I also love my geese, but geese are geese and your husband is right. A lot of the time, adult geese are mean. There are exceptions, of course, and it's hard to know. Each goose has it's own personality, and just like humans, some are more "in your face" than others.
It helps a TEENSY bit to understand why they are mean . . . they have no tooth or claw and they are too fat to fly . . . all that's left is sheer obnoxiousness.
Handling them and keeping their numbers very small will help them stay more imprinted on you than each other. The more human imprinted they are, the less they act like geese in a flock. Sort of similar to dogs in a pack.
If you truly want friendly geese, you might think about downsizing at some point, or when one of the ganders starts acting up, rehoming him.
For now, enjoy them. Have your children carefully handle them and spend time with them. Goslings seem rugged but they can be squeezed and killed accidentally. They can suffocate with little hands around their rib cages, so work with the kids and making sure they don't hold the gosling too firmly.
Geese are easy to raise, have very few diseases. THey are messy and play in their water. Don't let them get soaking wet without a warm place to dry off for a couple of weeks at least, they can drown in deep water. WIthout a mother goose, they have no natural oils until they are about three weeks old and their oil gland develops.
Feed them chick starter (unmedicated) and lots of cut up dandelion and grass greens until they are three weeks old. Then switch to a 16% or so all purpose poultry feed and scratch grains. It's important NOT to feed them high protein after that age as it can cause a wing deformity called angel wing. The jury's out on whether it's genetic or a feed issue, but better safe than sorry.
Use a water dish they can immerse their bills up to above their nostrils in. They need to keep those nose holes clean, they can get food up there, and get blocked, so plenty of water is necessary. The downside of that is they will PLAY in the water and have filthy water and make a mess. Thus is life with goslings. I use a two quart cat waterer from the pet store so I don't have to change out the water every five minutes. A little feed in the water won't hurt them.
Have fun, most of all
Be willing to rehome the more aggressive birds. Females are less aggressive than the ganders. As far as sexing them, well, it's a professionals job and most of us have to wait until we can see differences in behavior or actual egg laying
. Enjoy them until they are four or five months old and then observe their behavior, we'll help you with our "edumacated" guesses better at that time
Ganders are usually more friendly and gregarious, while females are shyer, even as goslings, but it's subtle.
Good luck, new goose owner
Also how can i sex them? I know NOTHING about geese. Any info on anything with these lil guys would be great thank you so much!!
