Pilgrim Geese thread

[Miss Lydia]

My pilgrims

They are beautiful do you have 2 pairs or just 2 ganders and one goose?

 

[Mr King]

They are beautiful do you have 2 pairs or just 2 ganders and. one goose?

That's all have. From some eggs my hens hatch. The female from jksranch ll and the two males from bekkanblue. Both from this thread. I'm veey

 

[Mr King]

Im very thankful with this two nice persons.

 

[Miss Lydia]

That's all have. From some eggs my hens hatch. The female from jksranch ll and the two males from bekkanblue. Both from this thread. I'm veey

Do you plan on getting more or at least another goose ? They are beautiful geese but I worry when there is only 1 female to 2 males

 

[Mr King]

Do you plan on getting more or at least another goose ? They are beautiful geese but I worry when there is only 1 female to 2 males

I. Will separate them when they get to breeding age. Will leave a pair and get a goose from that pair to the other male, since eve.n the males which come from samebplace arent related

 

[Miss Lydia]

I. Will separate them when they get to breeding age. Will leave a pair and get a goose from that pair to the other male, since eve.n the males which come from samebplace arent related

Good idea!!

 

[JLynnsDuckies]

Aww how handsome. 

Thank you Miss Lydia!

 

[buggymuffin]

I have a question for those who own both geese and ducks. I am new to geese this year and have a concern about my gander. We ordered a pilgrim pair this spring as they are suppose to be a more docile and smaller breed. The auto sexing is a great plus as well. Unfortunately we lost the goose at 4 weeks and were left with our lonely George. We immediately ordered another goose so he wouldn't be lonely along with 5 ducklings (2 male, 3 female) to add to our existing flock of 6 female ducks. We also started leaving George outside for most of the day, weather permitting, to begin to integrate with the adult ducks.

At first they were skittish and avoided him. But one of the ducks, Boudica, suffered an illness followed by a bobcat attack a couple years ago, and is a bit slower (and fatter & lazier) than the others so he was able to start cozying up to her fairly quickly. (It took too much effort to get up and run away, so she would tolerate him laying down next to her). All seemed to be going well and our new babies arrived two weeks later. Because George wasn't fully feathered, we would bring him in at night and he slept in a dog crate next to their brooder at night. We hoped that this would help him adjust more easily to the new additions and that maybe he would bond more quickly with Martha. So far so good, with the exception of the fact that George had become a bit of a bully outside, occasionally chasing the ducks around the yard trying to "herd" them and declaring ownership of the pool whenever it suited him. I assumed that this was due to his age and the fact that even though it isn't breeding season, he is hitting puberty. He hasn't been really aggressive and hasn't done anything to harm any of the ducks (though he did mount Delila one afternoon and she has kept her distance since.

At 4 weeks, we let the babies go outside for the first time to meet the rest of the flock. Because my ducks love to go "exploring" and it is too difficult to manage all 13 birds as the older ones would go one direction and the babies the other, we took the babies into the pen. There was a little bit of back and forth at first with a couple of the older ducks getting a little pushy with a couple of the ducklings (and a couple of the other ducklings and Martha, our new goose, pushing back) but things settled down within an couple days for the most part. George was a bit more territorial toward the babies, occasionally chasing them off if he felt they were too close to something that was "his," usually Boudica or the pool, occasionally the feeder or the waterer, but he settled down with the exception of the occasional "let's chase everybody around the pen because it all belongs to me." We haven't seen any signs of aggression out of him toward the babies other than the occasional nip at first when he would chase them and he didn't feel they were moving fast enough which ended after a few days. He did chase Martha about a week or so ago and cornered her, but he backed off quickly when we went out to the pen and quieted down quickly. We have felt comfortable enough, that we have left them alone outside all day for the past 10 days or so without incident. They tend to stay in two separate flocks with George in charge of the older ones and Martha leading around the babies, but keeping less and less distance between themselves. They are all almost fully feathered and Martha is quickly catching up to George in size, so we were hoping to move the babies outside permanently within the next week or so. We were just waiting for the ducklings to get a bit bigger so we wouldn't have to worry when they were confined at night to the shed everyone sleeps in.

