Gander Questions - Behavior & Health

[Meg-in-MT]

Hello, everyone. I have a gander that lost his mate about a month or so ago. The day he lost her, him and the other goose stood by her until I picked her up and took her away. From then on he started a very soft cooing when we're around and particularly to one of my big brahma hens with a chick. Almost as if he was trying to find a new friend.

While him and the remaining goose hang out together, it's obvious that she isn't his priority. He periodically wanders about cooing at the chickens and just looking lost in general. He seems to have developed an affection for my husband, which he never had before. He will follow him around while we're out, nibble on his hands/jacket/pant leg and lets him pet him. He seems much more comfortable when he's being spoken to.

So, I guess my questions here are: is this normal behavior for a gander or goose that's lost their mate? Do domestic geese mate for life? If anyone could share their insight, it'd be much appreciated.

Onto health...Yesterday I noticed that his nares looked blood red, but not actually bleeding. I do not know how old he is. 6+ years since we got him and he was (I believe) at least a couple years old, then. They have access to fresh water deep enough to dunk their heads, and a mini bath that he gets in and bathes. I do not have a decent pictures of his bill.

Aside from his new found friendliness, he seems normal. Eats, drinks and bathes as usual. Maybe his nares were red and I never noticed? Wondering if there is anything that I need to be looking for.

Thanks for your time.

-Meg

 

[Miss Lydia]

Did the female that died and your gander and this female grow up together? Yes geese do mate for life. And sounds like your gander was more attached to the female that died. They grieve too. My gander before I gave him a female goose was papa goose to all Muscovy ducklings that hatched here. So much so that the mama ducks would leave their ducklings with him an go off an forage. Can’t say he felt the same about the chickens and her chicks but he may have if we didn’t have ducks an ducklings. I would say what your seeing is a gander lost since his mate has died. Hopefully he’ll bond with the other female once breeding season starts up next year. You might even consider penning them come mid Jan next year so they do bond. Very sorry for your loss . My gander is 12 his mate is 7 one day one of them will go through this it will be heart breaking I‘M sure.

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

X2

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Did the female that died and your gander and this female grow up together? Yes geese do mate for life. And sounds like your gander was more attached to the female that died. They grieve too. My gander before I gave him a female goose was papa goose to all Muscovy ducklings that hatched here. So much so that the mama ducks would leave their ducklings with him an go off an forage. Can’t say he felt the same about the chickens and her chicks but he may have if we didn’t have ducks an ducklings. I would say what your seeing is a gander lost since his mate has died. Hopefully he’ll bond with the other female once breeding season starts up next year. You might even consider penning them come mid Jan next year so they do bond. Very sorry for your loss . My gander is 12 his mate is 7 one day one of them will go through this it will be heart breaking I‘M sure.

Thanks so much for your detailed response. As far as I know they grew up together, they came to me already mated. It was obvious that the other goose, while she traveled with, was not his mate.

It really was, and is, hard to watch. His grief, like a human, was immediate. I didn't realize she had passed and I walked over to see what everyone was doing in the garden and they were both just standing there. Heartbreaking. He just looked pained.

I hope that you're right and they will attach in a better fashion than they have. Will look forward to seeing how it turns out next spring. He really is a sweet boy. I guess I'm only now seeing his personality because his focus was his girl Poor fella.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Someone posted once about coming out of a bowling ally and seeing a dead Canada goose laying on the ground and it's mate standing beside it. It's such a sad thing to witness. I know mine will be totally lost if they lose each other. Please let us know how it goes hopefully they will connect when mating season comes around.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Someone posted once about coming out of a bowling ally and seeing a dead Canada goose laying on the ground and it's mate standing beside it. It's such a sad thing to witness. I know mine will be totally lost if they lose each other. Please let us know how it goes hopefully they will connect when mating season comes around.

I will certainly do that! At least there is some hope that he'll have a mate again. Do you think his new affinity for people is him trying to find a friend? He doesn't honk nearly like he used to. I wonder if it's because he doesn't feel he's got anything to protect.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Could be he’s wanting to bond to someone and probably feeling pretty lost right now. Your going to be in for a surprise when breeding season begins he will probably get aggressive with his interest with you humans. So that is one reason you want him bonding with the other female. He’ll go into his body guard mode again but that will be better than having him wanting to mate with y’all lol.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

Ha. My husband was talking to him the other night and he looked like he was going to crawl right in his lap. He said "you cannot make love to me"

 

[Miss Lydia]

Oh that’s funny! And it’s still way to early for those advances. Little stinker.