Gander crabby AGAIN???

[DoodlesDuckies]

This is my first whole year with a pair of geese and 6 ducks (5 girls and 1 boy). My gander was a complete tool this spring for obvious reasons. We worked it out- I just needed to watch my back most days. He calmed down after like 3-4 MONTHS!! Then molted- here is another excuse to be a tool. Was good for a few weeks and now here we are again...he is being a tool again. Hissing, chasing, charging-will bite if given the chance. Is this how it is? You get like one good solid month of a nice, calm Rusty and the rest he is a stinker? I talk to him all the time-make sure his water bowls are fresh, his pools are fresh, fresh food and watermelon/lettuce/treats and he still is a turd.

I love him and will always care for him no matter what but is this how ganders are? Moody?

Thanks
Renee

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My multiple gander are well behaved. I never handled mine much, and made sure they keep a respectable distance away if I need to go in the pasture, or shed. I'm not a goose.

What breed? Some are just more aggressive from what I'm reading.

 

[fowltemptress]

This is my first whole year with a pair of geese and 6 ducks (5 girls and 1 boy). My gander was a complete tool this spring for obvious reasons. We worked it out- I just needed to watch my back most days. He calmed down after like 3-4 MONTHS!! Then molted- here is another excuse to be a tool. Was good for a few weeks and now here we are again...he is being a tool again. Hissing, chasing, charging-will bite if given the chance. Is this how it is? You get like one good solid month of a nice, calm Rusty and the rest he is a stinker? I talk to him all the time-make sure his water bowls are fresh, his pools are fresh, fresh food and watermelon/lettuce/treats and he still is a turd.

I love him and will always care for him no matter what but is this how ganders are? Moody?

Thanks
Renee

What do you do when he's being crabby? Where are you usually when he charges and bites, and how do you react?

I try my best to respect the space of my geese when they're crabby - if I don't need to be in an area they're protecting at the moment, I don't go, or I'll give it as wide a berth as I can. If a gander can tell I'm trying to respect his space, he tends to calm down. Also, a trick I use is to always carry a wide brimmed cup or scoop of scratch or frozen peas when I know I'll be around a crabby goose. When they charge to bite, I make sure to maneuver so their head goes in the cup. That way when they bite they come out with a big mouthful of treats. It's always hilarious, because you can tell they're still ticked as they chew furiously at the treat. It's like they're thinking, "How DARE you try to trick me with deliciousness, you devious bipedal!" For my geese, this trick has led to my bitey birds eventually giving up on the biting. I don't know if the treats change their minds into trusting me, or if they just give up because they keep getting treats instead of flesh when they try to bite.
For less bitey geese who are more in it for the show, squatting down to their level and holding an arm out low to the ground towards them helps to calm them down.
Any sort of kicking a goose away or using objects to keep them at bay usually fuels their anger, so I advise other goose owners against those tactics. Whatever the case, he's still young and it could just be those awful growing pains. The difference between my three year olds and one year olds is like night and day, so you may find it's just a case of waiting for maturity to set in.

 

[Goosebaby]

This is my first whole year with a pair of geese and 6 ducks (5 girls and 1 boy). My gander was a complete tool this spring for obvious reasons. We worked it out- I just needed to watch my back most days. He calmed down after like 3-4 MONTHS!! Then molted- here is another excuse to be a tool. Was good for a few weeks and now here we are again...he is being a tool again. Hissing, chasing, charging-will bite if given the chance. Is this how it is? You get like one good solid month of a nice, calm Rusty and the rest he is a stinker? I talk to him all the time-make sure his water bowls are fresh, his pools are fresh, fresh food and watermelon/lettuce/treats and he still is a turd.

I love him and will always care for him no matter what but is this how ganders are? Moody?

Thanks
Renee

Fall/early winter is when geese start battling it out for partners, preparation for spring breeding season, so unfortunately this is just a fact of life. Some ganders are spicier than others but there can be multiple factors that contribute to aggression. If you have a female goose, some female geese will egg their partners on and even the most level headed gander has a hard time resisting a girl’s call for war, it sounds like a high pitched rapid cackle, like “AHAHAHAHAHA.”