To get to the point, I went outside last evening to spend some time hanging out with them and found Caligula, our new khaki drake injured. He was laying quitely next to the pool and I became concerned when he didn't jump up and run off like the others when I approached. At first, I was concerned he was sick (after loosing several of the original flock to illness as ducklings and the gosling this year, we are kind of paranoid about that type of thing). When I picked him up, I noticed that he was missing big patches of feathers on his back and had what appeared to be scratches or bites in those areas (no gaping wounds or anything that would appear to be life threatening. I put him back in the brooder (where the babies still sleep at night) and ran to call for my dh and grab the first aid supplies. When I came back, I picked him up again to get a closer look at his wounds. When I set him back down a minute later, he rolled onto his side and convulsed for a minute and struggled to breathe. I knew then that he wasn't going to make it, and he was dead a couple minutes later. I am not sure what happened to him, as he was laying quietly when I found him, but my best guess is that he died from internal injuries. I am not sure if he was attacked by George, if George or one of the older ducks tried to mount him (as they often do with each other, female or not) and the wounds on his back are from him struggling to get out from underneath them and their weight caused internal injuries. I suppose it could have been a predator that was chased off, but I think that is the least likely given the amount of feathers lost with no puncture wounds. He did have a scratch on his beak and another just above the beak that drew a little blood, but nothing to definitively say predator. I am of course heartbroken over the loss, but am more concerned about the remaining babies. I am not sure what to do to protect them. We have a second pen attached to the first one that we put up with the expectation that we may breed in the future and wanted to keep the breeds separate, but it does not currently have a gate. I will have that remedied by tomorrow, at which point, I can keep them separate all day if needed. Until then, they will be under constant supervision when together. But I still have only one shed to house them in and they are starting to get too big for the brooder, so the are going to have to be moved outside soon. My question is, how do I separate them? Do I keep the babies separate from the older birds? Do I segregate the geese from the ducks so that they can bond with each other, and hopefully the George has an harder time distinguishing the babies from the adults? Or, do I keep George separate from everybody while the babies grow and reintroduce him then? Or do I do nothing and hope that this was a fluke? I am going to be away from home all day Saturday, so they will definitely be separated then, but how do I assure that they will get along outside of breeding season? Any input is appreciated.

 

[PrairieChickens]

Well, I've had my geese now for a couple of months, and they're getting pretty big! No one warned me how charming they would be! Whenever they see me coming the run right over and talk to me, follow me around the yard, and generally just go out of their way to be wherever I am, whether or not I have anything for them. I'm absolutely enamored.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have a question for those who own both geese and ducks. I am new to geese this year and have a concern about my gander. We ordered a pilgrim pair this spring as they are suppose to be a more docile and smaller breed. The auto sexing is a great plus as well. Unfortunately we lost the goose at 4 weeks and were left with our lonely George. We immediately ordered another goose so he wouldn't be lonely along with 5 ducklings (2 male, 3 female) to add to our existing flock of 6 female ducks. We also started leaving George outside for most of the day, weather permitting, to begin to integrate with the adult ducks.

At first they were skittish and avoided him. But one of the ducks, Boudica, suffered an illness followed by a bobcat attack a couple years ago, and is a bit slower (and fatter & lazier) than the others so he was able to start cozying up to her fairly quickly. (It took too much effort to get up and run away, so she would tolerate him laying down next to her). All seemed to be going well and our new babies arrived two weeks later. Because George wasn't fully feathered, we would bring him in at night and he slept in a dog crate next to their brooder at night. We hoped that this would help him adjust more easily to the new additions and that maybe he would bond more quickly with Martha. So far so good, with the exception of the fact that George had become a bit of a bully outside, occasionally chasing the ducks around the yard trying to "herd" them and declaring ownership of the pool whenever it suited him. I assumed that this was due to his age and the fact that even though it isn't breeding season, he is hitting puberty. He hasn't been really aggressive and hasn't done anything to harm any of the ducks (though he did mount Delila one afternoon and she has kept her distance since.

At 4 weeks, we let the babies go outside for the first time to meet the rest of the flock. Because my ducks love to go "exploring" and it is too difficult to manage all 13 birds as the older ones would go one direction and the babies the other, we took the babies into the pen. There was a little bit of back and forth at first with a couple of the older ducks getting a little pushy with a couple of the ducklings (and a couple of the other ducklings and Martha, our new goose, pushing back) but things settled down within an couple days for the most part. George was a bit more territorial toward the babies, occasionally chasing them off if he felt they were too close to something that was "his," usually Boudica or the pool, occasionally the feeder or the waterer, but he settled down with the exception of the occasional "let's chase everybody around the pen because it all belongs to me." We haven't seen any signs of aggression out of him toward the babies other than the occasional nip at first when he would chase them and he didn't feel they were moving fast enough which ended after a few days. He did chase Martha about a week or so ago and cornered her, but he backed off quickly when we went out to the pen and quieted down quickly. We have felt comfortable enough, that we have left them alone outside all day for the past 10 days or so without incident. They tend to stay in two separate flocks with George in charge of the older ones and Martha leading around the babies, but keeping less and less distance between themselves. They are all almost fully feathered and Martha is quickly catching up to George in size, so we were hoping to move the babies outside permanently within the next week or so. We were just waiting for the ducklings to get a bit bigger so we wouldn't have to worry when they were confined at night to the shed everyone sleeps in.

