Puzzling Funny Goose Behavior....??? Ideas

[ChirpNEggBaby]

Ive had geese before...tulouse and they just meandered around the yard and honked...thats the extent of my exp. with geese. Well After a Feral Cat attack on one of my chicken pens I picked up a PAIR of what I call my Redneck Alarm System-an upgrade to the guineas LOL. The male? is a tuffted roman...lady said oh he has a lot of growing to do..LOL Im like no, he's GROWN they are light. The other is a big grey goose-barnyard type...She has the strangest beak...mostly black with orange showing..as if someon spray painted her...trying to figure out what breed she is (NOT chinese or African or Tulouse) but anyhow the lady told me she would be weird....and sure enough she is....a lovable weird....

Heres what happens EVERY DAY....I go into the pen..the little male does his half hearted attack and walks off. She stays with me-follows me..and the tufft follows us. I pet her breast or neck. Then I sit down on a milk crate or bucket. She walks around me in a circle over and over again (I have flashblacks to duck duck goose game lol). She arches her neck down when doing this...but likes (or seems to like to be stroked-no aggression no bites etc) Then she will go UNDER my legs...each one.??? I just talk away at her like a crazy bird lady and rub my hands on her as she goes around...sometimes shell stop and well go eye to eye and nose to nose. NO AGGRESSION. No wild hissing. She will tho Talk. Finally....she will grab one of my boots (ugg type) and try to wrastle with the leather and even use her foot to try to push off my boots. As shes doing this I rub inder her wings and around her side fluff....and then after that she gives me 3 loud honks and the game starts again. LOL I know sounds silly...keep thinking this is where the phrase silly goose came from LOL.

WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT?? I got to thinking tonight maybe she wants a 'human' mate as shes imprinted?? Or is it just a game??? There is no aggression to it...only to my boot.
Ideas???? I really need to make a video but she seems to live for our daily visit....she watched me do my chores and just sooo looks forward to our visit. Meanwhile tufted just stands there hissing and hating me or nipping if I reach for him too while she plays her goose game. LOL

Oh and they are both great with my chickens and no more feral kitty attacks!!!

 

[sourland]

I would guess that she is very strongly human imprinted and is just reaffirming her 'ties' with you. She sounds like a fun bird.

 

[Cottage Rose]

What may seem cute & funny may not be all that innocent. Sounds like she's being aggressive with you.
I would be leery of doing the nose to nose, eye to eye thing because she could very well
bite you and a goose bite can be serious. She could put your eye out.

 

[The goose girl]

My goose loves shoes, too. Especially bright-colored or shiny ones. And plastic clogs! She'll greet well-known shoes as old friends, and then she'll start chewing them. One of her favorite games is to pull out the shoelaces.

To me it doesn't seem aggressive at all, it just looks like she's playing and having a good time. As I usually don't leave shoes lying around outside, she'll chew them when she's inside. She settles down on her blanket and makes comfortable purring noises. Then, if a shoe is in her vicinity (or I give her one), she'll start chewing. She'll be totally absorbed in that activity for a while, and she'll sometimes grab on to the shoe and shake it. All the while making happy noises. She usually loses interest after 5-15 minutes and goes to sleep.

When other people come to the house, she spots their shoes and seems to think "MY shoe!". She runs to their shoes and starts playing right away - unless, of course, those people have long fled at the sight of a large goose running toward them.

Here she is, "helping" her best friend tie his shoes:

When she was a small gosling, she would sleep in one of my shoes. Maybe that's why she likes them so much?

 

[pips&peeps]

Quote:
Are you sure it is a female??? Sounds like my lonely juvenile sebastopol ganders during breeding season. Of course, I don't let them get into my face either.

 

[Goose and Fig]

I have a female like that. She follows me everywhere, abandoning the flock to tell me all about her day every time I go outside. When I fill their pools in the morning she always follows me from pool to pool, does her little "look how cute I am " grooming, and even squats (or makes herself flat). That is the only time she actually lets me touch her without picking her up.
And she's the only one I occasionally have to pick up because everybody else will go in for bed and she's ready to follow me back to the house. I know she's an oddball, but I enjoy her so much because of it.