Our gander last year turned mean with the breeding season in late winter. He got steadily worse and we ended up culling him as soon as his two ladies were safely sitting on fertile eggs. They didn't seem to miss him, even though our Pilgrim Willow was clearly his favourite. The other female, our Buff, was always on the edge of the trio... I felt bad for her, but have realized since that she prefers to be a little apart. She swiftly turned the goslings over to Willow and assumed the male role of protection once the gander was gone.

I think all ganders tend to be protective of their mates. I draw the line at biting and flogging with wings. I'm hoping our boy this year stays mellow... so far he is a bit aloof, but gentle.

I'm not sure this ramble is any help to you... My girls last year made their nests in the goose house, so protection was not an issue. Maybe if you put extra straw in their crate they will nest in there. Otherwise, you may have to pop a portable "dog house" style house over them -- one you can close at night.

I wouldn't worry about her with the other geese. My big concern is that if you're expecting even the most agressive goose to be protection from predators, you're in for another rude awakening some morning.

As an aside, "mean" geese are always caused by excessive tameness brought on by raising them as pets rather than as geese. With the exception of when they're setting or have newly hatched goslings in close proximity to humans (a few feet), geese raised properly that have not lost a healthy respect for humans do not need to be needlessly given away or killed for agression issues.

QUOTE: '"mean" geese are always caused by excessive tameness brought on by raising them as pets rather than as geese.'

You raise a valid point, Patrick, but I do question the "always". Geese vary in temperament the same as any other critters.

The offspring of my "mean" gander and the pair of Pilgrim day-olds I purchased were raised together from a few days old; and yet they grew up totally different in temperament. I could clearly see the same aggressive traits in his half-Pilgrim offspring, but not in the pure Pilgrim pair.

So on the "nature or nurture" question, I have to say "some of each."

Thanks for the insight. We tried not to raise these as pets, never fed them by hand and indeed, adding two more geese was done soley to keep them from assuming humans as good company. The remaining pair got rather clingly after we lost the first two.

As for leaving protection duties up to the gander, please let me clarify that we don't shift the onus to him...in fact, we've taken extensive means to provide secure enclosures for them, day and night. I do suspect that his size and assertiveness does count for something. He once scared a bill collector off of the property, though he wasn't trying really. (Our neighbors love this story).

We're certainly hoping his behavior won't escalate. If so, we'll except this as partially our fault, either in raising or handeling. (We tried to stay clear of the Chinese when selecting a breed after reading that, short of the Embden, they can be a bit testy).

My inquiry thus was mostly to protect our lonely-only goose, not knowing how she'll fair being left out of the trio. We'd feel badly if she fell into harm's way because we didn't bother to inquire.

LF (RJ)