Female goose doesn't like my daughter

[zooweemama]

I read the thread about what to do with aggressive goose behaviors but my daughter is turning 4 next month. Sarah (who is just over 2 months old) does not like her. She gets shaky neck, charges her and bites her. Totally unprovoked. So far she does with no one else- just her. Chuck (same age) does not attack ANYone or show aggressive behaviors at ALL. Sarah also attacks my MIL's Pomeranian dogs, our outdoor cat and my new puppy (although now that he will lunge at her she has stopped that haha).

Any suggestions? My kids do run around the property without me with them so I'd like to be able to nip this in the bud. Thanks!

 

[flockman]

Sorry, I don't know for certain. My geese are now 4 months old and now they do the same except the biting. They make the snake neck and hiss but they don't bite, towards the kids. Adults have no issues. As of right now the children put out their arms and talk loudly and charge if the geese do not back down, which has worked thus far. This is similar to what they did when we had a mean rooster. They are prepared to kick(bump) the geese in the chest if the geese don't back down after the spread arms, talking loudly and charging don't work. This has worked thus far for our kids. I know that it will be a different situation next spring during nesting season. My three kids are 9,8, and 6and a half. My geese are fenced in and the kids don't have to take care of them without me supervising, so it is not such a problem. At 4 it is hard for a child to "look threatening" to a goose.

My geese hiss at the cats and the cats run, so they don't have to do anything else.

If someone with more experience feels this is wrong let me know. I used the information from a post Geese Training which was answered by Olive Hill.

 

[Habibs Hens]

my chinese was quite agressive when i first got him but has calmed down

my son is 3 years old and fearless

he chases the geese round the garden all day long and they are pretty much toned down and say nothing to him

infact the chineese has almost completely stopped hissing

i hardly hear him hiss

 

[larkflying]

Maybe have her carry a light pole or something to make her more scary/bigger? Last year my youngest was 5, and I would have him carry one of my plastic fencing poles just in case. We also had our geese penned up, so I could keep them and the kids separated during the breeding season.

When she has an encounter, I agree with the other poster -- if she can run at the goose it would be best, but if not, loud shouting, stick waving, jumping in place, they would all help to teach the goose that she isn't someone that can be bossed around.

My sister didn't like geese at that age, and she had a stick she kept by the back door to fend them off. We teased her about it, but most 4 year olds aren't that much taller than a goose, so I can understand how she felt now . . .

I'm sorry you've been having this problem -- my geese are in their dormant mode and don't get aggressive like that till January or so.

 

[1MrsMagoo]

Our geese were a bit aggressive with my teenage daughter when we first got them last year: For some reason she is the only one my roosters bother as well. Anyway, I gave her the garden hose and every time they came at her she blasted them in the face with water (I did not want her to have a stick because they already disliked her). You'd think with them being waterfowl, that being sprayed with water wouldn't bother them, but it did. After a couple weeks of this, she only needed to raise the hose and not spray to make them turn around.

Then we made her the one to give all the treats; hose still at the ready. Within six weeks she was able to go out with the geese and not be bothered. This system worked with the roosters too, except we added a period of her holding and petting them which they hated.

Good luck. With time, patience, and careful observation hopefully your goose will come around.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Maybe have her carry a light pole or something to make her more scary/bigger? Last year my youngest was 5, and I would have him carry one of my plastic fencing poles just in case. We also had our geese penned up, so I could keep them and the kids separated during the breeding season.

When she has an encounter, I agree with the other poster -- if she can run at the goose it would be best, but if not, loud shouting, stick waving, jumping in place, they would all help to teach the goose that she isn't someone that can be bossed around.

My sister didn't like geese at that age, and she had a stick she kept by the back door to fend them off. We teased her about it, but most 4 year olds aren't that much taller than a goose, so I can understand how she felt now . . .

I'm sorry you've been having this problem -- my geese are in their dormant mode and don't get aggressive like that till January or so.

I'm sure those that have young children can give you the best hints on helping get this situation under control, all i have to add is be very watchful especially about biting, if a goose thought her gosling was in danger of attack she would step in to prevent it, so picture yourself as a goose defending her gosling when this happens you have to step in to put a stop to it, another thing geese can reach pretty far out and bite and you surely don't want your daughter bitten on her face especially, about 3 yrs ago my gander reached out and bit when i was kneeling down taking some screws out of a board, I didn't think he could reach me as far as he was standing, well i thought wrong, he bit my upper lip and it's a miracle I didn't have to have stitches or plastic surgery done, it was pretty bad, looked like someone had given me a good right hook, so be very careful. at how close you let them get to her.Long poles work well as long as you are there to make sure she uses them at the right time. I like the hose idea much better than sticks or poles .

 

[zooweemama]

Thanks! Last night my daughter was out with me and the geese approached. Sarah came at her head down, my daughter put her arms out and rushed at her. I was with her and helped. After 3 lunges - Sarah went away and skirted her but didn't look at her anymore. Then I noticed my almost 4 yo pretender grabbed a metal garbage can lid and was walking towards the geese with it (like a shield)...heads low....honk honk honk walking away. (not what she was going for but we stumbled on something that made her feel safe and the geese didn't want to mess lol)

 

[larkflying]

Oh, a garbage can lid would be perfect! Love the mental picture . . .

Hoses would work great as well, and I've used them when they have attitude when I fill up the pool -- but we have large pastures and it often is not possible to drag a hose around behind you, so I didn't think about it. I wonder if you had an old hose that you didn't mind cutting up -- I bet the geese would still worry about it if you just had a section and dragged it around with you . . . Most of the time the kids just carried the stick/pole and the geese gave them a wide berth due to the funny thing they were carrying. We also use them to help guide them when moving them to new pastures . . .

My teenage daughter is not fond of the geese either. It is funny how they pick up on who is worried about them, because they were worse with her than any of the other kids, even the smaller kids.

 

[zooweemama]

I did find it interesting that they dislike her of all people- she is generally fairly fearless too. They are very leery of my mil. But my mil is a huge pushover and even her Pomeranians dogs boss my mil. She is not an alpha dog to them in anyway. I think my mil will eventually have issues with the geese too because she half wants to run away when they approach her. I had to tell her to stand still and never back away. I told her she was allowed to use her feet to gently shove them back if they harrassed her. (our homes are on the same 4 1/2 acres) I also told her about the things in the article on here about how to handle aggressive geese. She seems to feel a bit more confident.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have found that geese are big sissys as long as they don't think they can push you around.