geese killing chicks

[peeppeep]

I am so SAD; tonight I found my big male goose and one of the grey females standing over my good hen (Goldie). She was missing an eye, her other other eye was swollen shut. She'll most surely die, she can't stand she's barley breathing.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I am so SAD; tonight I found my big male goose and one of the grey females standing over my good hen (Goldie). She was missing an eye, her other other eye was swollen shut. She'll most surely die, she can't stand she's barley breathing.

I'm so sorry, this is a rough time of year when mating season starts, ganders feeling their oats and not wanting anyone in their territory around their goose ladies. So far it hasn't happened here thank the Lord, but my flock has frre roam so maybe that makes a difference in the chickens being able to stat clear or the geese. again very sorry.

Some folks pen their geese up separate from the rest of the flock members till mating season is over.

 

[Sasa]

It is not unusual for geese to kill chickens, I keep my chickens away from the geese.

 

[cassie]

I once had some geese that would kill each other. There were about 20 geese and they divided themselves into two clans. Periodically they would get into a big fight and one or more would end up dead. It wasn't as if they were short of feed or space, either. They were in a pasture of over 15 acres. I never did figure it out. I gave them to an old man who had a big farm pond. They did the same thing at his place.

 

[Sasa]

WOW, that's nuts!

 

[Miss Lydia]

My 2 bantam mamas and their 7 chicks are on the other side of the fence from my ducks and geese, they can see each other and today when I was out there I opened the gate to see how they would react, nope these chicks are just 2 days over one week to soon for them to be around the big guys. No one got attacked but the way they looked at them made me nervous.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i keep my geese out with my goats, and they don't have access to my chickens or ducks. i did notice at one point they were going after the chickens when they stuck their heads through the chain link on the pens. Fearing the worst, i ran hardware cloth all around the outside of those pens to avoid someone getting their head bitten off. My geese were raised by hand from eggs and can be super sweet. But i wouldn't trust them for two seconds with anything smaller than them. It can be a good thing sometimes, like when they drowned some young rats that got into their pen. But they would probably do the same thing to any of my beloved chickens that happened to get in their way.

 

[Miss Lydia]

i keep my geese out with my goats, and they don't have access to my chickens or ducks. i did notice at one point they were going after the chickens when they stuck their heads through the chain link on the pens. Fearing the worst, i ran hardware cloth all around the outside of those pens to avoid someone getting their head bitten off. My geese were raised by hand from eggs and can be super sweet. But i wouldn't trust them for two seconds with anything smaller than them. It can be a good thing sometimes, like when they drowned some young rats that got into their pen. But they would probably do the same thing to any of my beloved chickens that happened to get in their way.

My 2 geese had my Mini dachshund cornered on the back patio this evening, thank goodness she scooted up under a low chair. I'm working very hard to teach both my geese and my dogs they all belong here. geese can be such bullies.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

They really can be bullies. i've seen my largest goose, Baby Huey, challenging my goats. They are Nigerian Dwarfs, but still way bigger than a goose. But he will come up and run into them, hoping they will back off, and sometimes they do. But if the goats wanted to hurt him, they could head-bunt him into the next yard. Thank goodness they don't try.

 

[Fernleaf]

I had to separate my gander from the rest of the flock this spring when his mate started laying. He particularly attacks one of my poor brahma hens, pulling out feathers left and right and ripping the skin if he gets a big mouthful. He'll grab a mouthful of feathers and start yanking and she'll try to run away (meanwhile my roo attempts to come to the rescue) and unless she can scoot under something that's too short for him he'll corner her somewhere and just abuse her. He would also try to piggyback when my drake was mating the ducks, and one duck he chewed up her face pretty bad, cracked her bill all over. He seemed to be doing OK once the babies hatched but he's started again with the chicken this week and he's either going to need his own pen or have an accident with the axe...The gander in question is an American Buff too