Gander Aggression to Ducks - Help!

[shiro5]

Hi guys,

I need some help please. I've asked on some of the FB groups i'm on but I want to get as many opinions as possible.

My Gander who is 10 weeks old is being rough with my ducks. 2 of the ducks (the alpha females) are being dominant (head bopping and charging) to my goose, the gander's sister.

The Gander is now being rough with the ducks. He keeps sitting on them in the pool and grabbing their necks and pinning their heads under water.

He also grabs hold of their feathers and yanks. The ducks yell out but he continues to do it. I can't separate as it is my Dad's garden and he wants to split the garden in two so that he can have half the garden.

The ducks and geese sleep together and are fine in their coop. I have 7 ducks, 2 Ayelsbury ducks, 2 Ayelsbury drakes and 3 Cayuga Ducks.

The geese are 3/4 Emden and 1/4 Toulouse. The geese are also imprinted on us.

I don't know what to do...I don't want to wake up to a dead/drowned/damaged duck. I don't want to rehome the ducks but I also don't want to be selfish and keep them and risk their safety. I am so upset and conflicted

 

[WhiteAfrican923]

Separate them. If your having problems with him either get a bigger pen or make different pens. Simple

 

[shiro5]

It's my dad garden so it's not an option they were raised together so thought they would be fine with everything I read online

 

[buggymuffin]

I highly recommend that you find a way to separate them, especially around the pool. Can you section off a small part of your side of the yard with a separate pool for the ducks? We had a similar issue with our gander and ended up with a drowned drake. We now keep our ducks in a large pen when they are not supervised and the geese free range with a much smaller separate pen to sleep in at night.

Geese tend to be a bit more aggressive around water (declaring their territory for mating) and around what they have decided is their nest. Our gander has a strong bond with my SO, but if I go into the small pen we built them for nesting while he is in it, he immediately attacks me. Outside the pen, we get along fine. My concern is that if your geese have paired (siblings will mate), they may decide that the coop is their nest and you may begin to have issues there as well.

 

[shiro5]

I have found a lovely home for my ducks. They will be going there Saturday it's breaking my heart to let them go but they are going somewhere better then they are now.

I will wait until my goose is broody and let her hatch some gosslings next year. If I have to stick to geese because my gander doesn't like ducks then that's what I will have to do.

This is the place they are going to: