[Grasshopper30]

Hi

Sadly we discovered our beloved gander this morning dead after a fox attack. (somehow got into their closed house) leaving our goose on her own.  I have always thought that geese needed to be in pairs and am now unsure whether she will be alright on her own for a while?

Normally we would get her mate straightaway but I have recently been made redundant and it is looking like we may have to sell our entire smallholding, so buying more livestock doesn't seem v sensible.  However we can't bear to think of an animal being lonely, and I would rather give her away to a good home if that is the case.

If she would be ok for a while then we can do nothing and see what transpires over the next couple of weeks.  If we can stay then we will get her a new mate without delay.

Any advice very welcome.

[nettelein]

Hi there . That is soooo sad. How long have they been together? I'm not a specialist in this, but one thing I do know from own experience, is that, if they have been together for a long time, she will be very lonely. My parents had geese (as well as ducks and chicken) for many years. in the end they had one pair of geese left, too old to lay or for the table, so they just lived a happy retirement in my parents garden. When the gander died of age, the goose followed soon after, just sat down in a lonely corner and although she was loved by us all, with many hugs and kind words, she died after a couple of weeks. It was heartbreaking to see.
so much to my own experience, but I don't know anything about introducing a new gander. I don't know if she will just accept him, so advice is needed from someone else. Just so you know, I feel for you. Lost all my ducks to a fox a few weeks back. It was heart breaking
Hope it has a good ending

[Brucklay]

Ok not a goose story but we had a hen (Penny) and cockeral (Poppy - he was meant to be a hen) for 9 years they were partners and seemed very happy together then one day as I opened them up I found Poppy had passed away overnight - I thought Penny would follow soon as they had be partners and best buddy's - lo and behold Penny adjusted to her new life of chief of the ducks and is still with us at over 10 - so who knows - I would say you need a goose expert to confirm but maybe the fact we had other fowl around it was a different from Nettlelein