Irish hen lady
In the Brooder
Hi everybody,
I'm hoping someone can help! We are newbies at keeping geese, we're more used to hens and turkeys!
Having always wanted some geese, and with a newly reseeded paddock at the ready, we acquired 4 Embden x Roman geese a few weeks ago, all around 3-4 months old. Lovely, friendly birds and great characters! All as tight as thieves with one another.
Soon after, we bought a 2 yr old Embden gander and his yearling son, our rationale being that if they were imprinted on one another, we wouldn't have as much trouble with aggression between them as we might with two ganders who were strangers to one another. Maybe there's no merit to this, but it made sense at the time!
Alas, we realised pretty quickly that the "son" is actually a "daughter", which means we've one gander who has made great inroads with bonding with the original 4 ladies, but his daughter is on the periphery all of the time... The original 4 geese did a bit of chasing of her at first, but no more serious aggression than that. However, she's a shy sort, and it seems she is now afraid to come too close to what is now a flock of 5. She just tags along but keeps her distance, calling sadly (well... It sounds sad to me) every so often.
I feel so sorry for her! It's like she wants to be part of the group, but she can't bring herself to do it.
They've all only been together for a fortnight... Maybe it'll happen for her... But has anyone got any suggestions?
We had ideally wanted 2 ganders... Would getting a gander gosling "for her" be an option, with a view to a youngster being more easily accepted by the loner's poppa?!
Any suggestions gratefully received... I'm feeling so guilty about her :-(
I'm hoping someone can help! We are newbies at keeping geese, we're more used to hens and turkeys!
Having always wanted some geese, and with a newly reseeded paddock at the ready, we acquired 4 Embden x Roman geese a few weeks ago, all around 3-4 months old. Lovely, friendly birds and great characters! All as tight as thieves with one another.
Soon after, we bought a 2 yr old Embden gander and his yearling son, our rationale being that if they were imprinted on one another, we wouldn't have as much trouble with aggression between them as we might with two ganders who were strangers to one another. Maybe there's no merit to this, but it made sense at the time!
Alas, we realised pretty quickly that the "son" is actually a "daughter", which means we've one gander who has made great inroads with bonding with the original 4 ladies, but his daughter is on the periphery all of the time... The original 4 geese did a bit of chasing of her at first, but no more serious aggression than that. However, she's a shy sort, and it seems she is now afraid to come too close to what is now a flock of 5. She just tags along but keeps her distance, calling sadly (well... It sounds sad to me) every so often.
I feel so sorry for her! It's like she wants to be part of the group, but she can't bring herself to do it.
They've all only been together for a fortnight... Maybe it'll happen for her... But has anyone got any suggestions?
We had ideally wanted 2 ganders... Would getting a gander gosling "for her" be an option, with a view to a youngster being more easily accepted by the loner's poppa?!
Any suggestions gratefully received... I'm feeling so guilty about her :-(
