I have geese and ducks so this applies to geese.
Bullying can arise for a number of reasons. Much of the time it’s the flock sorting dominance. With geese there isn’t necessarily a “top dog” in a flock, with a large flock there’s more of various factions vying for first access to food and for who’s pairing up for who. For example currently with my ganders: Roxby is dominant to Parsnip and Leo “who are in a bonded group together,” Helios is dominant to Roxby, Leo and Parsnip are dominant to Helios, Strawberry and Darby “who are a bonded group” are dominant to Roxby and Helios but not to Leo and Parsnip.
However this is all in constant flux.
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Dominance also varies between males and females with each having sometimes a slightly different “pecking order.” Sometimes the females dynamics are influenced by the ganders but not always. Within a bonded group often there will be more dominant females than others, and dominant females will often take over another female’s nest and babies with the backing of her gander. This is normal.
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However flock dynamics can easily become toxic and even dangerous if the flock doesn’t have enough room, if there are too many birds in a small area stress levels increase and frequent fights that break out in confined areas sometimes will not stop.
Ways to mitigate this, provide plenty of access to pasture during the day. Flocks with space are healthier and happier.
Supply enrichment activities. Things like baby pools, buckets, dog chew toys, mud puddles, treats, pumpkins, hay bales, things in general they can tinker with that can occupy their time. Anything that rots should be removed before it begins to mold. Tinker and chew toys should be non metallic and toxin free and not be a choking hazard.
It’s best to keep individual cliques separate when nesting and at night, some can get along in one big shed at night, others can’t. To prevent nasty fights that don’t stop it’s a good idea to keep each little group in their own area at night and when nesting just in case. For example I have four cliques within my flock, they each have their own separate dog kennel for bedtime and it greatly reduces their stress and the chance of bs starting up in the night or early hours.
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Sometimes bullying can be because of a new flock member, geese form strong bonds and have long memories, it will naturally take time for a new addition to find their place in the flock and friends.
______________________________
Hormones also play a role, breeding season makes ganders pea brained and quick to anger, they can’t help it and there’s no way to prevent it.
______________________________
Another cause of bullying is sometimes not enough geese. Sometimes a gander will have all the girls to himself leaving another gander without a partner. Sometimes the only way to deal with this is to separate the most friendly female to him from the other group and place her in a separate enclosure with the lonely gander indefinitely until they bond, but sometimes this doesn’t work and the only solution is rehoming him to a new flock or getting him a new goose or gander to pair with.
Also sometimes a gander will only bond with one female or certain females leaving another female as a third wheel that’s constantly excluded and pushed out of their clique. The only solution is rehoming or getting her another gander or goose to bond with.
______________________________
Ganders can and do form wonderful strong bonds with each other but their relationship can vary due to individual personalities. Most bonded gander pairs will still squabble with each other in breeding season but they’ll quickly make up like nothing happened when the fight is over.
Something to be on the watch for however is that the bonded ganders will often feed off each others energy, especially during breeding season when their hormones are amped up, this can become dangerous if there are other ganders the pair considers as a rival because then you can get multiple ganders attacking one. If this keeps occurring separating the bonded pair from their target(s) is the only solution until hormones settle down. If it’s still happening then indefinite separation or rehoming is the only solution.
___________________________
Bullying between ganders and even ganders bullying females can also be because of the females. Many fights occur because a goose egged her mate on to attack another gander or drive a female out of their clique. You’ll need to be on the watch for this behavior if it becomes excessive and sometimes separate a problem female and place her in another group. “I’m talking about you Dandelion!”
In most cases I’ve seen in a larger flock with options it’s the female who picks her gander, occasionally a female will toy with more than one gander, like Dandelion who day after day would gravitate between Roxby and Helios and instigate fights between them when they’d previously got along okay. This high school behavior kept escalating so I made the choice for her and permanently placed her with Helios who’s calmer and less likely to give in to her war mongering and who was far less stressed to defend her like Roxby was, and I prevented her from interacting with Roxby for months. Things have been much more peaceful.
