My geese are like dogs...

[texascowboy1979]

I let my geese out every morning to graze while i do my 3 hour chores... any hooo, when Im ready to put them back in there pen I "Whistle" at them like I whistle at my dogs and they come waddling and try to fly. Its funny, they fly like 2 feet of the ground. LOL

Anyone else experiance this?

 

[feathersandfluff]

My sebastopols line up each morning for my husband to pet each one on its head. He says if he misses

petting one it gets its feeling hurt


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[Goat_Walker]

ME TOO!!! My geese ( as well as ducks ) are trained to come to a whistle

 

[desertdarlene]

There's these two geese at the lake, today, that I whistled and they immediately call back and come to me. I gave them some bird seed. Also, some ducks in the area like to come with a whistle or follow me around.

 

[sianara]

I don't have geese yet but am hoping to this spring...

However, my ducks and chickens all respond to my voice when they hear me. I only have two males (1 mille fleur d'uccle and 1 Australian spotted duck) on my property so I usually go out in the morning with a big "Hello Ma'ams!" and they ALL start squawking, quacking loudly. Cracks me up every time!

BTW, they also respond to the basement bulk head door opening

 

[sianara]

I have to add: The other day I was running late for work so I quickly went out to let the ducks out into the yard before leaving. So, I open their run door say "Hi Ma'ams!" and then start running to my car (remember I'm "almost" late for work?) and I hear quacking loudly and look back to see all six big ducks are running after me quacking their heads off!

It was so funny... I am sooo looking forward to adding a few geese to their flock!!!

 

[shelleyd2008]

I have not seen my geese since the snow melted. Sure, I see them, but they spend most of their time foraging in the pasture.

Though I did have one that would come running every time he heard my son's wagon moving

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
Experience what? geese that come when called yes, geese that fly 2 feet off the ground? at first my geese learned to fly close to the ground by racing my truck to the house when I came home, first a foot race and then up on their toe tips flapping their wings and they would be flying with their legs going like they were running, funny to watch! and then one got carried away because he was beating me and didn't realize that he was beating me because I was braking for the house and he WASN'T! SPLAT head first right into the garage door. That was the end of the driveway races, When I drove slowly they could all beat me and that took the fun out of it. About two weeks later they started the morning around the house race. When I would open the gate in the morning to free range them it was like the starting gate for the goose derby, once around the house (flying low) abd back to me who would hand out treats to the winner. One poor goose was always last, she was slow but smart. When she was well in the rear of the race she would cheat and fly over the 2 1/2 story farm house and would be landing just about the time they made the far turn around the house and could see the finish line ME. I would give her treat I figured smart was as good as fast. Slowly the other slow geese learned the trick of going over the house instead of around it and they were all flying as high as they dared. Most of the females lost their wing strength because of being grounded for 30 days to brood nests and tend goslings and flying went out of fashion until the goslings were big enough to be taught how to fly. ~gd

 

[Shiloh Acres]

Great story, gd. I hadn't realized they could fly THAT high.

Mine usually get maybe a couple feet of the ground during the morning exercise runs. Most of my fences are 4-6 feet. I did have one end up on the other side of a 5 foot fence a couple times and not know how to get back. And yesterday I checked on them during their evening trip into the chicken yard (chickens and geese switch yards for the last hour of the day or so) and saw one of them on top of a 4 foot stack of pallets and very excited to be there!

When I used to run a huge flock of chickens along with small flocks of ducks and geese at my other home, I had them all trained to come when I called. I didn't mean to, but when I got the ducks I'd call them "Duck-duck-duck-duck!" so they learned to come when called. Later I got a bunch of chicks and would call "Chick-chick-chick" to give them treats, so they learned. Same when I got geese. I only took the goslings outside with me, since I didn't want to lose them to anything, a d I'd call "Goose-goose" as I took them to a new place, since they would seriously panic if they looked up and realized I'd walked more than 7 feet away.

All that lasted into their adulthood. I'd feed each group separately, calling the ducks first (they were piggiest), then the chickens, moving away with a few veggies for the geese, and finally hiding the food for the silkies (the last addition) on the other side of a row of bushes, since they were so passive they'd never eat if I didn't hide them while all the others were occupied.

My current flock knows what they are all called too, and respond fairly well. Except the guineas. They seem -- I think -- to know when I am calling them, but they won't come to "Guinea, guinea!". They sometimes come if I clap my hands. My current geese know they are "Goose goose!" but tend to come in their own sweet time, just to let me know I am NOT the boss of them anymore.