New to breeding season with drakes and ganders ...help!

[flock of many]

I have a gander??? that tore up a drake overnight. Both are removed from the flock of 10 ducks, 3 geese.. The drake is missing alot of feathers on his back. I put Green Goo on him, he is in a stall in the barn right now hiding under a pile of hay. The gander is in my garden shed until I figure out what to do with him. Everyone has gotten along until lately. All I raised last summer from babies. 10 ducks, 3 are drakes. Geese 1 for sure gander, 1 possible gander, 1 goose. They have a huge enclosure. Plenty of room. 8x15 nice enclosed shed overnight. Should I separate all ducks from geese?

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have a gander??? that tore up a drake overnight. Both are removed from the flock of 10 ducks, 3 geese.. The drake is missing alot of feathers on his back. I put Green Goo on him, he is in a stall in the barn right now hiding under a pile of hay. The gander is in my garden shed until I figure out what to do with him. Everyone has gotten along until lately. All I raised last summer from babies. 10 ducks, 3 are drakes. Geese 1 for sure gander, 1 possible gander, 1 goose. They have a huge enclosure. Plenty of room. 8x15 nice enclosed shed overnight. Should I separate all ducks from geese?

Yes do, My geese and ducks have lived together since 2007 and up and during breeding season my gander will go after my drake for no known reason, It's best to keep them separate till breeding is over. And keep and eye on your other gander if it turns out you have 2 because the most dominant will go after the other one too.

 

[flock of many]

Thank you for the reply. I just moved a few dog kennel panels to make an outdoor space for the ganders with the garden shed for night time lock up. I left the goose with the ducks.. all can see each other. Of course gander number one is not a happy camper. Will it help that they are without a female? On to figuring out where to put the drake.. I will need the stall for my mares later this evening. Should he be confined to a small pen alone? Within the duck shelter? A dog crate until he heals? I tried using an exercise pen yesterday and he flew out. I hate to keep upsetting him.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thank you for the reply. I just moved a few dog kennel panels to make an outdoor space for the ganders with the garden shed for night time lock up. I left the goose with the ducks.. all can see each other. Of course gander number one is not a happy camper. Will it help that they are without a female? On to figuring out where to put the drake.. I will need the stall for my mares later this evening. Should he be confined to a small pen alone? Within the duck shelter? A dog crate until he heals? I tried using an exercise pen yesterday and he flew out. I hate to keep upsetting him.

I'd keep him separated from the rest till he is up on his feet good. and his wounds aren't as noticeable. A small pen with inside the duck area would be good. or dog crate I have done both. They can just pick on one of their own if they are down and out so best not let it happen.

As for the ganders well keep an eye on #1 he may just decide to beat up on less dominant. even though the female isn't in with them. They can be unpredictable if need be you maybe able to put gander and goose together and leave less dominant gander in with the ducks. You'll probably have to try different things till you get it right. Might not work to have a gander in with ducks either if you have other drakes because someone will most likely want to start something.

 

[flock of many]

Thank you so much for the help. I had trouble with the drakes fighting a couple of weeks ago.. removing the offender briefly helped and they worked things out. I should have seen this coming. Gander #1 has been a hissy thing for quite awhile.. his name is Gabe, aka as Mr Hissy Pants. I will keep an eye on all and do as you suggested. I also have 59 chickens.. 25 are roos. I have done my share of moving them around to find a harmony. I didnt realize waterfowl were such pains this time of year. Lots to learn here. Thanks again for the help.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thank you so much for the help. I had trouble with the drakes fighting a couple of weeks ago.. removing the offender briefly helped and they worked things out. I should have seen this coming. Gander #1 has been a hissy thing for quite awhile.. his name is Gabe, aka as Mr Hissy Pants. I will keep an eye on all and do as you suggested. I also have 59 chickens.. 25 are roos. I have done my share of moving them around to find a harmony. I didnt realize waterfowl were such pains this time of year. Lots to learn here. Thanks again for the help.

Geese oh my My female is lovely, but my gander oh boy. He is just looking for a fight with me mostly now that the drake has learned to stay out of his way and I could never let them sleep in same house my geese have their own. Yep come end of May unless you let your goose brood and hatch the geese will be back to normal [ and I use that term loosely lol]

I'd say you've done your fair share of moving around lol 25 roos wow!

