stop biting me

[Patrick]

Oh, this has gotten so funny. You are all living, breathing, walking, talking cartoon characters. I had a pair of Toulouse geese that I got after they were grown. They would run, honking with necks outstretched as if they were going to attack everyone but me. I would catch them when they behaved that way toward me and hold them while petting their necks and talking softly to them. After being caught a few times the decided not to bother me.

I got a pair of brown Chinese Snow Geese last spring as goslings. I kept them in a box in the pantry at night for about a month until I had my barn secure from predators. I would herd them in at night and out in the morning. I had to catch them to put in or take out of the box. I would pet them and talk to them. Then I went OOT for 3 weeks and had no one to care for them so I took them in a box in my pickup and kept them in my camper at night to keep them safe from coyotes and owls. With all this personal attention both of them became real pets. They follow me around the yard, come to me when I am sitting in a chair and allow me to pick them up. They get involved in what ever I am doing, talking to me like they were asking questions or giving advice, pecking and "helping." The goose likes the handling better than the gander does. She will follow me and honk at times until I pick her up, pet her neck and talk to her. My gander got stolen (upright walking predator) and my goose lost lots of weight and I was afraid she was going to die. I started spending lots of time with her several times during the day and would go to the door and talk to her every time I heard her honking. She started eating at night when I went to the barn to pen her up and then began to gain weight. She seams contented hanging out with the silky rooster and no longer stands on the high point of the yard calling and calling for the gander as she had been doing.

I was rarely bitten by the Toulouse and only when I was holding them. They did bite others who got to close. On the rare times I was bitten by the Chinese Snow geese was when they were nibbling my clothes and got me through them. Yelling "ouch" resulted in the Chinese giving me a "Oops" look.

I'm just dying to know. What exactly is a Chinese Snow goose? It's too bad that your goose was stolen. The demand for pet ganders is just incredible. I can't keep them on the place, and I have a waiting list a mile long. It's just like the early stages of the emu craze, and this time I'm in on the ground floor. Cha ching!

[Oregon Swedes]

Patrick, I know you don't believe that ducks and geese get stolen, but they are food and the economy is bad and many people do not understand the concept of honesty.

Last year, I had my entire grape crop stolen. Every bunch of grapes, and not one stem left on the plants, like there would have been if birds had eaten the grapes. I had a couple of reports that strangers were wandering around on my property picking apples.

I have a 6 foot tall chain link around my property, and a gate with a chain and lock on it. Nobody mistakenly thought they were picking public fruit in a public park. I am located out in the country in a very low crime rate area, not near some slum.

I personally know people that have had their cattle butchered in the field and I have internet acquaintances that had their horses butchered in their stalls.

You'd better believe I will have a secure lock on my coop and run. Maybe nobody is stealing ganders for pets, but they are out there stealing ganders for roast goose. In fact, I suggest that you take a second look at your own security if you don't wish to see your breeding project end up in some loser's stew pot.

[goosedragon]

Well grbduck? wink wink as one who was banned but later forgiven and invited back, I considered you (i mean bb of course) to be a minor pest like a nit. I don't know if you (i mean bb of course) were warned or not, but nits can hatch into lice so maybe action was taken quickly to prevent that. ~gd

[Mary]

Patrick,

Chinese Swan Snow geese (often refered to as Chinese Snow geese or Chinese) are a small goose with, as I understand it, a couple of extra vertebra in it's neck. They have a reputation for being friendlier, making good pets as both of mine did. They are graceful and look a lot like the African with brown in the dark colored areas. They are suppose to be very good layers. The gander was stolen to eat by druggies who are also known alcoholics, theft is just a sideline to provide more money for drugs. So they ate him to make food money available for drugs or alcohol. They did the same with my ducks, which the son of the couple who had worked for me admitted when I told him I don't want your parents on my place again. He said something about they hadn't done anything. I said, "I never had any problems with my animals until your Mother came here." He said "MY MOTHER DIDN'T STEAL YOUR DUCKS" Hummmmm. I never mentioned ducks or what had happened. I had an electric extension cord disappear when he worked for me that I kept asking "where is the big orange cord?" and he kept pointing to a tiny dirty gray/orange one and saying "that is it." Well, one would think I would know my own property. The sad part is he had been recommended by a neighbor of mine. I lost a lot of respect for the neighbor as they are related.

