I really don't want my geese to hate me

[Carrosaur]

My duck, Toaster, was raised from a few days old by me, and he is very comfortable with me walking around his pin and if I sit down he'll come look for food under my legs and around me, but he HATES being touched or picked up. I really do not want the geese to be this way either... Any suggestions? The geese are four days old today and I sit with them and handle them frequently and they sleep in my lap... But I did this with Toaster too.

Thanks!

 

[Starfire669]

My duck, Toaster, was raised from a few days old by me, and he is very comfortable with me walking around his pin and if I sit down he'll come look for food under my legs and around me, but he HATES being touched or picked up. I really do not want the geese to be this way either... Any suggestions? The geese are four days old today and I sit with them and handle them frequently and they sleep in my lap... But I did this with Toaster too.

Thanks!

What type of geese do you have? The different breeds have different temperaments.
I raised Chinese and Africans. The Chinese used to climb in my lap for cuddle sessions, they don't anymore. They will, on occasion allow me to pet them, but NOT to pick them up. However they never give me any aggressions signs, and they threaten any stranger that comes into the yard, so there is still some type of trust between us. The oldest Chinese geese are 16 weeks old. The Africans were never as snuggly with me as the Chinese, but they are a lot less aggressive to begin with. I think a lot of it is breed, the rest is how they are raised. The Africans are younger than my Chinese and once they joined the flock they bonded tightly to the older Chinese. I didn't get the same length of time to snuggle them because of that. I actually have 4 different age groups of geese.

 

[Carrosaur]

They are all production type Toulouse geese.

 

[livininbrazil]

My duck, Toaster, was raised from a few days old by me, and he is very comfortable with me walking around his pin and if I sit down he'll come look for food under my legs and around me, but he HATES being touched or picked up. I really do not want the geese to be this way either... Any suggestions? The geese are four days old today and I sit with them and handle them frequently and they sleep in my lap... But I did this with Toaster too.

Thanks!

Hi Carrosaur. Some folks have house geese and handle them a lot. But..
if you watch geese, goslings always want to snuggle. That´s natural. Adults don´t snuggle, they sit separate from each other. they like being together, but not touching. It´s their nature. They´re usually the same with us. come up close, but not too much of the touching stuff as they get older.
I can scratch my geese´ heads, touch their backs a bit, but not a lot, as they´re prey, and prey birds have a natural thing in them to not like to be trapped or chased or have you hold them too much. It can panic them. makes sense. If I sit there with a pot of corn, they all come up to me and nibble on my clothes, and I can scratch their heads while they eat, etc, but if I get one to clip a wing to sell it, then they get far more wary of me. Then it takes a day for them to get confidence in me again. If I have a lettuce in my hand, they´ll follow me anywhere! My geese don´t hate me, they´re just geese.

 

[Carrosaur]

That helps a lot! I'm so used to a big dog always in my lap... Used to it!!

 

[livininbrazil]

That helps a lot! I'm so used to a big dog always in my lap... Used to it!!

One of my dogs tries to get in my lap when I´m working outside pulling up weeds, or fixing a fence, etc..., or when I´m calling my geese over to me! Always has to be there in my face!

 

[Carrosaur]

Exactly!!!

 

[The goose girl]

Agree with livininbrazil. Adult geese don't pet each other much, so they have no instinct for enjoying it.

I also wanted a lap goose. But as she grew older, I found out I had to practice "lap training" several times a day every day. I'm just not that keen on having her on my lap and I was too lazy to keep it up. Now I just practice a bit with her once in a while, so she doesn't totally forget. It's handy if she has to go to the vet. And she does seem to enjoy it if she's sleepy and needs a nap.

 

[Starfire669]

Agree with livininbrazil. Adult geese don't pet each other much, so they have no instinct for enjoying it.

I also wanted a lap goose. But as she grew older, I found out I had to practice "lap training" several times a day every day. I'm just not that keen on having her on my lap and I was too lazy to keep it up. Now I just practice a bit with her once in a while, so she doesn't totally forget. It's handy if she has to go to the vet. And she does seem to enjoy it if she's sleepy and needs a nap.

I agree, when my geese were still fuzzy they did crawl into my lap for snuggling and comfort. Now that they are feathered they will walk up to me for some chest scratches every once in a while. They do not want to be held, or have the tops of the head/necks touched, which my ducks and chickens don't really like much either. Must be a prey species thing, keep the head free to look for threats. Whenever I weed my garden, they all line up waiting for me to throw the weeds. Sometimes I will offer a bit by hand, they check it out from every angle before accepting from my hand though. They dig right in if I throw the weeds into a pile on the ground, so this is what i do most of the time. My babies have never offered me aggression, but I have had to grab my gander, Snow's head and force his body down when he threatened my son. It didn't hurt him, and Snow still comes up to me for the occasional scratch. I read a really great post on another thread about geese and how they fight and posture for dominance. In a nutshell, there is the threat, the chest bump, the actual fight, winner then pins the loser to the ground to show dominance, then the winner does a victors dance, and loser runs away. Dominance fights always follow this pattern and I tried to emulate the part where winner pins loser. I don't use a lot of force, geese legs are not strong, and in fact are the weakest part of a goose's body. Once the body is down I hold him there, 1 hand on his neck right behind his head and 1 hand on his back, for 2 minutes or so. I will try and find that post about gander dominance, it was so detailed it could really help a lot of people.

I also do regular checks of all my geese, and ducks feet pads. I have a gravel driveway that has caused small abrasions from them zooming through it, so everyone gets picked up and their feet looked at, weekly minimum. If I notice something, I check it right then and there. Their feet inspections generally take 1 minute to check both feet. Also, since we are under flood warnings right now, and my duck/goose coop is on the ground, open air style, my waterfowl got carried to the chicken coop last night. I had to pick them up and take them out this morning as the chicken coop is a repurposed storage building with 3 steps. They really don't like it, but I have noticed they tolerate being carried a little longer than they used to. Maybe, since i check them for injury regularly, they have gotten used to the idea. It probably helps that I NEVER hold the geese in my arms longer than needed, its usually about 2-5 minutes tops if I have to clean a scratch and apply Blu-kote. So far I have not had a major injury to my geese.

Sorry for the long post.

 

[Carrosaur]

Thank you! I actually read that goose fighting post before I got my three geese! I loved it, I'm prepared for when the one gander gets a little fiesty. Yesterday all the goslings climbed into my lap and slept for a good hour! Gonna miss that I guess.