To get to the point, I went outside last evening to spend some time hanging out with them and found Caligula, our new khaki drake injured. He was laying quitely next to the pool and I became concerned when he didn't jump up and run off like the others when I approached. At first, I was concerned he was sick (after loosing several of the original flock to illness as ducklings and the gosling this year, we are kind of paranoid about that type of thing). When I picked him up, I noticed that he was missing big patches of feathers on his back and had what appeared to be scratches or bites in those areas (no gaping wounds or anything that would appear to be life threatening. I put him back in the brooder (where the babies still sleep at night) and ran to call for my dh and grab the first aid supplies. When I came back, I picked him up again to get a closer look at his wounds. When I set him back down a minute later, he rolled onto his side and convulsed for a minute and struggled to breathe. I knew then that he wasn't going to make it, and he was dead a couple minutes later. I am not sure what happened to him, as he was laying quietly when I found him, but my best guess is that he died from internal injuries. I am not sure if he was attacked by George, if George or one of the older ducks tried to mount him (as they often do with each other, female or not) and the wounds on his back are from him struggling to get out from underneath them and their weight caused internal injuries. I suppose it could have been a predator that was chased off, but I think that is the least likely given the amount of feathers lost with no puncture wounds. He did have a scratch on his beak and another just above the beak that drew a little blood, but nothing to definitively say predator. I am of course heartbroken over the loss, but am more concerned about the remaining babies. I am not sure what to do to protect them. We have a second pen attached to the first one that we put up with the expectation that we may breed in the future and wanted to keep the breeds separate, but it does not currently have a gate. I will have that remedied by tomorrow, at which point, I can keep them separate all day if needed. Until then, they will be under constant supervision when together. But I still have only one shed to house them in and they are starting to get too big for the brooder, so the are going to have to be moved outside soon. My question is, how do I separate them? Do I keep the babies separate from the older birds? Do I segregate the geese from the ducks so that they can bond with each other, and hopefully the George has an harder time distinguishing the babies from the adults? Or, do I keep George separate from everybody while the babies grow and reintroduce him then? Or do I do nothing and hope that this was a fluke? I am going to be away from home all day Saturday, so they will definitely be separated then, but how do I assure that they will get along outside of breeding season? Any input is appreciated.

I don't know who killed your drake either but from experience here I'd say your gander may have, My young gander is always cornering a duck and if the drake isn't around all 4 will surround her and begin biting at her. So far I have heard the ruckous and been able to get them off of her but It is a worry since he was pretty aggressive last breeding season to the point i had to give my geese their own separate fenced in area. So Are your geese involved in each other at all? very important because when my gander my oldest was introduced to a female goose he didn't want to have anything to do with her so at night in their stall I put a divider using plastic poultry fencing and attached it to a heavy board to keep it in place this kept them side by side but he couldn't scare the daylights out of her or hurt her. it took 3 months and breeding season for them to pair up. [He was attached to the Muscovy duck who hatched him and he was 5 yrs old when I brought in a female goose.

You need to keep the young ducklings separated from the older ones too till all ducklings are same size as adults and you have witnessed harmony in the flock especially before putting them all inside together at night with no where for the poor babies to get away from anyone who wants to hurt them. This all will take some work but needs to be priority before someone else gets injured or killed. Stress can even shorten the life of them. And they need more than one drinking bucket and feeder so everyone is getting their fair share of feed and also pool time i have 3 pools set up and 3 feeding places covered so no one goes with out.

I am sure my gander killed one of my Muscovy females when I penned them all together over night only one time, never again will my ducks and geese sleep in same housing.This was when he was under 2 yrs of age also. Not my 1 yr old gander who is really mean towards the ducks and even goes after the chickens but thankfully they can stay away from him and they are all foraging in half acre fenced property during the day time. My Muscovy drake is head of the flock of geese and ducks right now, but no telling what is going to happen when goose breeding season starts up again next year i will have to separate them again most likely.

When your gander and goose become a pair they will be even more territorial and need constant supervision around the rest of the flock and never pen them up with your ducks during breeding season.