Feather pulling has stopped

[love465mustang]

Hi all! I just wanted to get on here and tell everyone my story of my two roman tufted geese ganders and to help anyone having this issue and to not give up also with how they grew out of the horrible feather plucking habit they had and what I did to help resolve it as they grew up and became beautiful almost adults lol. I have two ganders one has always been a bit bigger then the other, they are named Beavis and Butt-Head and yes from the show lol. I noticed they started to pull feathers on my chicken chick's first but what seemed to be innocent behavior in the beginning by nibbling on the butt feathers of the chick's quickly became pulling and eating feathers. But as the geese got bigger the habit got worse and I had to separate the geese from the chick's but they were still able to see the chick's. But then Butt-Head decided well I'll start plucking my brothers feathers out instead ugh I was so frustrated and tried all the sprays and anti pick stuff even made sure all nutrients were met with no prevail. Beavis stopped his habit but Butt-Head continued and it got to the point where I had to separate them but they were just separate with a fence. They love each other regardless of the situation so I didn't want to give up and get rid of one as they are so attached to each other. So I kept them separated for a couple weeks and only at night because that seemed to be fine during the day. They free range all day and of course have plenty space. So after all that time of being separated at night Butt-Head just finally stopped and now they don't have to be apart at night anymore and all is well. I hope this thread helps someone having similar issues as I couldn't really find any help online other then to get rid of them or get rid of one or even was told to not have them with chickens because they would kill them. Oh I might add that they get along with all 50 of my chickens just fine. No more feather issues or any aggressive behavior. So in a nutshell just some separation and some patience I was able to resolve the issue and kept in mind that they will grow out of it as I did read that from a different thread.
Have a great day everyone sorry for such a long post but I just had to share.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Just watch them. I've had ganders kill chickens. They may have been fighting, and pluck each other because it was breeding season which is finally starting to wind down now. Not sure where you are located.

You may have problems again next year if it's because of increasing hormones in early spring. I'm always happy when breeding season is over for my geese. They go back to being nice birds again.

 

[love465mustang]

Just watch them. I've had ganders kill chickens. They may have been fighting, and pluck each other because it was breeding season which is finally starting to wind down now. Not sure where you are located.

You may have problems again next year if it's because of increasing hormones in early spring. I'm always happy when breeding season is over for my geese. They go back to being nice birds again.

Ok yeah they coexist pretty well with the chickens but they have their own space at night. All my birds free range on a couple acres. I live in north east Washington so it gets pretty cold here. My ganders are just about to be 3 months old so I haven't seen any breeding season behavior yet maybe next spring for sure. I would actually witness the my bigger gander pulling his brothers feathers out and actually eating them, he did it to the chicks for a little while but stopped. They have most of their adult feathers and being Roman's I believe they are just about at their adult size but not quite yet. They are doing great together now even at night. Thank you for you input. I really appreciate it

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Ok yeah they coexist pretty well with the chickens but they have their own space at night. All my birds free range on a couple acres. I live in north east Washington so it gets pretty cold here. My ganders are just about to be 3 months old so I haven't seen any breeding season behavior yet maybe next spring for sure. I would actually witness the my bigger gander pulling his brothers feathers out and actually eating them, he did it to the chicks for a little while but stopped. They have most of their adult feathers and being Roman's I believe they are just about at their adult size but not quite yet. They are doing great together now even at night. Thank you for you input. I really appreciate it

Sorry I misunderstood what age they are. What were you feeding them? It could have been a protein deficiency. They do grow very rapidly.

I had one gosling plucking the others in my second batch I raised. They stopped after a while. So perhaps tie just something they do sometimes.

Mine get along with my chickens, and ducks and than suddenly they will go after one. Hasn't happened in a while. It's so random, and it's hard to figure out why. I try to have places smaller birds can slip through to get away from my geese.