Rescue gander will he fit in?

[Phillyndilly]

Hi all so we often rescue geese, ducks, chickens who need homes or are injured. My fear is always if the new comer will fit in. Fortunately everyone we’ve added seems to live in harmony.
We have 11 chickens 2 turkeys 7 ducks 1 drake and 2 ganders.
Our one gander ( Luce) aka Lucifer has his mating hissy fit time. He has one pekin main lady who he tries to mate and the other 4 including drake are his flock. The other gander has 2 pekin girls which he doesn’t try to mate. He attacked the other gander a lot and we had to separate them for a few months but they are back together and all is well. He’s not an aggressive goose he’s mostly all talk.
Someone dropped a gander off at a friends farm who doesn’t have any fowl just turkeys etc. He asked if we can take him he says he seems friendly he hasn’t attacking any of the birds or animals he just seems to be looking for a mate or familiar animals or people.

My question is does anyone have only ganders? How do they get along?

 

[Goosebaby]

I have a majority of ganders, few girls. I had two brothers “Thor and Parsnip” who were the sweetest boys, never fought for the six years they were together, Thor passed away a little over a year ago and so Parsnip was heartbroken and ended up bonding with his dad Leo. They get along pretty well but it isn’t the same.
I have two other brothers, Strawberry and Darby. They sometimes squabble but are generally fine together.
Leo used to be with Darby and Strawberry just fine up until those two turned four years old and one day they just decided to try to kill Leo. Parsnip and Thor never got along with Darby and Strawberry. They never got along with Leo either but the recent change with Leo and Parsnip developed because they were both missing a bond they lost. Parsnip with Thor and Leo with his other two sons.

So it all depends on their personalities, it can work if one is fine with being subdominant, it won’t if everyone won’t accept not being boss. It won’t work if you have two that are like Darby and Strawberry who have accepted each other but won’t tolerate anyone else. The issue with them is that alone they’re more reasonable and well behaved, together they feed off each other’s energy and so a mild squabble with Leo that would have ended after a few seconds doesn’t end.

There will be some squabbling initially while everyone sorts out who’s who in the flock, especially during breeding season. They may be fine with each other after it’s all sorted out, you’ll need to keep a close watch and have to intervene if it doesn’t. The main thing to watch for is if two decide to team up against one, that won’t end well.

 

[DiYMama540]

Well said @Goosebaby!
Just be prepared to pen separately if it comes to that! It's worth a try, you will know pretty quickly if it's going to work out or not. With them going into mating season now hormones and attitudes will be at their worst!

 

[Phillyndilly]

I have a majority of ganders, few girls. I had two brothers “Thor and Parsnip” who were the sweetest boys, never fought for the six years they were together, Thor passed away a little over a year ago and so Parsnip was heartbroken and ended up bonding with his dad Leo. They get along pretty well but it isn’t the same.
I have two other brothers, Strawberry and Darby. They sometimes squabble but are generally fine together.
Leo used to be with Darby and Strawberry just fine up until those two turned four years old and one day they just decided to try to kill Leo. Parsnip and Thor never got along with Darby and Strawberry. They never got along with Leo either but the recent change with Leo and Parsnip developed because they were both missing a bond they lost. Parsnip with Thor and Leo with his other two sons.

So it all depends on their personalities, it can work if one is fine with being subdominant, it won’t if everyone won’t accept not being boss. It won’t work if you have two that are like Darby and Strawberry who have accepted each other but won’t tolerate anyone else. The issue with them is that alone they’re more reasonable and well behaved, together they feed off each other’s energy and so a mild squabble with Leo that would have ended after a few seconds doesn’t end.

There will be some squabbling initially while everyone sorts out who’s who in the flock, especially during breeding season. They may be fine with each other after it’s all sorted out, you’ll need to keep a close watch and have to intervene if it doesn’t. The main thing to watch for is if two decide to team up against one, that won’t end well.

Thank you so much for this reply I definitely agree with the personality issues. So we did get Bruce he’s a very sweet boy and as expected Luce ( dominant goose) is being a bully they did a small squabble and Luce won...now he chases off Bruce when he comes close but no more attacking he’s not very aggressive. He’s going to be in Phil’s group for sure that’s our other goose he’s ok with him.
The thing is Luce chased our drake Willie for about 2 weeks and now they are in a group together and he’s good with him.

We’ll just have to see. But now an unforeseen problem our girl young royal palm turkey hen will randomly go up to Bruce and start pecking his head rather violently. She did it this morning and I had to give her a few stick wacks but I’m not sure she got the message now I’m at work a nervous wreck. She’s usually very nice but she’ll peck something when she’s curious but this seemed like mean pecks. She’s the same size and colors as Bruce so maybe she thinks he’s a turkey? I know they aren’t the brightest.
Bruce tried to hit her with his wings a bit but he seems submissive and he lost his nerve possibly because Wilson our male turkey was next to her ( not pecking him) but he always follows her.

