What to do? Two ganders and no geese.

[buggymuffin]

Okay, so this year we decide to add a pair of geese to our flock of ducks. We chose Pilgrims due to their temperament and smaller stature. We ordered a pair from Metzer and all was good. At 4 weeks we unexpectedly lost the female and were left with a lonely gosling. We immediately ordered another gosling so he wouldn't be lonely (along with 5 ducklings since they don't ship single birds). Unfortunately, the bigger hatcheries will not sex single geese (even though they are auto sexing) so we ordered with fingers crossed. When the new babies arrived we thought we got lucky and ended up with a female as she was much darker than our first gander and looked much more like the female we lost. Unfortunately, although she/he has more gray than the older gosling, she is much whiter than expected and I am pretty sure she is a he. We are going to vent sex tonight to be sure.

So my dilemma is this: assuming they are both male, will they be okay being housed together over the winter? Will they fight in the spring if there is no female present? I don't know if I should figure out what to do with one of them before the cold New England weather sets in or if I can wait until spring. Assuming they would be okay until the snow melts, my goal is to hunt down a couple female goslings in March so that we can pair them up by late spring and then either keep them all, or re-home a pair. But if they will be fighting all winter, maybe I should be looking to get rid of one of them now. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[jtn42248]

To begin with Pilgrims are much calmer and friendlier than some breeds. This is really to your advantage also. Two males growing up together will probably be fine. They will probably bond with one another and there should not be any problem until you introduce females to the mix in the spring. At that point you will find if they have bonded so tightly to one another that they ignore the females (yes this does happen) or if they are going to want both females for one male. Most likely you will be able to divide them one each with a female and they will bond to one another...no guarantees though.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Iain Utah had 2 African ganders [old bachelors] on property she rented and she said they got along great [no females] they even took some gosling she hatched and raised them after she kept them side by side for a few weeks.

@Iain Utah might see this and speak for herself. lol

 

[JLynnsDuckies]

I have two pilgrim ganders and no females. The get along great. We house them together at night and have never had a problem. They are inseprable.

 

[nhrocks]

I had the same situation as you, and ended up with two buff ganders after my brilliant dog chomped the little female. We thought the new gosling was a female, but last spring the two kept trying to mount each other when they got excited by puddles. They lived together peacefully. Eventually the more dominant gander took a duck (yes, a little four pound magpie duck) as his mate. She got squashed occasionally, but it was consensual. An odd family.

I eventually sold the less friendly gander, and hatched some embdens for the remaining gander. He adopted them, and is very proud of his gaggle. They are bigger than him now, at only three months old! But they still follow their daddy around. Ill keep one of the females so he can have an actual goose for a mate next spring.