 

[flock of many]

Ahhh the Roos..they have truly caused me to question my sanity. Haha. Most are bantams, 3 are standard. Some are so sweet, some are just plain naughty. I have learned to deal with all of them.. seems like once you get past the teenage stage it gets easier. A few I have to keep my eye on.. they will nail me when I need to use a drill or impact driver in their vincity. I have most together as a bachelor flock. If I notice a roo getting picked on too much he gets moved. I didn't realize the waterfowl would be nearly as bad.. they seem so happy most of the time. All of my waterfowl have shared night time quarters since late summer. I think I will be building a new pen for the geese. I can't get past the ganders doing so much damage to this drake. They flogged him a time or two yesterday as well. They are just too big to be picking on my ducks. The other pen I set up gives the ducks room to fly and is netted on top for hawk protection. I have already unloaded the garden shed (what a chore).. so now I need to figure out how I want to fashion an outdoor area for the geese. How tall do the fences actually need to be? My son helped me build the other.. am sure he isn't going to help me this time. I didn't plan on raising babies with them.. they are siblings and that seems wrong to me. I was hoping to add a Sebastopol or Toulouse.. would love more runners and a crested in the duck pen. I think my ducks will be happier minus those bossy ganders too. Thank you for the reply.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Ahhh the Roos..they have truly caused me to question my sanity. Haha. Most are bantams, 3 are standard. Some are so sweet, some are just plain naughty. I have learned to deal with all of them.. seems like once you get past the teenage stage it gets easier. A few I have to keep my eye on.. they will nail me when I need to use a drill or impact driver in their vincity. I have most together as a bachelor flock. If I notice a roo getting picked on too much he gets moved. I didn't realize the waterfowl would be nearly as bad.. they seem so happy most of the time. All of my waterfowl have shared night time quarters since late summer. I think I will be building a new pen for the geese. I can't get past the ganders doing so much damage to this drake. They flogged him a time or two yesterday as well. They are just too big to be picking on my ducks. The other pen I set up gives the ducks room to fly and is netted on top for hawk protection. I have already unloaded the garden shed (what a chore).. so now I need to figure out how I want to fashion an outdoor area for the geese. How tall do the fences actually need to be? My son helped me build the other.. am sure he isn't going to help me this time. I didn't plan on raising babies with them.. they are siblings and that seems wrong to me. I was hoping to add a Sebastopol or Toulouse.. would love more runners and a crested in the duck pen. I think my ducks will be happier minus those bossy ganders too. Thank you for the reply.

How about an Embden gander?? I have one that will be 10yrs old next month was hatched here and still to this day would love a good fight with me.

I wouldn't let sibs hatch either. With my Runners and Buffs and Muscovy's I'll bring in fertile eggs and let the girls hatch them. Last year my Muscovy's hatched the Runners and Buffs. It was a hoot.

As long as you don't have any place inside your goose enclousure they can get up on to scale your fence 4' would be a good height for fencing.

Once hormones start soaring through those ganders/drakes/ roos bodies all bets are off any one can live together. And ganders and drakes just cannot be closed up in a pen together. Only thing that keeps my 2 from going at it constantly is having half acre so they can stay out of each others way. it starts off in Jan with my gander first since breeding for geese is winter into late spring, He cannot abide my drake any where close to him and my drake Muscovy is actually afraid of him. Then come April My drakes hormones are surging so the table get turned and my drake will go after my gander and by the time breeding season is drawing closed my gander is back to being Mr Wimpy and my drake is holding him down giving him the once over. Muscovy's love a good fight. My Runner drake doesn't get picked on by either my gander or my scovy drake [I don't know if my Muscovy drake thinks my Runners are really ducks] lol He has never tolerated another scovy drake living here with out trouble.

And now to my roos, Oh and my dh and I are still laughing about your 25 roosters.I can't imagine. I have 5 roos 4 that are OEGB and one that is LF game /Game bantam [he is my oldest] All my roos are doing great together but they are not that great with my OEGB hens they are all young under a year. [The 4]I don't have enough hens for 4 roos. so I am thinking of sending 2 to auction next weekend, I am really wanting to add more hens so I know more roos will be coming too since they will be hatching this spring. I love these lil roos though it is going to be hard giving them up. Again I'll get eggs mailed so I have new blood line.
Why do you keep so many roos just love them ?

Geese are awesome creatures I cannot imagine no having them, but you sure need to be ready for the changes that come with living with them.

Keep me updated on your goose project and how your drake is doing.

Oh and last year a member lost 1 drake to her gander having them penned together happened in 1 night so I am glad your drake is on the mend.

