Help, please! Gander won't let goose & new gosling off nest.

[NEgoosegirl]

Hi Everyone,

If anyone has seen this behavior before and/or has any suggestions, I'd be so appreciative!

THE SITUATION:
I have a pair of nearly-4-year old Sebastopol geese. This year, my goose finally hatched a few goslings. Long story short, there were only two healthy ones -- female I think. I found one of them dead randomly yesterday afternoon on the other side of the goose shed from the nest. It is my suspicion that the gander killed it -- somewhat accidentally. In a panic, I took the other one for the whole afternoon/evening, and returned it to the goose after dark. Today, the gander keeps picking on the gosling (establishing pecking order?). Every time she strays from the goose's side, he nips her, she squeals, and the goose & gosling run back to the nest. And he plays sheep-dog and keeps the little one on the nest.

THE PROBLEM:
I'm VERY concerned that the goose and gosling are not getting enough to eat. If he keeps them prisoner, won't they starve/get dehydrated?

MY QUESTIONS:
What should I do??? Could my presence in the shed, trying to help the little one get food be making him act this way? I watched through the window, where I thought they were paying me little attention, and he did the same thing. Is there anything I can do to convince him that his gosling is not an intruder?

POSSIBLE SOLUTION:
I'm thinking the only option that MAY even possibly result in all of them living is that I create a solid partition in the shed that will separate goose and gosling from the gander. My only concern is that the gander will practically kill himself trying to get to his mate. Any thoughts on this? Would it be better or worse to put a "window" in the partition?

THANK YOU for any help you can give!!

 

[sourland]

I would separate them before he inadvertently kills the second gosling. When the gosling is older and more mobile gradually integrate them back together.

 

[NEgoosegirl]

Thank you all again for your help! I thought I would leave an update. My dad set up his game camera for me in the goose shed, and so we caught my gander on video chasing and biting the gosling and keeping the goose and baby basically stuck on the nest. So, we built a plywood partition across the middle of the shed, and everybody seems to be doing very well now! The gander doesn't seem to mind too much being "off duty," and the goose and gosling can hop off the nest to eat as much as they want. I'm very thankful that it worked out so well!

 

[NEgoosegirl]

Hello all!

The gosling is a month old, and doing very well. I'm thinking it will be time to start reintegrating the family soon. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how old the gosling should be before I try that? Any tips on the best way to reintegrate? Right now, they are having almost-daily "porch time" where the gander is in the yard, and the goose and gosling are on a screened-off porch area of their shed. He can see them and get right up to the wire (which he does often). I'm unsure of his attitude toward the gosling. Sometimes he seems protective, other times he acts like he'd love to chase her away. I can't believe how quickly she's grown! (Even though I raised her parents and they grew just as quickly!) She weighed 3 lbs. when I weighed her five days ago, and she's starting to turn white instead of yellow and grey.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Here "she" is at about a day old and then two and a half weeks.

 

[NEgoosegirl]

Thanks. They are fun.

That is just the article I needed to read! Thank you so much @Miss Lydia! I'll see what I can do to help her in the way of diet, but I guess I can stop "torturing" her with the wing wrapping business. (Yay!) And I'm glad to understand the difference between TWT and Angel Wing -- I was confused by what I'd read, and her wing tip apparently twisting the "wrong way" for angel wing.

 

[NEgoosegirl]

Thanks, @Miss Lydia. Yes, hopefully it won't get too much worse.

 

[mew317]

A very nice little goose! We raised a goose named Stumpy from when he was 4 days in the incubator. A year after he had goslings with a female goose(Two of them, exactly.) which one died and momma had no other fertilized eggs so far. Then we named it Stumpy jr..Yyeeaahh, he was raised with ducklings and then went outside and got killed. R.I.P Stumpy’s little angel baby.

 

[NEgoosegirl]

I'm glad you still have one, @mew317! Ducklings must be fun!

 

[NEgoosegirl]

This is another very late update. Here's a couple pics of Elena in October. One shows her twisted wing tips very clearly. The defect only shows badly when her flight feathers are full-grown.

Now I'm waiting for her first egg...!

 

[NEgoosegirl]

Thanks.