd love to hear it. I am at my wit's end. My friend got the other gosling from this shipment and raised hers the same way and swears hers is a dollbaby with everyone. Granted, hers was a Pomeranian which are known for being more laidback.

 

[sourland]

The gosling is simply trying to subordinate you as a member of her flock. She is probably genetically programmed to be a dominant bird and is only doing what comes naturally to her. Such behavior is not all that uncommon with 'human bonded' geese although many do NOT exhibit such behavior. Do not allow such behavior - it will escalate. Forcing her to the ground and subordinating her may help. Good luck. An aggressive goose is a pain - literally.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

She is an aggressive breed of goose, some are very calm, while some are not. Cuddling geese can lead to them not seeing you as flock leader.

 

[larkflying]

I wonder if Sushi isn't a boy? I know it is unlikely if they came sexed but I did have one gosling that was supposed to be a boy turn out to be a girl. I have had similar problems with one gander, but not until breeding season.

Do you think she has enough stimulation -- grass to eat, stuff to do? Geese are pretty intelligent - I know dogs can get hyper vigilant if they aren't exercised enough. Have you tried her outside with the chickens/ducks? Mine get all distracted outside their normal enclosure -- they forget about hissing because they are gobbling up the goodies -- but again, they don't seem quite as aggressive as your little one. It does seem strange to me as geese are such flock members. Maybe someone with Brown Chinese experience will be able to tell you if that is temporary stage . It could be that she is attacking other people to keep them away, because she knows they don't belong, and attacking you to establish who is boss in your flock . . .

There was a great post about disciplining your geese . . . you could read that if you haven't yet and see if there were some new ideas . . .

I wish I had something more helpful to say! We went through a similar thing with a puppy and it was so sad . . .

 

[lovesgliders]

Thank you everyone. Her possibly being a gander has crossed my mind. I have voraciously read everything on this forum about disciplining geese but I just can't seem to find anything about such a young gosling turning so aggressive so suddenly.

Thing is, I swear, I have disciplined her from the get-go. When she was tiny she'd nibble on me and I'd stop it right away.

She attacks all my ducks, chickens, dogs, EVERYTHING. Even the chinchilla in its cage. I've never heard of anything like it. Everyone is terrified of her except for me (me, I'm just heartbroken).

She gets grass time every day, hours of it, goes on walks around the yard with me, a bath every day, and she is diapered and is able to run around the downstairs. I really don't think she's bored or frustrated because IMO she has a pretty good life. I devote a lot of time to her which makes this all the more heartbreaking.

 

[lovesgliders]

Oh and I wanted to add that there is no rhyme nor reason to the attacks... some she has her diaper on, some its off. Some are outside, some are inside. Some are off our property in a new and unfamiliar place, and some are on.

We are smart people but we just can't figure it out.

She can be so loving with me... I have been keeping a journal of the attacks and it seems like if her and I lived in a bubble in the house, never left, and people never came over, things would be fine. Unfortunately life doesn't work that way.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

She is a solo goose, being raised in the house?

 

[lovesgliders]

Yes.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

What was the reason for picking that breed as a house goose?

 

[lovesgliders]

A woman that I know has Chinese geese and they are so beautiful and didn't seem aggressive at all when I visited. That combined with the fact that I had learned not to put so much stock in breed personality generalizations (i.e. my Silkies are anything but friendly, definitely not the "kittens of the chicken world" as far as I'm concerned) and I thought, "I'll go with what I like instead of what is supposedly the nicest."

Trust me, I'm kicking myself now. I could've gotten a Sebbie. But someone on here said that they had a mean Sebbie so it just kind of reiterated it in my mind that all geese are individuals.

I am not sure what to do with Sushi. She obviously isn't cut out to be a housegoose, which breaks my heart. I have put so much time and love into her. She hates every other living creature here so I do not think she will be happy living with my ducks. Building her her own pen is an option but is that really much of a life, just living alone like that?

Do you think she is young enough that she can adjust to living with other geese? I honestly don't know if she is imprinted on humans or not. From what I've read, imprinting only happens right after the hatch, and she was shipped with another gosling and a passel of chicks.