My goose is gay

[Goosey Girl]

Okay, don't have any idea why. One of my female geese (I know she is female because she is laying eggs), runs whenever a gander comes near her but, lets 2 of the female geese stand on her back and pull her neck feathers. This has been going on for about a month.

Should I put her and a gander in a pen alone and see if he convinces her to change teams? It would be nice for her eggs to be fertile. Or, should I just accept this and see if she decides to like boys next year? She is a Sebastopol, 10 1/2 months old. The boys are also Sebastopols 9 1/2 months old.

 

[Artizen Farm]

I've read of this behavior before, but can't advise on "team changing"
Polyamory is common so I guess anything goes - or gooses...

 

[The Moonshiner]

If the other two females are trying to mate her why is she the gay one?
Sounds like the whole flock is gay.

 

[Goosebaby]

She could be gay, though being honest it’s hard to really say that what humans experience as homosexuality is the same as what geese experience, if it’s even the same thing.

I’ve seen males mount males, and females mount females quite a lot, you could say they’re gay, or you could really say they’re bisexual because when they get frisky anything goes.

To say that they’re truly gay they would probably prefer only to be with and breed with their same sex throughout their lives, but with mine I haven’t seen that, they’ll mess around but generally when things get serious the girls and boys will gravitate into opposite sex pairs.

Geese do form strong bonds with others regardless of sex, some boys prefer the company of another gander, and the same thing with girls, come breeding season they’ll start propositioning the opposite sex, but still want to be around their bonded friend, male or female, sometimes those bonded pairs will mount each other, sometimes they don’t, if they do it sometimes will lead to squabbling because they both want to be dominant.

Geese are really hormonal mostly once a year, so breeding isn’t on their mind much for most of the year, so it’s hard to really compare it to sexual preference in humans for that reason and because they seem to be willing to mount whatever when the mood takes them, they’ll mount boots, packs of wood shavings, the ducks, they’re not always particular.

Birds in general will pair up for breeding purposes but will also pair up out of a purely platonic love based on if their personalities click, gender doesn’t have much to do with that, but when horomones spike it probably will lead to them mounting each other, but they’ll also mount others unless it’s a sworn enemy. It’s hard to say if that’s truly homosexuality really, maybe but maybe not?

To say geese are gay is projecting human behavior onto them, geese are more like us than many realize in some ways, but also very very different so it’s really difficult to say that what some of their behaviors are is truly homosexuality.

There have been some cases with swans and flamingos that definitly do seem to be homosexual pairs, so it's possible with geese also, though with your girl it could also be that she feels really intimidated by the gander. Only time will really tell.

 

[Goosey Girl]

If the other two females are trying to mate her why is she the gay one?
Sounds like the whole flock is gay.

No, two other females are bi.

 

[Goosey Girl]

She could be gay, though being honest it’s hard to really say that what humans experience as homosexuality is the same as what geese experience, if it’s even the same thing.

I’ve seen males mount males, and females mount females quite a lot, you could say they’re gay, or you could really say they’re bisexual because when they get frisky anything goes.

To say that they’re truly gay they would probably prefer only to be with and breed with their same sex throughout their lives, but with mine I haven’t seen that, they’ll mess around but generally when things get serious the girls and boys will gravitate into opposite sex pairs.

Geese do form strong bonds with others regardless of sex, some boys prefer the company of another gander, and the same thing with girls, come breeding season they’ll start propositioning the opposite sex, but still want to be around their bonded friend, male or female, sometimes those bonded pairs will mount each other, sometimes they don’t, if they do it sometimes will lead to squabbling because they both want to be dominant.

Geese are really hormonal mostly once a year, so breeding isn’t on their mind much for most of the year, so it’s hard to really compare it to sexual preference in humans for that reason and because they seem to be willing to mount whatever when the mood takes them, they’ll mount boots, packs of wood shavings, the ducks, they’re not always particular.

Birds in general will pair up for breeding purposes but will also pair up out of a purely platonic love based on if their personalities click, gender doesn’t have much to do with that, but when horomones spike it probably will lead to them mounting each other, but they’ll also mount others unless it’s a sworn enemy. It’s hard to say if that’s truly homosexuality really, maybe but maybe not?

To say geese are gay is projecting human behavior onto them, geese are more like us than many realize in some ways, but also very very different so it’s really difficult to say that what some of their behaviors are is truly homosexuality.

There have been some cases with swans and flamingos that definitly do seem to be homosexual pairs, so it's possible with geese also, though with your girl it could also be that she feels really intimidated by the gander. Only time will really tell.

I think you nailed it!!! The ganders were really rough with her. Biting, pulling out feathers, she actually was bleeding from the side of her head several weeks ago.

I guess instinctually she knows what should be happening to her during mating season, but being young and with young male mates, she is avoiding those that harmed her.

I get the whole anthropomorphic reference and warning. I was making light of a mildly frustrating situation: no fertile eggs from a very capable goose during a short mating season. I guess I could try locking her up with one gander and see what happens.

 

[Miami Leghorn]

If the other two females are trying to mate her why is she the gay one?
Sounds like the whole flock is gay.

I co-sign on this.

Open your eyes... truth is, they've been gay the whole time .

 

[Miami Leghorn]

On a side note.
I had an iguana that would only go gay when exposed to secondhand marijuana smoke.

 

[The Moonshiner]

On a side note.
I had an iguana that would only go gay when exposed to secondhand marijuana smoke.

I once adopted a dog from the local shelter. She was a cool dog but apparently no one wanted to adopt her because the shelter disclosed that she was gay.
They didn't object to the adoption but warned us we'd have problems because we already had a female dog at home.
She never showed any gay tendencies or behaviors once we got her home so I'd assume it was just a case of prison gay for the stay.
Or maybe they were mistaken about her.

 

[Miami Leghorn]

prison gay for the stay.

I guess they do what they have to do to survive inside.
RESPECT.