Anyway we may have to free range the turks if this is a problem.

My question is do you separate the flocks in separate pens as diymama said during the day?
Bruce is in his own dog kennel with Phil and his two duck girls at night but everyone is together in a large fenced area during the day chickens, turkey, geese and ducks. I’m very worried my fiancé’s father is going to go check on them today.

 

[Isaac 0]

Some fighting is going to be expected at first, but if anybody is getting seriously hurt i would isolate bruce from the flock until they can get used to each other. My experience tells me not to keep geese and ducks to together especially in spring and especially with hormonal ganders, I once had a gander rip off a ducks back down to bearskin, I now have a separate coop for the geese. But they free range together during the day happily.

Free-ranging will help expeditiously with the fighting, The more activities they have to keep them busy the better. Be patient it may take some time birds don't take on newcomers very welcoming. I would love to see some pictures of Bruce!

 

[DiYMama540]

Usually I only have to pen everyone separately at night. During the day my flock roams about 1/2 acre together, and there's plenty of space to run and spread out if they aren't getting along.

 

[Phillyndilly]

Some fighting is going to be expected at first, but if anybody is getting seriously hurt i would isolate bruce from the flock until they can get used to each other. My experience tells me not to keep geese and ducks to together especially in spring and especially with hormonal ganders, I once had a gander rip off a ducks back down to bearskin, I now have a separate coop for the geese. But they free range together during the day happily.

Free-ranging will help expeditiously with the fighting, The more activities they have to keep them busy the better. Be patient it may take some time birds don't take on newcomers very welcoming. I would love to see some pictures of Bruce!

To tell you the truth both my geese are extremely bonded to their respective duck groups although I would be wary of new geese or if I got many geese. That’s what I was worried about with Bruce but since he seems to be so docile I guess it’s ok.
I really am thinking of removing my turkeys it’s just that they can do such serious damage if they decide to -to any of the flock geese included those beaks are serious.
I also agree free ranging will help but I would only free range the turkeys and possibly some chickens because I am wayyyy too attached to the geese and ducks.
I know my fiancé’s says this happened with all of them!! There was the original 3 pekin ducks then my goose Philip then Luce. So any other ducks we’ve had have been additions so I’ve went through this a lot but I worry every time lol!

Usually I only have to pen everyone separately at night. During the day my flock roams about 1/2 acre together, and there's plenty of space to run and spread out if they aren't getting along.

Yes very true even the two duck/ goose groups are separated for me at night it just gives me peace of mind because in case something goes down theres no escape.

The first picture is Luce he is bonded to the white pekin with him.
Second two are Bruce he looks like Luce that’s why we named him that but he has some dark feathers on his face and a lighter beak.

 

[Goosebaby]

It’s always nerve wracking in the beginning, I really feel for you @Phillyndilly You just have to give it time and see if it all sorts itself out and make adjustments if you need to.

I have seperate dog kennels I keep mine in at night, Darby, Strawberry, and Friday in their’s, Parsnip, Leo, Delphi, and Apricot in another, and the ducks in their own. “Parsnip and Leo’s group are currently sleeping in the garage at the moment but that’s another issue.”

The geese used to all free range out together but after Darby developed his obsessive nature all he does is hound Leo when they’re out together and Strawberry feeds off of it and then Darby feeds off of him even more so I can never have them together sadly. Worst case scenario you might have a similar situation but I’d like to think my situation is more abnormal, but who knows.

I have an old dog run that I keep one group in while the other is out on pasture for half the day, they take turns and things are peaceful with this routine.
Most of the time the ducks are fine out during the day with Leo’s flock, Olaf my drake can act like a numb skull when he’s hormonal and tries to take on the Godzilla Goose Leo so for his own protection they have their own pen at night but it isn’t anywhere as bad as it used to be. Olaf’s getting older “8 years this summer” so he hasn’t had an issue with the geese for the last few years, and even before it hasn’t been that much of an issue since Astrid.

We got Olaf “jumbo Pekin” as a companion for my female Pekin Henry, Olaf came with Astrid “jumbo Pekin.” Astrid I think was kind of a nut. She was sweet to us, but she would instigate fights with the geese. She’d walk across the whole yard by herself just to get as close as she could to the geese, and then she’d start her damsel in distress wail to Olaf like she was under attack, and he’d waddle his short little legs as fast as he could at the biggest target he could see and try to fight Leo and then I or the dogs would have to pull Leo off of Olaf. “I have really awesome dogs by the way.” Then they’d be fine with no fights for awhile until Astrid got it into her head to start another one.
The last fight ended badly with her breaking her leg, Leo may have done it but I think it’s more likely that one of the dogs stepped on her while trying to rescue Olaf. While we had her in recovering she suffered a pretty bad prolapse, then a second after we’d had the first fixed and then we made the decision to put her to sleep so that she wouldn’t suffer any more.

