I've got a trio of Toulouse geese: A male (Indi), a female (Piper), and their only son (we missed an egg, they hatched it). His name is Andy. Piper and Indi raised Andy entirely on their own, and he is most definitely not a tame goose by any stretch of the word. I think he's been handled 3 or 4 times his entire life. It's quite silly -- he's 2 years old now and ended up being the largest of the 3 geese! They still treat him like their precious baby, and he still hides behind Mom and Dad when his bluster fails.
We've got a flock of 6 ducks (which is a whole 'nother tale), and this breeding season has been truly awful in that the 2 ganders have been chasing the ducks and ganging up on them to attack them once they've got them pinned. The geese have always been kind of clannish and keep to themselves, but they've never been violent before. It got so bad that I penned off part of the yard for the geese (who are, rather laughably, scared to death of the 4 chickens). The pen actually works in another way in that I have been wanting to try to tame the geese again, so I have been going into their pen every day and working with them according to hair-brained theories entirely of my own making.
My current theory regarding Andy and the increasingly aggressive behavior from all 3 geese is that Andy has probably reached sexual maturity -- and I feel this theory of mine is greatly bolstered by the fact that for the past 2 days I have observed Andy attempting to mate with his father in the swimming pool. Yep. Not pretty.
At last, my question: What can be done for poor Andy? I'm sure it can't be as simple as adding another female to the flock, but....I'm willing to believe it if you nice people say so! Knowing my luck, Andy would probably reject his mail-order bride, or she would be annexed by dear old Dad and become his stepmother or something. It just doesn't seem right for him to be on his own, without a mate.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, folks. I really do not want to add another bird to the madness, but I want my flock to be content, and I would like to see peace restored (such as it is!).
Thanks in advance!
******* UPDATE *********
I had my heart set on a Pilgrim gosling (I'm a huge fan of the auto-sexing), but it didn't look like I was going to be able to find one. All of the hatcheries were either sold out, only sold in pairs, or required a large number of birds per order -- and I only wanted one female. It seemed I had set my sights quite high!
Finally -- FINALLY! -- my obsessive Craigslist searches paid off, and I happened upon a woman in my area who was hatching a clutch of Pilgrim eggs. I emailed her immediately; she was beyond kind and friendly, and she put me on the waiting list for a female gosling. I waited on pins and needles for weeks and finally got an email from her saying that my girl had arrived. So exciting! I felt like I should be passing out cigars. We met up to do the gosling exchange, and she was even nicer in person. Bird people are the best, I swear.
We named our little girl Violet, and she's about 3 days old now. This is the first time I've ever raised a single birdling on its own, and I have to say the very idea made me sad and vaguely uncomfortable. However, I work from home so she's with me all the time, either on my lap or close by in her brooder. I take her with me when I have to go out -- I bundle her up in a tiny flannel blanket and tuck her into my shirt, and she's as content as a mouse.
Any tips on eventually integrating her into the flock? I plan on raising her entirely indoors until she's just about full-sized, but I am trying to decide the best way to transition her when the time comes. I would like her to be tame -- we let Andy's parents raise him, and the fear he exhibits towards his humans really bothers me due to the fact that it seems to cause all of the geese so much distress. I would like Violet to trust me when she's grown, but I also wonder if she will be stressed when she goes to live outside full-time. I read somewhere that tame and imprinted geese can develop personality issues when they're separated from the humans that raised them and then sent outside to live. I don't know if it's actually true, but it does seem to explain the change in attitude that we observed with our first pair of geese: sweet and tame as indoor babies, surly and distrustful as outdoor birds. I don't want to make the same possible mistakes with the new gosling, but on the other hand, I want her to be easily accepted by the other 3 geese when she's grown. So I'm wondering if I should let them all see each other every day between now and then.
Advice? Am I over-thinking this? I don't want Violet to fear me when she's grown (and ideally I would love for us to remain friends and possibly even continue to cuddle), but I most importantly I want her to have a happy, stress-free goose life.
Whoops. I forgot to add a picture! Hopefully this works....
We've got a flock of 6 ducks (which is a whole 'nother tale), and this breeding season has been truly awful in that the 2 ganders have been chasing the ducks and ganging up on them to attack them once they've got them pinned. The geese have always been kind of clannish and keep to themselves, but they've never been violent before. It got so bad that I penned off part of the yard for the geese (who are, rather laughably, scared to death of the 4 chickens). The pen actually works in another way in that I have been wanting to try to tame the geese again, so I have been going into their pen every day and working with them according to hair-brained theories entirely of my own making.
My current theory regarding Andy and the increasingly aggressive behavior from all 3 geese is that Andy has probably reached sexual maturity -- and I feel this theory of mine is greatly bolstered by the fact that for the past 2 days I have observed Andy attempting to mate with his father in the swimming pool. Yep. Not pretty.
At last, my question: What can be done for poor Andy? I'm sure it can't be as simple as adding another female to the flock, but....I'm willing to believe it if you nice people say so! Knowing my luck, Andy would probably reject his mail-order bride, or she would be annexed by dear old Dad and become his stepmother or something. It just doesn't seem right for him to be on his own, without a mate.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, folks. I really do not want to add another bird to the madness, but I want my flock to be content, and I would like to see peace restored (such as it is!).
Thanks in advance!
******* UPDATE *********
I had my heart set on a Pilgrim gosling (I'm a huge fan of the auto-sexing), but it didn't look like I was going to be able to find one. All of the hatcheries were either sold out, only sold in pairs, or required a large number of birds per order -- and I only wanted one female. It seemed I had set my sights quite high!
Finally -- FINALLY! -- my obsessive Craigslist searches paid off, and I happened upon a woman in my area who was hatching a clutch of Pilgrim eggs. I emailed her immediately; she was beyond kind and friendly, and she put me on the waiting list for a female gosling. I waited on pins and needles for weeks and finally got an email from her saying that my girl had arrived. So exciting! I felt like I should be passing out cigars. We met up to do the gosling exchange, and she was even nicer in person. Bird people are the best, I swear.
We named our little girl Violet, and she's about 3 days old now. This is the first time I've ever raised a single birdling on its own, and I have to say the very idea made me sad and vaguely uncomfortable. However, I work from home so she's with me all the time, either on my lap or close by in her brooder. I take her with me when I have to go out -- I bundle her up in a tiny flannel blanket and tuck her into my shirt, and she's as content as a mouse.
Any tips on eventually integrating her into the flock? I plan on raising her entirely indoors until she's just about full-sized, but I am trying to decide the best way to transition her when the time comes. I would like her to be tame -- we let Andy's parents raise him, and the fear he exhibits towards his humans really bothers me due to the fact that it seems to cause all of the geese so much distress. I would like Violet to trust me when she's grown, but I also wonder if she will be stressed when she goes to live outside full-time. I read somewhere that tame and imprinted geese can develop personality issues when they're separated from the humans that raised them and then sent outside to live. I don't know if it's actually true, but it does seem to explain the change in attitude that we observed with our first pair of geese: sweet and tame as indoor babies, surly and distrustful as outdoor birds. I don't want to make the same possible mistakes with the new gosling, but on the other hand, I want her to be easily accepted by the other 3 geese when she's grown. So I'm wondering if I should let them all see each other every day between now and then.
Advice? Am I over-thinking this? I don't want Violet to fear me when she's grown (and ideally I would love for us to remain friends and possibly even continue to cuddle), but I most importantly I want her to have a happy, stress-free goose life.
Whoops. I forgot to add a picture! Hopefully this works....
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