Pet Goose Questions

[AliceCaelum]

I have a couple of questions regarding my pet goose that I would appreciate some help with.

For my first question, my American Buff gosling is almost 5 weeks old now and he's been doing fine. The only problem is that he's been trying to bite and eat all paper, newspaper, and plastic bags he can find. I'm trying to figure out how to get him to stop trying to chew and eat these and have wondered if there was some kind of biting deterrent for geese. I saw that people use methyl anthranilate use to keep wild geese off their lawn, but I don't know if it's safe to use indoors with a domestic pet goose to keep him from chewing things he's not supposed to. Would methyl anthranilatene be good to use in this situation, or is there something else that's better that I could try?

As for my second question, I would like to know how people who have indoor domestic geese handling the whole diaper situation. Like what kind of diapers would be best and what kind of linings do you use. Any information regarding diapers and geese would be very much appreciated!

 

[Leader Bee]

I've only used the baby diapers from the gooses mother which they've now grown out of, I'll need to get hold of their adult harnesses soon; The diapers came with sanitary pads which I found to be inadequate for soaking up watery goose poops - I had intended to seek out some actual human nappies and thought about cutting them up small enough to fit in a goose diaper holder but never got the chance - you could try that, they may be more absorbent?

Unfortunately I don't know about deterrents for pecking things, I always assumed it was just part of a gooses curious nature so I'm not sure how much luck you will have. ...maybe just a grab of his beak, not to hurt but firm enough that he understands it's bad along with a stern NO! ?? Best you can do is train him I guess.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Best way to keep a gosling from wanting to chew an bite is to keep things up an away from them. Just like a toddler you can’t keep anything down where they can put it in their mouths because they will.

 

[The goose girl]

Best way to keep a gosling from wanting to chew an bite is to keep things up an away from them. Just like a toddler you can’t keep anything down where they can put it in their mouths because they will.

Word.
And as goslings are built and wired to chew, bite, and tug (training for a life as grazers), you can give them something safe to do that with. Like a block of fresh grass turf or sturdy baby toys.

 

[AliceCaelum]

Thank you so much for your responses! We've been mainly giving him dog toys and he seems to like chewing and tugging on them. I also have another question. What sort of feed do people usually give domestic geese to help keep them healthy? Ours has mainly been eating Mazuri waterfowl feed, lettuce, and grass whenever we take him outside. Just wondering if there was a good specific feed people usually buy for geese.

 

[Leader Bee]

I give mine goose and duck starter crumb, they eat grass too but like treats such as cucumber and watermelon - iceberg lettuce is usually too low in nutrition for them and just full of water but romaine and other types should be fine.

 

[Youbetteryoubet]

Glad to hear others have a pet goose!

 

[Leader Bee]

Yup! I love my boys

 

[Goosebaby]

@AliceCaelum My Buff Apricot had the same issue! Anything forbidden was irresistible! I’ve pulled all sorts of paper and plastic out of her mouth, especially paper, she had an obsession. It just about drove me mad constantly running after her when she’d snatch something.
If your Buff is like my Buff he will grow out of it, Apricot did. I can’t really remember when exactly she stopped trying to swallow any random piece of paper she could get a hold of but she hasn’t done it in a while. She just recently turned a year old, but it did go on for a few months and the worst of it was after her she had her first adult feathers.

You can’t really deter them from it, you just have to be as preventative as possible and try to not lose your sanity in the process, because they do learn to anticipate and the only way you’ll know they’ve grabbed something they shouldn’t have is when they start running.

 

[Goosebaby]

As for feed Mazuri is one of the best feeds from what I’ve heard (no one carries it in my area so I’ve never tried it) geese are grazers so grass is a major part of their diet. A good all flock or waterfowl feed like you’ve been giving has anything else they need.
Treats are always welcome but geese are individuals who don’t always like the same things, so you have to try a lot of things to see what they like.

Some common things geese love include:
Lettuce, ROMAINE, spinach, alfalfa, CLOVER, CORN, peas, cucumber, squash, melon, WATERMELON, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, peaches, plums, APPLES, pears, tomatoes (not the plant, only the fruit) sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin leaves, carrots, citrus, broccoli, grapes and (worms?)

I don’t have a single goose that likes all of the above, there are some general favorites (the ones in all caps) but even with those it’s no guarantee, and some of the ones that aren’t general favorites might be irresistible to one, for example one of my ganders Thor hated apples, his brother Parsnip can’t get enough blueberries. Only one of my geese likes worms.

When you’re introducing a new food it also helps if they see you eat it, if they see you eat or touch something they often assume to edible, for the same reason if there’s a poisonous plant in the yard you probably shouldn’t handle it in their presence and if you have to make sure shake your hands and head and act like your spitting it out after you’ve touched it, it mimics what they themselves do when they’ve tasted something bad so it tells them it isn’t edible. It doesn’t always work but it’s helped me before.