Gander Hates Bright Colors?

[The Dim Side]

Hey, all! My gander is about a year old (we estimated his birthday to be yesterday actually! He was around three weeks old when we got him last year), and he's definitely in mating season mode right now for the last month or so. He keeps mounting our other goose (and honking proudly afterward). But he's also just been more aggressive here and there. It's not constant, but he just gets in moods sometimes (at least toward us; with visitors, he always is distrustful now). I'm not sure if it's because of mating season or if he's just becoming more aggressive as he gets older.

But it seems like one thing that really sets him off is anything with bright colors. Like a blue plastic bag, a yellow broom, a pink wrist weight, and he'll attack them and anyone holding them, lol. Recently, I had a yellow purse, and they were both really terrified of it, which was very surprising. But that's what made me realize he might be attacking because of other colorful things. Does anyone else have experience with this? He didn't always used to do this with colors either. Thanks!

 

[Isadora]

I noticed you mentioned a bunch of random objects and not anything he would see regularly like clothing or shoes. Does he also act this way if you wear brightly colored clothing?
I haven't had any ganders act that way towards coloring.

 

[The Dim Side]

I noticed you mentioned a bunch of random objects and not anything he would see regularly like clothing or shoes. Does he also act this way if you wear brightly colored clothing?
I haven't had any ganders act that way towards coloring.

Actually, I think so. I was wearing a bright green shirt the other day, and I think he got a little aggressive then, too.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

I had a tom turkey that was they same way during breeding season.

 

[The Dim Side]

I had a tom turkey that was they same way during breeding season.

Oh, and it stopped after breeding season? If so, that's good to know! I'm not sure why he finds them a threat, but we happen to have colorful things around here, so I hope it doesn't last forever, lol.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

Yeah he was a pain in the butt during breeding season, but he mellowed out after.

 

[The Dim Side]

I hope mine does, too! I'm sad because he's normally my little buddy and don't like him being mean to me, haha.

 

[Goosebaby]

It’s horomones exaggerating his behavior, he’s going to be a feisty pea brain for awhile

You’ve just got to be patient, but don’t avoid being around him either, this is a critical stage when if he starts to think you’re not part of his flock his aggression towards you will increase and then still be there for the rest of the year.

If he gets too naughty tell him NO firmly, if he doesn’t stop pick him up, carry him around for a minute, then put him back down and treat him like nothing happened so that he learns some manners but knows you’re not his enemy.

 

[The Dim Side]

He's so feisty! He pinched and bruised my knee (and my other knee a couple days ago) and even somehow cut me on my hand. I'm definitely still trying to stay involved with them, though he's kind of being like an angsty teen not wanting to hang out with Mom, lol. I hope he doesn't kick me out of his flock! I've raised him since he was 3 weeks old, and he would follow me and sleep in my lap. I'm not ready for my kid to grow up, haha.

And I'm glad to hear that carrying him around is recommended, that's usually what I do! He's very light (only like 9-10 pounds), but I have to be careful of his neck wriggling around and biting me sometimes. The other thing we've tried a bit is like with handling a rowdy rooster, sorta squatting over them like they do to the hens to show dominance. But it seems like picking him up works best, though sometimes he still continues to attack, and I have to pick him up again, lol.

 

[Goosebaby]

He's so feisty! He pinched and bruised my knee (and my other knee a couple days ago) and even somehow cut me on my hand. I'm definitely still trying to stay involved with them, though he's kind of being like an angsty teen not wanting to hang out with Mom, lol. I hope he doesn't kick me out of his flock! I've raised him since he was 3 weeks old, and he would follow me and sleep in my lap. I'm not ready for my kid to grow up, haha.

And I'm glad to hear that carrying him around is recommended, that's usually what I do! He's very light (only like 9-10 pounds), but I have to be careful of his neck wriggling around and biting me sometimes. The other thing we've tried a bit is like with handling a rowdy rooster, sorta squatting over them like they do to the hens to show dominance. But it seems like picking him up works best, though sometimes he still continues to attack, and I have to pick him up again, lol.

Yeah I’ve noticed that too, pinning an aggressive gander doesn’t work as well as picking them up.

I think the reason is that when they’re getting pinned, you’re squatting down to their level, and you look smaller, and they actually think you’re an equal challenger and they could probably take you on if they had the chance.

Picking them up on the other hand rocks their whole world and snaps them out of whatever mindset they had, at least temporarily. It really demonstrates to them just how big and strong you are.