Some irritated geese! LOL

[newduckie]

I have one goose setting on 6 eggs and another was on a new nest a while ago. she didn't defend it tho when I walked up. She is laying in the barn and we are trying to figure whether to try to move her nest when and if she sets on it or try to build something to put around her to protect her. So far she only has one egg. I did get one from a different goose today and so I will keep it and put it in under her if she decides to go broody. But..... as to my gander... wow he is VERY testy. He tried to bite me tonight and I grabbed his neck and he got away. I chased him all over the farm... (till I ran out of air. lol) He was squacking and running with his wings out. Took the braveness right out of him. Now he is yelling at me from afar. I have done this before and it will cool his tool toward me for a few weeks when we have out chats. If I can get him around the neck when He strikes, then I get down on his level and we talk.... He hates it and finds it very demoralizing..lol

 

[BellLisamo]

ehhehe, soooooo cute that you captured their personalities!!!!!

they are beautiful!

 

[ultasol]

My female buff american would hiss and throw a fit when I would check under her (twice, once to count eggs, second to candle and remove any bad eggs) but she never bit me. My gander was very permissive with nest access during the incubation period, but the day they hatched was a different story. No permanent scars, but I had bruises on my arms and legs for a couple weeks that occurred when I struggled to grab his head/neck to get him under control (he had been flogging and biting my legs).

I know so many people talk about how friendly their geese are, and I am not trying to scare anyone off, but I am always upfront with people about geese because I would hate for someone's child or an elderly individual to get hurt. The majority of the people who ask me about geese, or about my geese, ask how they are around children or small children. No matter how gentle the goose has been with me I always tell them about my personal experiences. I can only imagine what would have happened had a small child been the one walking into the barn the day the last clutch of 2009 hatched. *shudder*

My buff american gander was the picture of gander-decorum until the day his goslings popped out of the shell- then instincts took over. As soon as the goslings were removed he was back to his sweet self.

(edited for spelling error)

 

[danielle82]

my toulouse gander (Waldo) actually hissed at me today! Normally its just my husband, but today he got a little testy with me

Then I brought him some berries and we made up lol

 

[newduckie]

Quote:
I agree. My gander is always hissy... usually doesn't stike except at this SPECIAL time of year. BUt they are not friendly at all. But I bought most of them as adults. If I get any babies, we will see how they act as they grow.

 

[Peeper7]

I thought all this was normal goosie behavior. My trio of toulouse always hiss at me for a minute when I go near them. They even fuss when they see me in the house passing a window LOL! Only the gander was aggressive until recently, now all 3 so I kinda thought there were eggs -- and there were! I was bitten once because i assumed a stupid posture looking under something and he caught me off guard.

OP, you're geese are beautiful!

 

[ultasol]

Mine are friendly and sweet most of the time. My buff americans come when called (they know who feeds them) and the gander likes to sit on my feet. That said, I wouldn't trust even the tamest goose/gander with children or the elderly during breeding season,.

 

[TennesseeTruly]

The pair in this posting, Peter & Petunia, are usually very gentle, sweet, and will even sit in my lap.....when its not breeding season. Peter I got when he was 6 weeks old and Petunia I got from Dorothy of asebastopolsselect.com.

My second pair, Tundra & Tansy, are also from Dorothy. When not in breeding season, these two are both lovable, docile, sweethearts. But in this pic, you can't tell. LOL

My third pair is Kasper & Karessa. These two are different. They were hatched, never handled, never used to humans and so they're very skittish. They don't attack, not even Kasper. He hisses but he's so skittish that he runs away. We were slowly making progress with them and they were becoming tamer. Now with breeding season upon us, we're taking a hiatus.

This is Kasper. You can see his body language here. He's not threatened, he's not attacking yet his mate is sitting on a nest. I'm 4 feet from him and 4 feet from her nest yet he's not in attack mode.

As someone who has been raising parrots for close to 30 years and taming abused parrots that were so wild that you couldn't open their door without getting nailed, I understand the body language of the geese. I also understand that you can take a completely wild bird and tame it so that it will eat out of your hand. It takes hard work, dedication, and consistency. I refuse to believe that a nasty bird can't be tamed. And I have the scars on my arms to prove it! LOL

Positive reinforcement works wonders!

Laurie

 

[newduckie]

mine are out and loose during the day. They don't get close to me at all. They run if I walk towards them. I can throw out treats and they will walk up and look at it and stick their noses in the air and walk away like I am really wasting their time..lol

 

[Peeper7]

Mine would come running when I called them, and take bread from my hand. They are just now a year old so I do expect SOME changes. When they hiss at me I run after them and they quit...
They have not been real defensive about the nest and are not sitting. But they do guard the entrance to their quarters.