Customer Stories and Helpful Advice About Ducks & Geese

At our small 1.5 acre farmette on the central coast of California we have two Embden geese, a goose & a gander. They are both at this time about 6 months old; beautiful healthy birds. They are noisy greeters and watch geese, but typically quiet and mellow when undisturbed. When disturbed, the gander is by far the more aggressive of the two. He is quick to hand out nips and pulls to whomever enters his area, while the goose just keeps her distance with alert repetitive calls. The only exception is my 15-month old toddler. With our toddler he is a gentle nibbler.

We keep the geese sequestered now with our Thanksgiving turkey because they tend to be aggressive with our garden and our neighbors. I had given the geese up as a lost cause and candidates for holiday meals until I ran across your collection of short stories about geese late last night.

This morning, I approached the pen greeting the gander back when he called. I got down to the ganders level, bowing and gently croaking like the female does... and he settled down quickly, coming closely and gently nibbling and croaking back. The goose also came up to me and in no time I was being gently nibbled and petting them back just as I did when they where babies.

Son of a gun. I have just not been communicating with them in Goose. Your stories showed me a way to enjoy the geese within their social framework. Discovering a sympathetic way of enjoying the geese is a lot of fun for me.