Two geese fighting over a gander

[Shadow-Kitty]

I have three geese, two girls and a boy. My older goose Megan has taken to bullying the younger goose Poppy whenever the gander Roger tries to mate with her. She'll run over and knock him off of Poppy. Yesterday my husband saw her just standing on Poppy's neck until Roger got off her back. Now both of my geese have bald spots and sores on their heads. Roger is a just over a year and a half old. I've been chalking up him hurting them a little to inexperience. Him and Poppy are at least half siblings from the same clutch of eggs. At the time I had a different gander and two geese, Megan being one of them. I lost one goose to predation and my original gander was getting too aggressive with me specifically. He went to live on a different farm with an equally foul tempered emden goose. This gives Megan a 50% chance of being my current geese mother but as animals don't care I don't think it matters.

So I'm wondering if Megan is competing for Roger's attention? Do geese have a pecking order like chickens with a dominant female? Will ganders have an awkward phase where they bite too hard? Will he grow out of it? If he doesn't and Poppy keeps taking a beating from both him and Megan, Roger is going to have to go. I don't actually need him to get eggs. He's not good for breeding due to him being so closely related to my other geese.

 

[BoundlessLove]

I’ve no experience with geese, but am following just purely out of curiosity.

 

[Pumperkinz]

I have three geese, two girls and a boy. My older goose Megan has taken to bullying the younger goose Poppy whenever the gander Roger tries to mate with her. She'll run over and knock him off of Poppy. Yesterday my husband saw her just standing on Poppy's neck until Roger got off her back. Now both of my geese have bald spots and sores on their heads. Roger is a just over a year and a half old. I've been chalking up him hurting them a little to inexperience. Him and Poppy are at least half siblings from the same clutch of eggs. At the time I had a different gander and two geese, Megan being one of them. I lost one goose to predation and my original gander was getting too aggressive with me specifically. He went to live on a different farm with an equally foul tempered emden goose. This gives Megan a 50% chance of being my current geese mother but as animals don't care I don't think it matters.

So I'm wondering if Megan is competing for Roger's attention? Do geese have a pecking order like chickens with a dominant female? Will ganders have an awkward phase where they bite too hard? Will he grow out of it? If he doesn't and Poppy keeps taking a beating from both him and Megan, Roger is going to have to go. I don't actually need him to get eggs. He's not good for breeding due to him being so closely related to my other geese.

So some girls can get clingy to their mates.

I have one "lead" gander out of my gaggle, and then two that just follow him and their mates around. They all pair or will trio off in mating season, but bald spots on necks/heads is pretty normal on the hens. If it's getting too raw/bloody I'd pull them personally. Most of the time it's due to not having water to mate is when that gets bad for myself. If he's a newer gander too their hormones can get the best of them.

All that to say yes - there is a pecking order, it changes season to season, and flock dynamics (introductions etc.). I introduced an older hen and for the first three months she was acting as the "lead" and now she follows around the gander whos taken lead of the group with no question.

 

[Shadow-Kitty]

So some girls can get clingy to their mates.

I have one "lead" gander out of my gaggle, and then two that just follow him and their mates around. They all pair or will trio off in mating season, but bald spots on necks/heads is pretty normal on the hens. If it's getting too raw/bloody I'd pull them personally. Most of the time it's due to not having water to mate is when that gets bad for myself. If he's a newer gander too their hormones can get the best of them.

All that to say yes - there is a pecking order, it changes season to season, and flock dynamics (introductions etc.). I introduced an older hen and for the first three months she was acting as the "lead" and now she follows around the gander whos taken lead of the group with no question.

Thank you for answering. I'm using some Peck-no-More to try and discourage him from plucking them too bad. That probably just washes off immediately when they dunk their heads in a bucket of water. As for water there's not much I can do there for a couple more months. I'm in Maine so it's too cold to give them a pool. I do put one out as soon as the frosts pass though. Also due to the cold I'm hoping I don't have to separate him from them if I can avoid it. I don't have anywhere for him to go he won't freeze. I suppose I might be able to get away with putting him in a dog crate still inside the pen if I absolutely have to.