Bullying can arise for a number of reasons. Much of the time it’s the flock sorting dominance. With geese there isn’t necessarily a “top dog” in a flock, with a large flock there’s more of various factions vying for first access to food and for who’s pairing up for who. For example currently with my ganders: Roxby is dominant to Parsnip and Leo “who are in a bonded group together,” Helios is dominant to Roxby, Leo and Parsnip are dominant to Helios, Strawberry and Darby “who are a bonded group” are dominant to Roxby and Helios but not to Leo and Parsnip.
However this is all in constant flux.
_______________________________
Dominance also varies between males and females with each having sometimes a slightly different “pecking order.” Sometimes the females dynamics are influenced by the ganders but not always. Within a bonded group often there will be more dominant females than others, and dominant females will often take over another female’s nest and babies with the backing of her gander. This is normal.
______________________________
However flock dynamics can easily become toxic and even dangerous if the flock doesn’t have enough room, if there are too many birds in a small area stress levels increase and frequent fights that break out in confined areas sometimes will not stop.
Ways to mitigate this, provide plenty of access to pasture during the day. Flocks with space are healthier and happier.
Supply enrichment activities. Things like baby pools, buckets, dog chew toys, mud puddles, treats, pumpkins, hay bales, things in general they can tinker with that can occupy their time. Anything that rots should be removed before it begins to mold. Tinker and chew toys should be non metallic and toxin free and not be a choking hazard.
It’s best to keep individual cliques separate when nesting and at night, some can get along in one big shed at night, others can’t. To prevent nasty fights that don’t stop it’s a good idea to keep each little group in their own area at night and when nesting just in case. For example I have four cliques within my flock, they each have their own separate dog kennel for bedtime and it greatly reduces their stress and the chance of bs starting up in the night or early hours.
______________________________
Sometimes bullying can be because of a new flock member, geese form strong bonds and have long memories, it will naturally take time for a new addition to find their place in the flock and friends.
______________________________
Hormones also play a role, breeding season makes ganders pea brained and quick to anger, they can’t help it and there’s no way to prevent it.
______________________________
Another cause of bullying is sometimes not enough geese. Sometimes a gander will have all the girls to himself leaving another gander without a partner. Sometimes the only way to deal with this is to separate the most friendly female to him from the other group and place her in a separate enclosure with the lonely gander indefinitely until they bond, but sometimes this doesn’t work and the only solution is rehoming him to a new flock or getting him a new goose or gander to pair with.
Also sometimes a gander will only bond with one female or certain females leaving another female as a third wheel that’s constantly excluded and pushed out of their clique. The only solution is rehoming or getting her another gander or goose to bond with.
______________________________
Ganders can and do form wonderful strong bonds with each other but their relationship can vary due to individual personalities. Most bonded gander pairs will still squabble with each other in breeding season but they’ll quickly make up like nothing happened when the fight is over.
Something to be on the watch for however is that the bonded ganders will often feed off each others energy, especially during breeding season when their hormones are amped up, this can become dangerous if there are other ganders the pair considers as a rival because then you can get multiple ganders attacking one. If this keeps occurring separating the bonded pair from their target(s) is the only solution until hormones settle down. If it’s still happening then indefinite separation or rehoming is the only solution.
___________________________
Bullying between ganders and even ganders bullying females can also be because of the females. Many fights occur because a goose egged her mate on to attack another gander or drive a female out of their clique. You’ll need to be on the watch for this behavior if it becomes excessive and sometimes separate a problem female and place her in another group. “I’m talking about you Dandelion!”
In most cases I’ve seen in a larger flock with options it’s the female who picks her gander, occasionally a female will toy with more than one gander, like Dandelion who day after day would gravitate between Roxby and Helios and instigate fights between them when they’d previously got along okay. This high school behavior kept escalating so I made the choice for her and permanently placed her with Helios who’s calmer and less likely to give in to her war mongering and who was far less stressed to defend her like Roxby was, and I prevented her from interacting with Roxby for months. Things have been much more peaceful.
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