geese killing chicks

[ohiofarmgirl]

.i can re-home these but hate to do that...& will still be stuck with the nagging question of why.

my gander is a certified hen killer. and he specifically goes after one old lame hen. however, he was "in love" with one of my younger duck hens. so who knows. its not because you raised them wrong, tho.

i'm not sure there is a "good" answer to 'why" other than - thats what they do. probably its territorial behavior.

you can always pen them up separately during the day?​

 

[Kim65]

Quote:
I'm guessing from the times I've heard of it from the three forums I read about poultry . . . it's pretty rare. Mostly geese are territorial and discipline the chickens or ducks with nips or walk toward them with their heads down, but they rarely kill. I think it's an aberration. Thing is you don't know you have one until it happens.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

I keep my Muscovies and my Sebbies together--they have squabbles but the Muscovies seem to be able to hold their own against the sebbies--I had my goslings in with my bachelor roos last summer and they (the goslings) chewed the tail feathers off all of my roosters! If they were free-ranging, it would probably be fine but I wouldn't lock up chickens with geese or chickens with ducks.

 

[Baybrio]

I'm relieved to hear this extreme behavior is rare. I'm also thankful that people on this forum share both their good and not so good experiences. This type of information just does not show up in books.

 

[soap&eggs]

thank you everyone for replys and information. i temporary solved one problem by selling the pullet chicks that the geese were going after & killing. after gardens are done i am thinking of opening one nearest coops and giving garden space to goats ..sheep & geese..thinking of adding a pond also. but that all will have to wait few weeks- months. that garden i jokingly call my back 40A. past few days no attacks but never know what tomorrow will bring.

 

[thekla]

I got 2 baby geese this spring and they were raised with similar sized chicks, (but soon outgrew them) they mostly get along fine, but have occasionally gone after a hen that gets between them and their food, but what kinda surprised me was when the more dominent one tried to drown the other one when it got into the pool with her... bit and tried to push him/her under and didn't let go even when he climbed out and ran off. Now I know why that one rarely swims. (I put it in the pool and stand guard now so he can bathe) I've never had geese before and am kinda keeping an eye on the situation - the dominent on is usually very protective of the other who doesn't see very well so it was kinda strange to see her go after him (not sure about the sex of either - but someone said the females were bigger...) go figure.

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

thekla,
that kind of goose drowning goose behavior usually indicates breeding behavior. sounds like you've got a randy goose!

 

[thekla]

chickensducks&agoose :

thekla,
that kind of goose drowning goose behavior usually indicates breeding behavior. sounds like you've got a randy goose!

ok, thought that would be in the spring since they are just young...today they were swimming together no problem, go figure.​

 

[jack & mommy's duckies]

Oh my goodness.........this is just shocking......today when i went out i found that my geese had also killed a chick and were playing with the dead body. And while I was making a pen to house the rest of the baby chicks......they got another. I think everyone is safe now. But if another turn up dead I think I'm going to have to make other plans for who is left. Kinda thinking the geese will be in another pen.....darn geese.

 

[CMV]

I'm sorry you are having problems with your geese. I had problems with my ganders attacking my ducks. It got bad enough that I culled out the males. I now keep one Toulouse goose in with my ducks. She is fine with the ducks, although even she was a little aggressive at first. She will still go after any chickens that free-range near her, but the chickens have learned to steer clear of her. I had always hoped to be able to share run space between the chickens and waterfowl, but that will never happen because of the aggression displayed by the geese. They are tough birds.