Goslings chewing Ducklings tail feathers...?

[Bleenie]

My 3 new Goslings keep chewing on the Ducklings tail feathers. is it just because they're weird looking or are they lacking something in their diet? I started pulling some grass and giving it to them to maybe make them stop but they still do it a little. I am just worried about them damaging the new feathers that the ducklings are growing in.

 

[DuckLady]

They do that because they are curious or bored or just because geese like to chew and the ducks are handy.

If you can separate them for a while that would be best. They will outgrow the behavior.

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
And if you insist on neat ducks, first cure the tail chewing goslings, Then you can pull the damaged feathers and new ones will replace them. Yes it hurts the duck and they will usually will have a molt coming up in the near future. Don't pull a feather right before a show, a good judge will notice and DQ the bird where a bad feather is just a minor point deduction.

 

[Cottage Rose]

I think its mainly boredom.
All tail sucking ends when my goslings are on pasture.
If you can't separate them try offering pieces of sod with grass in it
or other things to chew on. Apples, twigs, whatever.

 

[DuckLady]

Quote:
Fingers, ears, shoelaces, noses.

 

[Bleenie]

lol, i put a big chunk of watermelon in there last night and the goslings were very interested in it..i think the previous honeydew was too firm still. the watermelon was down to rind when i went out this morning so they must have had fun with it!

 

[Kim65]

In my experience my geese are much more oral than my ducks. They MUST chew. I've seen goose toys made of out super heavy duty rubber bands, and they will chew and pull on them and it is quite hilarious to watch their heads zinging back and forth. Any other creature would be on their face with the world spinning but not geese.

My goslings chewed on my hair. As adults, they still do. It is like a binkie to them. They walk up to me and reach their bills up and make baby noises. I bend over and let them have at it. If I sit on the ground they come up and give me a new hairdo, complete with goose spit which dries into a medium kind of stiffness.

As they age, geese chew a little bit less. I doubt your ducklings will tolerate a fifteen pound goose chewing their tailfeathers for long. This is self limiting for a variety of reasons

Geese will chew the cable wires around your house, the wiring under your riding lawnmower. Mine chewed through my satellite radio antenna cord. They can be destructive with their chewing, unlike ducks, so providing them with safe "toys" or the like is a way to keep them focused elsewhere.

I put a large head of cabbage in the back yard over a month ago. It is now the size of a golf ball. It is cool and damp here so it has not rotted. It has provided endless hours (and some nutrition) of chewing fun.

 

[noahsgeese]

If they are pecking on it then you might want to put vasaline on it and that will make the goose not want to peck it!

 

[marathonmultiplesmom]

All mine chew, too. They chew on my hair also... my geese also chew on Kim's hair

My goslings also chew on the momma goose's feathers. They just like to chew.
If they have some grass, that would give them something better to chew on.

 

[Goosehaven]

I had one gosling who was obsessed with chewing on her siblings tails. When their blood feathers started coming in she was obsessed with that too and I finally had to seperate her in a brooder next to the others because she was causing bleeding. When they were all out together in a bigger enclosed pen during the day she didn't touch them but the minute she wen't back in the brooder at night because the weather was still too cold she'd start right up again immediately. I think its a boredom/small space issue and as people say they just really like to chew.