geese killing chicks

[soap&eggs]

has anyone ever had problem with geese killing chicks and attacking adult hens ? recently mine have grabbed -shaked until dead 3 young pullets...also grabbing hens going about there business. i hatched & raised geese who are 4 1/2 months old...still follow me around & are very intertaining..but..you start to look at them differently when they kill other pets that belong.. Few yrs back i had the same thing happen..i penned those geese thinking 'time out '..but they started killing first chance they got. i gave to daughter at her farm & she said they didnt do it there. without being cruel by hitting them..or ???...does anyone ever have this happen ? if so how to cure???

 

[sydney13]

my goose was going after my little duckling a lot and at first she would try to kill it and start hissing. after a few days she got a lot better with it and i could leave them alone outside together. i would try keeping them in a pen were they can see the other birds but not touch and eventually they might get better. you could also try letting the birds out together and feeding them treats to distract them from the hens

 

[cassie]

My flock of geese divided themselves into two clans and every once in a while they would get into a battle royal and actually kill each other. They spent so much time warring with each other they didn't bother the other poultry.

 

[Bleenie]

I have had geese almost kill a Leghorn hen & a Muscovy hen and attack another muscovy hen and hurt her pretty bad. Thankfully both recovered but the Leghorn took a LONG time to recover, she was about dead when i found her and she ended up blind on one side afterward. Both attacks were Horrible and they always bite the head/face a lot. (i am sure i still have the pictures of the girls recoveries, but they were kinda graphic)

I couldn't make them quit doing it so I rehomed the geese that did that and since have bought my geese as babies and raised them with the ducklings/chicks. with the exception of 2 geese(girls) i got at 5 months old this year, but thankfully they were raised with Muscovies & other birds before i got them.

What breed are your geese? Some are more agressive than others. The ones that i had a problem with were Roman Tufted, my current geese are 2 Chinese & 4 Mix Breeds.

 

[Highland Moongazer]

I had all my birds free ranging, until my gander decided he hated chickens and crushed one's windpipe. The chickens quickly got their own run, but the geese (and sometimes the ducks!) will bite at the wire trying to get at the chickens.

*edited in* Said gander also chewed up the face of one of the duck hens (killing her), and managed to bald another's back and neck in the course of a day. I hope he will be delicious.

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

Before I knew better, I had my gander penned up with my hens overnight when I went to a military meeting out of town... came back and he'd drowned 5 of my hens in the water bowl, it was filled up with corpses. SO gross and SO upsetting.

 

[soap&eggs]

i'm sorry , realized i wasnt too clear..poultry ..ducks and geese all free range & are locked up at night...geese have own pen & housing. altho durning day gates are all open so everyone comes & goes as they please. i dont think breed is important as to why..seeing as in past totally different breeds involved. and in both cases i raised geese from day 1. if they attacked & killed in front of me id say territorial-protecting me..but is not the case. ((** lol maybe i raised them wrong ??**))....they have plenty of room- arceage to roam about on...own water tubs..i have noticed they seem to go after silkies more often then not...which with eyes being covered with feathers they cant get out of way fast as other breeds.i can re-home these but hate to do that...& will still be stuck with the nagging question of why.

 

[Kim65]

I think it is less about breed and more about the individual goose

. I've heard of this happening, but it's not very common, especially since they were all raised together. If this were my geese I would be a mess, all of my animals are "pets" with benefits (eggs, entertainment, milk, protection).

I don't know how you would train a goose to not attack the chickens. They are so totally stubborn. Hitting or punishing them is futile, I don't think they learn from it like a dog would.

In your shoes I would have to keep one or the other penned. Maybe let the geese out in the morning, lure them back in the pen later with treats, and then let the chickens out. But keep them separate. I would be hard pressed -- no, it would not happen at all -- to rehome one of my geese for nasty behavior to other livestock. But that's just me. I'd find a way to work around it. Good luck

 

[Baybrio]

How common is this killing behavior? I had no idea geese would do this.

 

[shelleyd2008]

I haven't had any deaths that I know of, but some of the geese do go after a mama hen with chicks. It's always the new ones though, I guess they just don't like 'new' things. Once the babies have been around for a few days though, the geese don't bother them...or they learn to avoid the geese, one or the other.