So the lesson I learned with her and with Darby is that fights are kind of inevitable, but if you have a bird, or birds that are obsessive you’ll have continuous problems that can get really bad and so you’ll have to watch for that behavior and remove the problem bird when you see that behavior.
A normal squabble will only last at most a minute with the victor parading and shouting and vanquished running off and staying away at the fringes of the group, this is actually healthy behavior.
If it’s ongoing or if the aggressor is hounding the other throughout the day you’ll need to step in and make some changes.

 

[Goosebaby]

@Phillyndilly Beautiful Birds!

 

[Phillyndilly]

It’s always nerve wracking in the beginning, I really feel for you @Phillyndilly You just have to give it time and see if it all sorts itself out and make adjustments if you need to.

I have seperate dog kennels I keep mine in at night, Darby, Strawberry, and Friday in their’s, Parsnip, Leo, Delphi, and Apricot in another, and the ducks in their own. “Parsnip and Leo’s group are currently sleeping in the garage at the moment but that’s another issue.”

The geese used to all free range out together but after Darby developed his obsessive nature all he does is hound Leo when they’re out together and Strawberry feeds off of it and then Darby feeds off of him even more so I can never have them together sadly. Worst case scenario you might have a similar situation but I’d like to think my situation is more abnormal, but who knows.

I have an old dog run that I keep one group in while the other is out on pasture for half the day, they take turns and things are peaceful with this routine.
Most of the time the ducks are fine out during the day with Leo’s flock, Olaf my drake can act like a numb skull when he’s hormonal and tries to take on the Godzilla Goose Leo so for his own protection they have their own pen at night but it isn’t anywhere as bad as it used to be. Olaf’s getting older “8 years this summer” so he hasn’t had an issue with the geese for the last few years, and even before it hasn’t been that much of an issue since Astrid.

We got Olaf “jumbo Pekin” as a companion for my female Pekin Henry, Olaf came with Astrid “jumbo Pekin.” Astrid I think was kind of a nut. She was sweet to us, but she would instigate fights with the geese. She’d walk across the whole yard by herself just to get as close as she could to the geese, and then she’d start her damsel in distress wail to Olaf like she was under attack, and he’d waddle his short little legs as fast as he could at the biggest target he could see and try to fight Leo and then I or the dogs would have to pull Leo off of Olaf. “I have really awesome dogs by the way.” Then they’d be fine with no fights for awhile until Astrid got it into her head to start another one.
The last fight ended badly with her breaking her leg, Leo may have done it but I think it’s more likely that one of the dogs stepped on her while trying to rescue Olaf. While we had her in recovering she suffered a pretty bad prolapse, then a second after we’d had the first fixed and then we made the decision to put her to sleep so that she wouldn’t suffer any more.

So the lesson I learned with her and with Darby is that fights are kind of inevitable, but if you have a bird, or birds that are obsessive you’ll have continuous problems that can get really bad and so you’ll have to watch for that behavior and remove the problem bird when you see that behavior.
A normal squabble will only last at most a minute with the victor parading and shouting and vanquished running off and staying away at the fringes of the group, this is actually healthy behavior.
If it’s ongoing or if the aggressor is hounding the other throughout the day you’ll need to step in and make some changes.

Oh my gosh I’m laughing out loud at Astrid’s behavior! The pekins are really something else it’s so funny but totally believable I also love the name Olaf for the pekin that’s so funny. I’m sorry you had to put her to sleep.
That’s a good rotation method. Ya I will for sure look out for that bad behavior we had a really mean gander we had to return to the woman we got him from he relentlessly attacked my goose Philip so I know what you mean he was so bad. Luce does healthy behavior and does his little chase away and it ends. After the turkey was pecking Bruce Luce actually even let Bruce stay close to them I think he was a little concerned. The turkey scares him too.
Wowza it took 8 years?! We’re in our second mating season Luce looses his marbles the most he does to us is hiss and I point at him and he walks away. He attacks Phil we had to separate the groups for a few months and this will be our first season with Willie the mallard he’s very small so I’ll have to watch him.
I hope they all work it out quickly we had a disabled goose we had to put down and Luce attacked him until the end he never accepted him even if I looked away for a minute I would see him over there trying to bite his head. We used to have a center divider but took it away when we put him to sleep.
We’ll just have to see how it goes though.
Does your yard where they free range have a fence?