Hypothetical question: How bad could it be during mating season?

[sk990]

I have 4 embden goslings, they're about 3 months old. Obviously I don't know their sexes yet. After reading all your postings, it got me really worried. What if I have more boys than girls. How bad could it be during mating seasons? I don't want to give up any of them, and I don't think we can get any more geese. Our backyard is already too small for the 4 we have now... what should I do? can you "neuter / spay" geese? medication? any suggestions?

 

[Olive Hill]

Bad. Very, very bad.

If you end up with more males than females it will definitely be in their best interest to either eat or re-home the excess males. And keep that in mind for future goose purchases. If you don't have it "in you" to cull, make purchases very carefully, buy sexed goslings for the best chances of appropriate ratios.

 

[sourland]

Think day long fight to exhaustion battles unless you have unlimited space and access to a large body of water so that they can stay out of one another's way. The kind and sensible thing would be to rehome excess ganders.

 

[sk990]

now i am really really scared; almost feel like crying; the feedstore where I got them from didn't know how to sex them, and I honestly didn't think it could be any problem other than I might not be getting any eggs... eating any of them would be completely out of question, rehome would be heart-broken as well. They have been with us ever since they're 2 days old.

how long is the mating season. what if i separate them during that time?

hopefully I don't have to face that situation.

 

[sourland]

Stop worrying and enjoy your geese. Yes, you can seperate the excess ganders (if indeed you have any) away from the pair. Odds say you have 2 & 2. Reality may defy the odds, and then you will have to adjust your plans. For now just enjoy your geese.

 

[sk990]

Sourland, Thank you! Maybe I do worry too much

 

[Kim65]

Your four goslings will be a flock, and a flock is made up of both sexes. The ganders may fight but they won't kill each other. They are just establishing a natural hierarchy of who's on top.

When the time comes, and there are problems, you might have to separate them into pairs. Mating season is about four months of the year, starting in about February. Your geese will be fine

Just enjoy them and deal with the problems when they come

 

[sillysister74]

The good thing is that your pens do not have to be very high. I have made makeshift fences out of the cheap 2 foot green wire fencing and they stay in pretty well. Look for it in the garden section at Walmart and dollar stores especially when they have clearance sales. Babies will walk through the holes but big ones stay in or out of where you want them to. We use it to separate areas of the garden that we don't want them in or to block the area where the dogs area is.

 

[sk990]

Thank you all for the support. I do feel better now... I sincerely hope they'd always be as happy as they're now... they're busy digging mud holes in the yard now.