Goose aggression

[pablo_honey1981]

I have a Sebastopol goose, about 2 months old now, maybe 3.

She's become quite aggressive. We have 4 Miniature Silver Appleyard ducks and they are terrified of her. I watched this morning and she nibbled the bolt of their pen and let them out, and then actively chased them. We have one duck with a limp that we thought might have been her, and now a second, so we think it must be her biting them.

I thought Sebs were supposed to be mild mannered and friendly?

Is there any chance this might get better or is this how she's going to be, cause I think I'll have to get rid of her if this continues.

 

[Goosebaby]

She’s bullying them because she knows she can get away with it. If one of the ducks turns around and chases her she’ll never do it again.

Is she your only goose? Does she have a partner?

 

[pablo_honey1981]

She’s bullying them because she knows she can get away with it. If one of the ducks turns around and chases her she’ll never do it again.

Is she your only goose? Does she have a partner?

Yes she's the only goose. Had 4 eggs but she was the only successful hatch.

She has bright blue eyes and is supposed to be fully curly. She looks like a normal goose at the moment, is that right for a juvenile Seb?

 

[Goosebaby]

Yes she's the only goose. Had 4 eggs but she was the only successful hatch.

She has bright blue eyes and is supposed to be fully curly. She looks like a normal goose at the moment, is that right for a juvenile Seb?

I don’t breed sebbies so I have no idea.

I suggest getting her some goose friends so that they occupy her mind instead of the ducks. She’s lonely and trying to integrate with the ducks, but because she’s larger and a different species it’s not really clicking right and her frustration is channeling her bullying behavior.

 

[Pumperkinz]

Heyyy I do breed Sebbies (First year) .

They are very social and like any other goose, just more flighty then an embden etc. The more you add the more calm they get. IMO they are nicer, but a very anxious breed.

At four months I would expect trailing feathers to be going and a full curl at least on partial of the breast. If you have photos it does help. The way the curl gene works is you have two genes for curls, if one parent is smooth and the other is curl you'd have a 50/50 shot of having curly or a smooth breast. Sebastopols should have curly feathers on their backs/wings etc. There is a lot of people scamming unfortunately too with this breed as they are quite rare.

The other possibility of what is going on is the parents could be one smooth (embden etc.) and then a sebastopol w/ smooth breast and they some how got the double smooth versus the curl and it's a smooth bird. Embden geese also have blue eyes so it's very similar to the sebbies blue eye color and white 'standard' color. I've spent a lot of time researching the breed, but there is a lot of genetic variabilities with the feather genes.

These are mine at about 3 months. Both full curl. (Buff on the right, and Lavender on the left). These are non-standard colors, but they are both full sebbies.

I would also say most of the time geese will court ducks, and that is probably what is going on possibly. If you have other geese they are less likely to care about what the ducks do.

I spend a lot of time with mine sitting and talking to them. Hand feeding and socializing them to get them to be calmer then usual.

Hope this helps!