Oregon Swedes,
Lots of us have had food thieves. An employed nurse, not a person that needed food, came onto my property to steal peaches. She knew she was trespassing. She laid it to she was friends with the people who use to live on the property. Seeing that the mobile home had been removed and the lot cleared I seamed to me to be apparent that her "friends" no longer lived there. The lies thieves will tell. There is just a serious lack of moral integrity in society in this time.

This thieving is why I went to the trouble to get a guardian dog. He will be between 110 and 200 pounds when he is grown. His breed is known along the border where wet backs are a problem to protect flocks of sheep, goats, llamas and birds from thief. Since courts and police are useless in small crime and nearly useless in larger crime I figured it was best to deal with things myself. By the way. My place is chain link fenced and locked gates. It doesn't stop a determined criminal. Locks, gates and such only keep the honest honest.

[JustDucky]

Hi I'm new to this forum, but I have a similar problem. My male Pekin duck used to be so loving, but he's been attacking me and no one else for a few months now. I've tried everything like distracting him with food, trying to make myself look like the bigger duck, holding him and petting him and nothing works. I love our ducks but he's just so aggressive! I have to wear leather gloves and two sweaters just to keep him from leaving welts on my hands and arms! Just wondering if anyone had any words of wisdom for me. Thanks for reading

[Angela]

Hi I'm new to this forum, but I have a similar problem. My male Pekin duck used to be so loving, but he's been attacking me and no one else for a few months now. I've tried everything like distracting him with food, trying to make myself look like the bigger duck, holding him and petting him and nothing works. I love our ducks but he's just so aggressive! I have to wear leather gloves and two sweaters just to keep him from leaving welts on my hands and arms! Just wondering if anyone had any words of wisdom for me. Thanks for reading

Oh dear......
First thing that you have to realize....DUCKS ARE NOT PETS! You cannot attach your emotions to their behavior. Most likely, the duck doesn't want to be messed with....leave him alone. He sees you as a food source. You've gotten too close, now you need to teach them some respect to keep them from hurting you.
Don't pick the pretty ducky up....I'm reasonably sure that he doesn't enjoy it near as much as you do. I know that they are soft and cuddly....but they can, and will hurt you. Don't feed them from your hand, as they will expect it and mob you. I know it's cute, but so is a hand with five fingers.....hint, hint.

Oh, and by the way.....China geese can be very aggressive and "snappy". Quite lovely however....I've had a few.

And yes, people are getting desperate out there. I live on a rural farm, and have been the victim of livestock theft. Police returned an old paint horse of mine a few years ago. Caught some ole boy walking her down the road.... I'll not even get started on the birds. Big dogs help, but there are no real safeguards when people are hungry. Besides, my family and I can always find enough to feed another hungry soul...

Angela

[bigbeak]

Stop biting me was my question. Since I have started calling them Goosedragon they bite more. So now I just yell stop biting me. This works better than yelling Goosedragon.
Glad to be back GD

[Mary]

Angela,

My remaining brown and white ganders and occasionally one of the gooses will slam me with a beak. If I turn and try to touch them they back up and leave me alone. This is a hard peck with closed beak. I think they are trying to get my attention. I have had them bite, so I know it hurts. I maintain a dominate relationship with my birds and have not had the ducks get out of line like the geese try to do. The roosters on rare occasions will threaten to attack. I walk them down until they make a flight escape. I have a couple that tend to bother other people, a silky rooster and Partridge rock. The friends carry sticks or fiberglass post to warn them off. It works well.

[Evy]

Stop biting me was my question. Since I have started calling them Goosedragon they bite more. So now I just yell stop biting me. This works better than yelling Goosedragon.
Glad to be back GD

They're agressive geese, not children. Angela's advice is right on...be the aggressior ! Grab him & pin him down a few times & he'll realize you're bigger than he is.

[Mary]

Just Ducky,

Have you tried separating the drake from the flock to a small pen? I got tired of my 10 drakes mauling the 24 duck hens and put them in a pen alone. They are mellow now and forced to be nicer to the hens as the only time they have lady visits is when the hens jump into their pen. 24 inch chicken wire has worked well to separate them.