Need HElp With hissing Chinese gander

[Habibs Hens]

i brought 11 Meat Geese Ganders 5 Embdens 5 Talouse and 1 Chinese

i decided i wanted to keep the chinese as he is adorable and i can pair him to one of my 2 Embdens geese

only problem is out of teh 11 ganders i got the chinese is excessively hissing

the emdens only a little and talouse hardly at all

i wanted expert advice what to do to help him get used to me

the only unforyunate thing is all 11 ganders are already 1 year old and fully developed

 

[SparkyCrows]

I had a lot of devilish ideas and have even tried a couple of them to no avail. I have 2 chinese brown ganders. In the course of trying to get them to stop "doting" on ME, I got them a bunch of goslings to rear. Everything was peachy keen until the goslings hit adolescence. Now the ganders have each selected their chosen few and woe be to he (or she!) who walks too close. Hissing commences followed by lunges and lears. Quite intimidating!

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Some breeds are known to be more aggressive, some individual birds are more aggressive. Personally i wouldnt ever keep an over aggressive bird to breed for fear it would pass on the off spring.

 

[Oregon Blues]

It doesn't mean much when a gander hisses at you. What matters is if he lunges at you or comes after you. My ganders will hiss at me when the goose is on the nest, but when I look at them, they politely turn their heads away. They also hiss at people they don't know, but don't attack. I consider that to be acceptable behavior in a gander.

I'm not quite sure why you think that Chinese gander is so adorable if he is aggressive towards you.

How long have you had them? Do you still qualify as an unknown person to the geese?

 

[Habibs Hens]

i agree with celtic wouldnt want to pass on agressive genes and as oregan says its only hissing at me to warn me and then any more closer and he runs away scared so defo no lunging or attacking

i have picked him up by the body many times and left the neck loose and not once has he tried to bite me

you may be right i may still be unknown person to him as i only have had him and the other 10 since 14th July

where as my breeding emden trio i have had since 14th may and i got them at 3 weeks old



will see how it goes and make a descision in a few weeks

 

[Oregon Blues]

If you are picking him up, you are scaring him. Geese don't like to be picked up. You haven't had them long, so you are still a stranger and you are frightening him. That's why he is hissing at you. He wants you to stay back and not touch him.

 

[SparkyCrows]

After the last post I was thinking maybe I should be handling them more but now I think I'll just let them look pretty.

 

[Habibs Hens]

If you are picking him up, you are scaring him. Geese don't like to be picked up. You haven't had them long, so you are still a stranger and you are frightening him. That's why he is hissing at you. He wants you to stay back and not touch him.

i only ever handle them if i have to, most times they are left to their own devices, the hissing comes even when your standing 5 metres away, and thats why its concerns me as its only the chinese that does it

 

[FarsideFarm]

Hissing is such normal behavior for a goose, especially a gander, and I've heard, (maybe Chinese geese in particular), that I might almost be more concerned if they didn't hiss when:

- I invade their space
- I get too close to their nest, eggs, goslings (theirs or adopted), their flock, etc
- they feel threatened

I agree with OregonBlues - it doesn't mean much if a gander hisses at you.One that comes at you from a distance, not just hissing, but lunging and pecking and maybe beating you with his winds - THAT I would consider an 'overly aggressive' bird
- AFTER
- checking everything that I could be doing wrong, (invading their space, startling them, even sending less than confident body language
- the history of that bird,
- and attempted to correct anything that might be out of balance in the diet.

Silverfox - you might want to visit other in your area who keep Chinese geese separate, (if they also have Toulouse, Embden, or whatever) and see if their temperament is right for you. Your Chinese may have assumed the role of 'top bird' and feel that it is his job to protect the rest of the flock.
Chinese may just be too protective, or vocal (a hiss is not a honk, but it is a vocalization), and may want more 'personal space' than the ideal breed for you.

Keeping geese is no fun if its frightening. Personally, I prefer geese that are protective of themselves; we have many more predators than in the UK! And, we enjoy our geese but don't really expect them to be pets, per se. Everybody is different. Best of luck in figuring out what works for you!

 

[MonicaMP]

Thank you all for sharing this. I just bought a Chinese Male to go with my female geese. He is still in the pen only because we just bought him on Sunday. We are planning on letting him out and see how he does. I have a 5 yr. old grandson and I don't want them attaching him like my husband's RIR rooster does. For some reason the rooster only goes after him and not us. I taught him to carry a long limb around just in case. He's braver now. LOL. We will probably let the goose out Friday morning when we are both home. I'm glad I found this information to read. I love geese and would like to try and raise some. Our ducks are missing one by one and so we might have to put them in pens. Two Roosters were attached and killed also. The geese seem to be able to take care of themselves. We have Canadian geese here; wonder if they will be a problem. Thanks everyone and have a good week. Picking up some Guineas tomorrow to raise.