Something you can try is picking him up when he charges you. I don’t recommend holding him down because you have to squat down to his level and he perceives your smaller stature as something he has a chance of conquering, picking them up rocks their whole world. You can carry him around for a minute and when you set him back down he’ll be settled down, at least for awhile. Unfortunately when they’re hormonal they just can’t help themselves so it may be a repeated thing.
It helps to grab their head first and then scoop them up with your other arm, he can’t turn around and bite you this way.
Definitely don’t treat it like a punishment, it can help to give him a treat after you set him down, with hormonal bird brains scaring them can just reinforces their opinion that you’re some sort of threat or rival, no matter how many times they started it……

 

[DoodlesDuckies]

Now that someone mentioned it...my female will make noise and run around- he will follow suit and honk SUPER loud and charge at nothing or chase the ducks around for awhile.

He will come for me when I am letting him out in the morning. Or if he is admiring himself in the side of a vehicle (he is quite handsome), he will get pissy when the person gets in an leaves. I try to keep a distance and I always "baby talk" when I first go outside so they hear me coming and know it is me. I wouldn't say he is violent by any means but it just always seems to be something with him. And he has always hated my fiance. Doesn't matter the time of year. LOL! Rusty does have a female-honestly, he was WAY nicer when she was sitting on a couple eggs for a month. It didn't work out and she was back in the yard and he is back to Crabby Rusty. Perhaps she is the instigator!!

He was WAY meaner in spring. That was a rough stretch. I take it personal- like what can I do to make your life better and happier. What am I doing wrong that you are so unhappy and crabby? Do I need to get another female goose? He worships the female Eddie and follows her EVERYWHERE. She eats and drinks FIRST. Walks before him. I don't need to cuddle them (I TOTALLY WOULD) just want everyone happy and healthy.

Perhaps Crabby Rusty is just his personality. If so, I will love him just as he is. What else can you do.

 

[FurryHerbalist]

Going through something similar right now!

My Brown Chinese gander, Whistler, has been having increasingly more aggressive fits. He’s 3 months, is starting to show a prominent knob and has started mounting his favorite goose, Juno.

I started off just pointing a finger and saying firmly but in a normal voice “don’t even think about it” and then carrying on with chores in a calm manner while keeping a side eye on him. When things started escalating about 10 days ago, I grabbed the base of Whistler’s neck, spun him around and picked him up, being careful to wrap my arm around his wings. I keep a hand under his chin just in case, but tickle him a bit and talk calmly to him. When I set him down, I tweak his tail as he walks away. He usually does a good shake and feather fluff and goes on his way like all that was really his idea.

I have also pinned Whistler a couple of times when he has been especially cranky. Same neck grab and spin, but then you hold one wing (gently!) while you firmly push on his back with the other hand, pressing him to the ground. I learned this from “Keeping Geese: Breeds and Management”. Here’s the page:

All of those things work for a couple of days and then need to be repeated, although he mostly backs off if I just face him now. I’ve come to the conclusion that this is just the way of things for the moment. Hopefully once he’s past puberty, things will calm down outside of spring mating.

I have found, as @fowltemptress said, using objects just inflames the situation. I put the water bucket in front of me the first time Whistler really took a run at me and it sent him doolallytap.

Hope this helps!
B

 

[DoodlesDuckies]

I have done all this and tried many things. I think I just have to deal with his mood swings like my DF deals with mine. LOL! Touch and go, day by day.

He is pretty handsome so that helps not being mad at him very long.
(white fella Rusty and his wife Eddie)

Thank You for all the advice. I will keep doing as everyone suggests and repeat like it's 50 First Dates.

Renee

 

[FurryHerbalist]

Very handsome! In the end, the animals don’t read the books. Humans observe animal behavior and make judgements about the cause and how to counteract them but we aren’t gooses, right?

As a biologist, I often wonder what Whistler thinks when I spread my arms into make believe wings and stretch up tall to mimic his dominance display! “There she goes again, doing that stupid human ‘look how cool I am’ display”.

And yes, good thing they are so cute…

 

[DoodlesDuckies]

Very handsome! In the end, the animals don’t read the books. Humans observe animal behavior and make judgements about the cause and how to counteract them but we aren’t gooses, right?

As a biologist, I often wonder what Whistler thinks when I spread my arms into make believe wings and stretch up tall to mimic his dominance display! “There she goes again, doing that stupid human ‘look how cool I am’ display”.

And yes, good thing they are so cute…

Ha!! I do that too!! Usually to try to get him to back off. It does work, sometimes.

I also treat my 10 year old French Bulldog like my baby so, I am kind of a pushover with animals. He "helps" me with chores...aka gets in my way, slows down the process, eats duck/geese poop, gets into the duck/geese food and chases the geese once in a while. But he is out with me every morning, noon and night. He probably also thinks I am moron.