The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: simone on March 20, 2015, 04:17:58 pm
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Hopefully we'll be getting our first geese very soon - and I happened to be reading in 'Pigs, Poultry and Poo' by Jason Gibbs today that the best way to show a goose/gander who’s boss is to pick it up and tap it’s bottom in front of it’s friends a few times.
Is he joking? I'm not brave enough to ask my next door neighbour if he spanks his geese so thought i'd post here!
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I'd like to know if this actually works! If it works for geese maybe it will work for ducks, my drake drives me crazy by chasing me round the garden nipping my ankles!
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Aha - something else for the city dwellers on their weekend trip to the countryside to marvel at - the ways of the yokels, spanking their geese :o ;D
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Fifty shades of Greylag?! :excited:
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Sorry, it doesn't work.
Don't ask me how I now know! :roflanim:
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I wonder if it works on husbands :thinking:
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With aggressive drakes and cockerels, pin them down and ruffle their feathers for a few seconds. They soon know who's boss. Not sure if spanking geese helps but I usually find a boot works if they push things too far!
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Mine got a tap on the beak for nipping. They now just nibble at my leg when waiting for their grub though they will go for strangers.
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Now who would be brave enough to try that one !
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I grab their beaks, pick them up and walk round with them under an arm. They don't try it for a while then and a stern word and walking after them is usually enough. Just watch for the others coming while you are picking them up! My main problem is stopping the one who fancies me from trying to chase the other ganders away and getting in a scrap. They get on peacefully if I am not there.
;D
Helen
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For those of you with geese, try this one, which I guarantee does work:
Hold the goose still on the ground with one hand and with the other, place the goose's head under its wing. Then put your first hand over that wing to hold it in place.
Then, with your now free hand, repeatedly stroke very gently from the top of the goose's neck right down to its body. After a few times, you'll feel the goose start to relax, and you can take away the hand you've still got over the wing.
Keep stroking and you'll find the goose sort of goes to sleep. You can then get gentler and gentler with the strokes until you eventually stop and walk away quietly, leaving the goose asleep.
If you have a couple of geese (and people), you can turn it into a competition to see who can sleep their goose for longest ;D
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Womble- now I'm tempted to get a goose just so I can try this :roflanim:
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Oooh, I'll try that Womble - although the ganders haven't been too bad this year. I've tried pinning them down in the past which works short term but not for very long.
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I stick my hand in the air so that it looks like a big goose head and walk to meet the gander. I stops him in full head down running attack mode. A broom held a high seems to work the same way. They seem to be more respectful of height than anything else.