Is it a phase or natural aggression?

[PhantomSlayer]

These are our geese. Gus and Gizzy. Their almost 4 months old. And recently our toulouse Gus has been being aggressive to everyone but me.

He grew up pretty interactive. Eating from peoples hands and hes gentle about it. I've been working with Gizzy to get her to eat from my hand and I've accomplished it with apples and grass only.

We unfortunately had to lock them up more recently as there was some more paranoia about predators.

Whether its aggression from lack of foraging, boredom, to much energy or I wonder if its just natural aggression. Or could it be their age? My mom thinks its lack of food because of the cooler temps.

Today I walked them around the front side of our house hoping to help with getting rid of some energy for them but he suddenly lowered his head and walked over to our glass basement sliding door bumping the tip of his beak into it. Which is another reason I wonder if its his age like related to any hormones or what?

I'm hoping I remain an exception for it since I do their main feeding every morning and night. But I just wanted to get some opinions on if it could be from something we've done or do you think its just something natural. Is it possible he'll break out of it if we work on putting him in his place..


Also I can't help but admire how pretty Gizzy is. I wish Gizzy was more lovable but I guess it's a admire from a distance type of goose lol.

 

[Jenbirdee]

They are beautiful geese. Why would your Mom say "lack of food"
Are you feeding them a steady diet of some kind of waterfowl maintenance feed or All Flock pellets in addition to letting them forage?( I think you said you are)
have you made any changes recently? did you get any new animals or change the geese habitat in any way? (they hate change)
Are you in the southern hemisphere and its late winter there? If so its normal for ganders to get aggressive because late winter begins mating season.

 

[Goosebaby]

Fall is when geese begin sizing each other up and sorting who’s going to be with who for breeding season which usually happens some time in winter and lasts through spring, so probably hormones.


Geese see the world in three ways.
1 Those who are “theirs,” those who they’ve bonded with.
2 Those who they know but aren’t bonded with.
3 And strangers, who are scary.

Geese will bond with anyone who spends a lot of time with them, which can include anyone from other geese to other species like humans, and it seems that he has bonded with you more than the other humans in his life.
He will continue being protective of anyone he claims as ”his,” which includes Gizzy and you. He will actively ”protect” you and Gizzy from potential rivals wanting to steal the two of you away from him.
Those who he’s categorized as people he knows but doesn’t have a particularly close bond with, are usually going to be treated as potential rivals trying to steal away Gizzy and yourself.

Strangers are always spooky suspicious monsters capable of untold horrors in the mind of a bird so strangers rarely have to fear attack from geese unless they’re approaching a nest.

Rivals “anyone they know but who aren’t considered besties” are going to face problems in breeding season. The aggression will escalate. First year geese are still teenagers so their aggression is usually laughable compared to a 2 to 4 year old, at his age most of it is bluff so you probably don’t need to be too concerned about serious level attacks, but these are formative years and it’s important to establish some boundaries and strengthen bonds between him and whoever needs to coexist with him.

Bonding is easy, they just have to spend a lot of time with him, treats will help.

Teaching him the meaning of ”NO” is also important. If he charges someone that person has to say “NO” and then pick him up, carry him around for a minute, then set him back down. After a few times he’ll learn the meaning of “NO” and will make an attempt to control himself.
That’s how you rock a goose’s whole world and teach them who really holds the power but without reinforcing fear/hatred by by hurting them.
If the person then offers them a treat afterwords it also really enforces that “I’m still your friend, but I don’t tolerate any bs.”

Most importantly it isn’t Gus’s fault, he can’t control himself or his hormones, and it’s just something he has to go through every year. When he’s hormonal he’s quicker to anger and has little ability to think rationally and it makes it so he’ll have to be reminded daily not to charge.

You also need to recognize that half of Gus’s aggression is because of Gizzy, and that everyone also needs to work with Gizzy. Her personality may always be a bit skittish, but alot of it is also her age. Female geese hold a lot of power over how their gander’s behave, and if she acts like she needs rescuing or does the high pitched war cackle, no gander can resist that and Gus will rush to attack whoever she’s telling him is threatening her, so it’s important to work on helping her to feel more relaxed and not threatened by everyone, which is them spending time with her and offering treats also.

 

[PhantomSlayer]

They are beautiful geese. Why would your Mom say "lack of food"
Are you feeding them a steady diet of some kind of waterfowl maintenance feed or All Flock pellets in addition to letting them forage?( I think you said you are)
have you made any changes recently? did you get any new animals or change the geese habitat in any way? (they hate change)
Are you in the southern hemisphere and its late winter there? If so its normal for ganders to get aggressive because late winter begins mating season.

They are beautiful. We use all flock crumble because we have chickens. My mom did say shes gonna look to trying pellets in the future. We used to let them forage from morning till night but they were locked up for about 2 weeks with maybe 3 hours max of foraging every 2-3 days.. I've been feeding them the same amount all summer half cup per chicken and 1 cup per goose. Seperated into 2 seperate feedings.

Changes in enviroment yes. We added a roof to part of the run for shade and rain protection but they didnt seem to care or notice?

We havent even had winter yet lol We usually get snow late october and then whenever mother nature decides to stop dumping it on us lol



@Goosebaby That makes sooo much sense! Close to what I was thinking and even more info than I would have guessed! Thank you! While he hisses at my parents. He did latch onto my 9 year old sisters shirt. Maybe her size in his view he thinks he can take her on.

My dad has had very little to no interaction with them. He tosses them treats but he doesn't really try hand feeding or talking with them.

My mom does interact but she also tossed Gus away when he latched onto my sisters shirt so that could maybe be why hes started hissing at her to. I'll bring it what you said to them Thank you so much! I didnt look forward to having geese but now that we got them I kinda adore them. Even their chewing on my shoes and shoelaces lol. Never ending chewing party with them.

 

[PhantomSlayer]

Update: Hes still sassy lol And while I'm still not being at all hissed at I have been having to pick both of them up the past week . Not for the reason you would think. We lost another chicken. Somehow. Dunno if it was a fox or hawk but one of our Wyandottes are gone.

So we've been keeping them locked up but Gus is showing sassiness toward Roo our rooster so were working on getting them out of the same coop for winter. Potentially making another run for just the geese. But anyways.

Its quite funny how they react so differently when I have to pick them up to bring them out of the run so the chickens don't get out. Gizzy struggles and tries to flap like crazy and is dramatic and Gus will try to squirm a few times before giving up for the most part. But as soon as I put them down Gizzy runs away flapping and Gus as soon as he's down he makes a bit of distance before turns and honks really loudly at me like hes yelling which makes Gizzy start honking. Takes them a minute to calm down lol. They stay mad for about 10 minutes but if I start walking away theyll follow but keep a distance like their still angry XD Its cute.

I thought males were supposed to be dramatic but so far I think Gizzy is a drama queen more often than Gus.

Why do geese have to be so soft and snuggly feeling. I feel bad for having to pick them up because of how they act to bring them out but boy are they soft. Lol.