 

[flock of many]

10yrs old. Oh my He is family.

the geese I have are all Emdens. My sons ex gf helped me get started with chickens a couple of years ago. Her geese had goslings last May. One was trampled, I volunteered to take a couple and came home with 3. Had I done my homework.. I could have picked out all females lol. Then my silly self thought.. if I am minding these.. what's a few ducks. I came home with 11 duckling and 13 chicks!. never mind the 30 something chickens I already had.. I then had a standard hen go broody.. so.. what is a few more. I let her sit on 10 silkie eggs from my silkie flock. I nearly drove myself to extinction with all of these litttles and the oppressive heat that was dumped on KS last summer. Oh.. but I love them all. They are well cared for. And of course.. all have names.

The Roos.. I have listed a few on Craigslist..but inquiries led me to believe they were just for pretties.. with no predatory protection. I can't do that to them.. they are well behaved most of the time. I don't put up with any bs from them either though.

I hope my drake is on the mend. He seems happy to be in his little pen in the duck house. I can see a remarkable difference in the rest of the ducks with the ganders out. They are not nearly as afraid of me and came right up to the feed bowl to eat when I added a scoop of pellets late this afternoon.

The drake.. is there anything special I can do for him to help him regrow his feathers.. 3 huge bald areas. He may be limping a bit, but hard to tell in that little pen for sure. I put Green Goo on him yesterday. Do I need to use triple antibiotic salve? The purple anti-pick stuff..or the purple spray I have for horses? (It doesn't say for poultry).

The 4 ft fence sounds good..I may be able to give them part of my dog yard (I have 4 Chihuahuas and 1 rat terrier). I was a little nervous today, being gone for awhile. I was worried about the 4 ft kennel area the ganders were in. A dog could easily jump that. It is very close to my house.. but I am very rural.. I never know what will come trapping through the yard. Dog area is fenced.. waterfowl pen is fenced, chickens have a covered fenced lean to. The rest is wide open.

I appreciate the info.. the young lady I got the goslings from has had ducks ect together with no issues that I was aware of. I assumed all would be fine.. darn those hormones. I know better now. Sorry that this poor Rouen Drake had to pay for my ignorance. I can't imagine my drakes going after these ganders. They won't have a chance to.. I will keep them separate. If possible I plan to rehome one gander. Future additions, I will only go with sexed geese. I don't need more than one big fellow. Thanks again and I will keep you posted.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I think any of those products would be okay I have the Blu kote and triple antibiotic and Veterycin and some others but I don't have green goo, I'll have to check into that. As for feathers they should grow back pretty quick once healing is complete. If no open wounds then you should start seeing pins any day. They are amazing how fast they can heal for something.

That's nice the ducks are so much more calm now that the geese aren't with them. I hate for any of my flock to be under stress so I made goose jail. up above still in our fenced in half acre I put up the plastic poultry fencing and we built a separate house from the rest then if things get out of hand with the geese being to mean they go up there. Oh gosh do they hate to be separated from everyone although the rest parade by them all day long too probably sticking out their tongues at them. I had 4 geese at one time 2 pairs. goslings raised my this pair I have but the 4 of them were why too much for my flock so last year I found a wonderful home for the 2 young ones I say young they were almost 2 yrs. The 4 together would surround a chicken or duck and begin to work on her That was the reason for goose jail I was afraid they would eventually kill someone. Having these 2 has not been near as stressful on the flock other than the gander and drake but it seems the drake stays well away from the gander and it's usually fine.

It is scary living out away from people when you have animals [although I'd live no other way] but it does mean predators in human and animal form can come around easier, On Our property we have for the flock no climb horse fencing to keep the bears out and a single strand of barb wire around the top. We have coyotes too that get braver all the time but so far I have heard them on the mountain behind our home but haven't seen them down close.I never feel our fencing is secure enough but we haven't had anything get in except the occasional deer during the day anyway. At night everyone is locked up tight.

As for my lil roos all my flock are together the only time my flock is separated is at night I have no way of keeping my roos separated and although yesterday I was seriously thinking I would keep the 3 lil boys, when everyone went into coop last night here comes my big Blk Australorp hen running out side again after just putting her back 2X one of the OEGB roos was after her

I mean she is like 4X bigger than him and bosses the Muscovy's
she could easily stomp him in the ground but she'd rather run from him, so I may just send 2 to auction next weekend. Just to keep the stress level to minimum.

Sounds like you have a great system going for your flock I commend you on being able to keep all your roos.

Your drakes may never go after your gander even if given the chance. Muscovy's just have an attitude and love a good fight. So if given the chance they will retaliate

Isn't life interesting when we have birds. lol

Maybe one of these times you can post some pics of everyone I'd love to see them all.