- May 23, 2015
- 26
- 44
- 99
Hi there,
Sorry for the long post - I need to put some background detail before I explain the problem.
We've recently acquired an 18 year old Embden gander (although he weighs 7.3KG and I gather they're supposed to be heavier - he looks like one and is significantly larger than the other geese that live here.) He showed no behavioral problems in the first few days and came with a male Aylesbury cross that had lived together for several years. They were quite a sweet little 'n' large friendship although on day 2 the Aylesbury cross buddied up with our female white campbell and so has left the Embden (I'll refer to him as Biggles from now on - I kept saying big goose to him and that sounded similar) to do his own thing. We have several different breeds of geese and ducks here although all the resident geese are male (Greylag and Canada) and whilst half his size - they can chase him and he'll run immediately with apparent fear of them. Geese chasing aside, he sits around the place, eats grass occasionally and enjoys coming in to snack on mixed grains rather than use the feeders around the ponds. He'll have a good swim, enjoy the safe surroundings but doesn't socialize. I have a few years experience of living amongst fowl but the wild and resident geese do a lot more walking about and nibbling. Perhaps it's his senior years that makes him not wish to wander to far from his chosen seating areas.
Background done - I work from home and whenever I walk past him I tend to say hello, rub his chest and ask if he's ok and all that. He appears on occasion to do what I assume is a courtship ritual of lowering his head to the ground and rubbing the side of his head on the ground before lifting and repeating but on the other side. He sometimes if I crouch down tries to climb onto my legs which I stop and have considered this as an amorous act which I of course don't want to confuse him - or have goose feet on my jeans. I've not experienced this with the other geese here, two of our greylags are like little dogs and are incredibly tame but without peculiar behavior.
Again, he was fine on the first few days of being here but nowadays he wants to attack my girlfriend and with malice in his eyes. He bites and whacks her with much aggression. We've dressed her up with thick clothes, boots and gloves and made sure she commands the position and pushes Biggles away whilst looking tall and large but to no avail. She can wear my boots and Biggles will bite away at them and get quite angry whilst doing so. She can take them off, I put them on - he's fine and calm. Oh - and earlier I pulled the blue wheelie bin back to the house and Biggles went crazy - wings out beating back and forth on the plastic yet was fine when I put the bin down and walked away from it.
What should we do to calm this bonkers goose please? We have set the environment up here as a wildlife sanctuary with the aside benefit of domestic duck/muscovy eggs as opposed to being a proper farm so the oven is not an option. The dynamic with all the breeds is mostly harmonious but we weren't expecting the problem to be between bird and human.
Thanks for reading - and for any help you can offer.
Graham
Sorry for the long post - I need to put some background detail before I explain the problem.
We've recently acquired an 18 year old Embden gander (although he weighs 7.3KG and I gather they're supposed to be heavier - he looks like one and is significantly larger than the other geese that live here.) He showed no behavioral problems in the first few days and came with a male Aylesbury cross that had lived together for several years. They were quite a sweet little 'n' large friendship although on day 2 the Aylesbury cross buddied up with our female white campbell and so has left the Embden (I'll refer to him as Biggles from now on - I kept saying big goose to him and that sounded similar) to do his own thing. We have several different breeds of geese and ducks here although all the resident geese are male (Greylag and Canada) and whilst half his size - they can chase him and he'll run immediately with apparent fear of them. Geese chasing aside, he sits around the place, eats grass occasionally and enjoys coming in to snack on mixed grains rather than use the feeders around the ponds. He'll have a good swim, enjoy the safe surroundings but doesn't socialize. I have a few years experience of living amongst fowl but the wild and resident geese do a lot more walking about and nibbling. Perhaps it's his senior years that makes him not wish to wander to far from his chosen seating areas.
Background done - I work from home and whenever I walk past him I tend to say hello, rub his chest and ask if he's ok and all that. He appears on occasion to do what I assume is a courtship ritual of lowering his head to the ground and rubbing the side of his head on the ground before lifting and repeating but on the other side. He sometimes if I crouch down tries to climb onto my legs which I stop and have considered this as an amorous act which I of course don't want to confuse him - or have goose feet on my jeans. I've not experienced this with the other geese here, two of our greylags are like little dogs and are incredibly tame but without peculiar behavior.
Again, he was fine on the first few days of being here but nowadays he wants to attack my girlfriend and with malice in his eyes. He bites and whacks her with much aggression. We've dressed her up with thick clothes, boots and gloves and made sure she commands the position and pushes Biggles away whilst looking tall and large but to no avail. She can wear my boots and Biggles will bite away at them and get quite angry whilst doing so. She can take them off, I put them on - he's fine and calm. Oh - and earlier I pulled the blue wheelie bin back to the house and Biggles went crazy - wings out beating back and forth on the plastic yet was fine when I put the bin down and walked away from it.
What should we do to calm this bonkers goose please? We have set the environment up here as a wildlife sanctuary with the aside benefit of domestic duck/muscovy eggs as opposed to being a proper farm so the oven is not an option. The dynamic with all the breeds is mostly harmonious but we weren't expecting the problem to be between bird and human.
Thanks for reading - and for any help you can offer.
Graham
Oh, your poor girlfriend. And your poor pant leg! 
