Geese bullying one female duck- help!

[Fx2032]

I have been raising 4 pekin ducks and 4 Norwegian geese from hatchlings. All was going well until they started getting horny!
(I have 2 female ducks, 2 male. I am not 100% sure about the geese but suspect I have 3 male and 1 female.) They have been housed together at night, and then left to roam my large garden during the daytime.

Recently one of the female ducks has been repeatedly attacked by the geese, it started off as aggressive mating (which all the ducks have experienced at least once), but it has really escalated. She has always been quiet, but is now rather traumatised (trying to stay at arms length from all the geese) or just submitting and crying when caught. The other female duck is practically trying to force itself on one and all and is totally ignored!

I tried putting the worst goose offender in a separate fenced enclosure, but (as probably predictable) the next in line took over and was even more violent. I housed the duck separately last night with the quietest male duck, and all was well and she seemed to have spent the night unscathed (previously having been bitten and plucked until there was some blood). This morning I have just let the ducks, the female goose and the one other male to roam free, but even now the male goose tries to run her off and threatens to nip her (though she seems a little more sociable with the other ducks now).

I would like to keep on the female ducks and goose so I have some for eggs next year, but I really don't know what I should do. Is there any hope for her? Will the duck recover and get her confidence back? Will it all pass after the adolescent mating urge has passed? Is it time the most aggressive 2 geese visited the kitchen? (though they were actually the most social with me, so I do have some attachment!)

 

[Jenbirdee]

you have way too many males for so few females. you need to either rehome some males or get a whole lot more females.
The recommended ratio for ducks is one male for every three to five females. For the geese, It's more like one male to at least one female for each gander.
I have to keep my geese penned separately from my ducks because of goose aggression too, they want to show dominance.

edit to add:
even in a duck flock with good male to female ratios sometimes drakes will have a "favorite' hen and overmate her causing injuries and sometimes death.
ducks also have what some call a "rape culture" where when one is being mated others (even other females) will run over to join in.
Give your female ducks some time to recover
that one girl might be giving off a stronger hormone smell which attracts all the males to her (is it called pheromones i think?)
perhaps after a break and time to heal and you rehome or cook up some drakes/ganders she may be mentally fine.

the "adolecent mating urge" comes back every spring . and drakes are the number one most sexually aggressive animal in the whole animal kingdom.

 

[Jenbirdee]

I just found this

uropygial gland secretions in domestic ducks have been shown to serve as pheromones for mating and to aid in species recognition.

 

[Fx2032]

you have way too many males for so few females. you need to either rehome some males or get a whole lot more females.
The recommended ratio for ducks is one male for every three to five females. For the geese, It's more like one male to at least one female for each gander.
I have to keep my geese penned separately from my ducks because of goose aggression too, they want to show dominance.

edit to add:
even in a duck flock with good male to female ratios sometimes drakes will have a "favorite' hen and overmate her causing injuries and sometimes death.
ducks also have what some call a "rape culture" where when one is being mated others (even other females) will run over to join in.
Give your female ducks some time to recover
that one girl might be giving off a stronger hormone smell which attracts all the males to her (is it called pheromones i think?)
perhaps after a break and time to heal and you rehome or cook up some drakes/ganders she may be mentally fine.

the "adolecent mating urge" comes back every spring . and drakes are the number one most sexually aggressive animal in the whole animal kingdom.

Ah many thanks, I appreciate the comments. I have only had them all 3 and a half months, so I have been waiting to sex the geese, as it seemed rather daunting!
It's very strange to watch them, the one female duck is a "lady of very easy virtue" (!!) but no one in interested, where as the other is just very nervous and shy so gets even more bullied it seems! Even now with only (what I think to be) 1 female and 1 male goose with the ducks, the male goose will go in for a nip if she gets close.
Do you have any recomendations for which of the geese to cull? - should I keep what is probably the one at the bottom of the hierarchy, or should I choose one of the others? I was a little hesitant, as I was worried in case the remaining one does not perform, or if something happens to it.

 

[Jenbirdee]

there's a family on YouTube, with a channel called "do and be different farmily" they have 2 ganders with one goose, and it seems to be working out fine for them. i used to have two ganders with my one goose, and they fought till there was blood, so I rehomed the bigger, more aggressive one.
Me personally, I hate to cull anything, because all my birds are like pets to me. I call them pets with benefits because I get eggs.
Perhaps you can try to find someone who will do a swap with you there is a forum here for just for that. maybe swap a gander for a couple more girl ducks if possible.
I have trouble copy and paste links with my cell phone, but if you just go to forums and scroll down to the Buy sell trade section, you'll see something called swaps. You could also post in the rehoming forum and look at the animals in need of rehoming.

 

[Goosebaby]

there's a family on YouTube, with a channel called "do and be different farmily" they have 2 ganders with one goose, and it seems to be working out fine for them. i used to have two ganders with my one goose, and they fought till there was blood, so I rehomed the bigger, more aggressive one.
Me personally, I hate to cull anything, because all my birds are like pets to me. I call them pets with benefits because I get eggs.
Perhaps you can try to find someone who will do a swap with you there is a forum here for just for that. maybe swap a gander for a couple more girl ducks if possible.
I have trouble copy and paste links with my cell phone, but if you just go to forums and scroll down to the Buy sell trade section, you'll see something called swaps. You could also post in the rehoming forum and look at the animals in need of rehoming.

One of my gangs is a two gander one goose group. It works because the two ganders have an established bond. They do squabble in winter but it has nothing to do with Delphi “the girl” and just happens because of their amped up hormones and the fact that Parsnip likes attacking their bucket which upsets Leo.
Delphi though she’s small and fairly mellow is not a pushover and keeps both of them in line, Leo once pulled a clump of feathers off her head while trying to breed and she attacked him in response, he dragged her all over the yard because she wouldn’t let go until she’d yanked a bunch of his feathers out. Since then she hasn’t lost a single feather from her scalp.

 

[Fx2032]

It seems even if I have one male goose free with the ducks it will pick on the one particular female duck. She will just sit down, look submissive and pathetic and take whatever abuse they give, with no resistance.

 

[Fx2032]

Just an update for anyone looking back over this thread:

The bullying escalated, the poor girl had to be housed separately at night (with another duck for company). I had to continually keep an eye on them all, and even though she did her best to keep her distance, the geese occasionally managed to catch her. (They would even lunge at her if they got close enough, try and grab her wings etc). She would not dare to go swimming if they were in the water.
At one point I had to pull one of the geese off her that was just relentlessly savagely pecking at her wings. (It seemed more aggression than rough mating.)

So in the end, 2 male geese ended up in the freezer. It was sad as one of them was rather affectionate to me, but it did give me the impetus to butcher them, and I had been worried they may all end up being pensioned and me a vegan!

Happily she is now doing very well and we are all one happy family! Its quite something to watch, as the other female duck doesn't take "it" off anyone, if the male ducks try to get rough with her she gives 'em hell back. This other female duck has been the opposite, though she still flirts with the remaining male goose, but does not seem too badly affected when he takes up the offer! (Though we have had words and he know he is not supposed to!!)