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.

 

[Pumperkinz]

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.

I'm in upstate NY and i've been giving them water because they are dirty lol.

My one hen is a drowned rat and it was simply cause her oil gland was inflammed from not being able to clean w/ this weather being terrible.

Peck no more works but generally if it's from boredom in the coop at night add some toys/mirrors etc. If it's outside the coop then it's a little tougher.

 

[Shadow-Kitty]

It's not ideal but they're in the same coop as my chickens. We had plans to make them their own run before winter hit once an offending tree was cut down. Unfortunately the guy we hired to do it fell out of someone else's tree and broke his hip. It's not safe to winter them there until the tree comes down since this tree tends to drop large branches randomly during storms or high winds. I didn't want them getting squished if it decided to drop one sometime this winter. So they've got plenty of entertainment in honking at chickens. I have a large metal water dish I fill every morning they like to splash in to stay clean. Unfortunately a winter of whacking ice out of it every night and morning has caused it to spring a leak. Come spring we'll be setting up the new pen anyways. After the thaw the tree shouldn't be at high risk of dropping boughs. Then hopefully the arborist can come back sometime this summer and finish the job.

I'm mostly concerned for Poppy since she's the one getting beaten up by her mother/aunt and attempted matings by the gander. Don't tell Megan and Roger but she's my favorite. She climbs in my lap for attention sometimes. She was 3/4 incubated by my favorite chicken. I had to move her egg into the incubator when the chicken's eggs hatched since she had another week to go. I think being incubated by a chicken for three weeks might be why she's a little strange. She affectionate like no goose I've ever seen. She seems to think I'm a gander. She's been brooding on chicken eggs on and off since before she was a year old. The other geese don't seem to mind her but will just leave without her if the opportunity arises. Last summer it was not uncommon to hear her start honking in panic when she realized the other geese had wandered off without her. I would then have to either help her find them or put her in the chicken run before she'd stop crying. I love her with all my heart but she is a strange bird. I think I learned my lesson about chickens incubating goose eggs.