My gander lost his mate. Will gosslings heal his broken heart?

Two days ago, we noticed that our girl goose was missing. Her mate is super sad. He circles the house over and over, calling for her. We don't see any feathers or signs of her being taken by a preditor. But, I'm thinking that, if she's on a nest, he'd know about it? We've taken every egg, too, and didn't see any missing, so don't think she's had a chance to hide any.

We can't find any other Toulouse goose girls in our area. I'm wondering if he'll be less sad if we get him some goslings. Maybe one will grow up to be a girl for him. The local farm store will have some for sale in a few days, so we could get some then. But, will goslings sooth his broken heart?

I'm so sorry... poor boy. I have no idea if it would help, though...

Maybe someone else has ideas what might help? Should we just try to get a girl of a different species of goose. He hangs out near our ducks, but he still searches and cries for his love every day. He also tries to smash open his house door every morning in attempts to get out and search for her.

I went through this several years ago.  However, he had seen his mate die, so we didn't have the looking for behaviour. At first Heinrich acted sad. Then about 4 weeks later, when I let him out in the morning, he did his, "greet the new day"  behaviour and it was as if he was telling me that he was ready for a mate.

We were very lucky. I emailed a rescue lady that I knew, asking if she knew of anyone who might have a goose needing a home. She's not terribly communicative... her reply, "will you take a gosling too?" Yep!  

I set up a piece of dog-X-pen fencing across their shelter and introduced the Goose and Gosling near dark with the Gander on the other side of the fence. The both clearly informed me the next morning, that, "thank you very much, but this fence is annoying us!" They were an awesome 3-some from the next morning.

The Goose and gosling weren't directly related which turned out to be a good thing as Heinrich also passed in the late winter yucky weather. The gosling was a Gander, so we again had a pair.

If it were me, and you like that breed, I would give the goslings a go. Heinrich had always adored babies - often "babysitting" Muscovy ducklings while their moms went off for a bath. I haven't seen as much of that in Beetle yet, but he was still very young last year. I'm just waiting until he wanders up property and sees what BWD hatched out on Sat.  I just moved them onto grass today!  



The neat thing about the baby shelter I moved them to is that the other adults can greet and talk to mom and babies through the mesh, but can't get to them. This makes it easier for me to integrate them into the flock when they're old enough. I also once had a Drake that bonded to a triplet of Khaki ducklings and did a great job of raising them. I would take the chance providing you're willing to go with how your Gander reacts and can be flexible with your approach as they develop a relationship.

I agree that any companionship is a great idea. Geese don't need the same breed, so any goose or gosling might do, for a friend if nothing else.

I don't know how he would react to the new small ones, so you'd have to judge on that. If he's been a good dad in the past he might be a great dad for the babies. If he has no experience with goslings and reacts badly to them, you might end up in my position - raising goslings.

I've only had the one gosling (hatched by a chicken) up to this point, and Pat was left with his Mom who raised him to be very confused, and he crossed the goose/chicken barrier between the flocks. I've been slowly letting the adult geese get to know the two goslings I have right now, and am thinking about just letting them meet again (the first time I tried, three or so weeks ago, my gander tried to bite one).

Geese need friends.

I'm sorry for your loss. My heart hurts for you and your gander.

He's not walking around calling for her as much, and he's still eating. I had hopes that he'd bond with the ducks, since he spent a day with them. But, the last two days he's just burst out of the duck yard to walk around the house.

At least he doesn't seem too depressed.

I'm not sure if he'd do will ducklings. His mate was always very motherly, but he'd often peck at them. He never seemed to hurt the babies his lady took in, but I don't know if he'll keep them warm.

My kids want to get two new chicks. Maybe we could put two goslings with the two chicks, if the gander rejects them? We had a gosling with ducklings in the past, and that went well. But, that was just one gosling, so he only had the ducklings to bond with. I'm not sure if the same will work for chicks and goslings... Has anyone put a pair of goslings with a pair of chicks?

Michelle Reasor wrote: But, that was just one gosling, so he only had the ducklings to bond with. I'm not sure if the same will work for chicks and goslings... Has anyone put a pair of goslings with a pair of chicks?

 
I have had a pair of goslings with a Khaki duckling and with a Muscovy mom make a pretty good family. I've never tried either geese or ducks with chickens as babies, only as adult room-mates.

Can you set up a heat lamp for the goslings in the Goose house? Make a barrier that the goslings can get through, but the Gander can't? Just big enough that the goslings can get warm but will still be inclined to go out and spend time with the gander?

No matter how you slice this: 1. it's going to be work. Hopefully not too much work, but still work.
2. you will likely have to adjust and problem solve as you go along.
3. you mention children - this sort of real-life problem solving is good for their development. That will be the bonus! They've seen what an unhappy Gander looks like, and hopefully, if it does all work out, they'll see how even animals get over loss and carry on. Successful mourning isn't a skill we're very good at teaching in North America.  

We ended up getting two goslings and two chicks. I tried introducing the goslings to the gander. Honked and came a little near....and then wandered away. We tried a few times, and he just wasn't too interested.

We put the goslings with the chicks. They were both very young and tiny, and so far, they've been getting along wonderfully. Maybe it's because they are young and don't know any better? The chicks love to snuggle on and under the goslings. The goslings don't seem to mind at all. I haven't seen any pecking. My kids love seeing them together.

The gander is still just kind of doing his own thing. He's not crying anymore. But, he still tries to bust open his door, and he won't stay in his yard. He'll hang out with the ducks, and then escape. He stays close to the house most of the time, but I still worry he'll get eaten.

Michelle Reasor wrote: The gander is still just kind of doing his own thing. He's not crying anymore. But, he still tries to bust open his door, and he won't stay in his yard. He'll hang out with the ducks, and then escape. He stays close to the house most of the time, but I still worry he'll get eaten.

Many geese do mate for life, so you will have to wait and see how this plays out.

Do you have any idea how old the gander is, or his goose that was lost?

From one "mixed flock" person to another - the whole gosling-and-chick-raised-together thing works beautifully until suddenly it doesn't.

I had two goslings in a brooder with (random number) of chicken chicks. They were great roommates and the goslings would bed down with the chicks and everything was wonderful until ... (mood music) *The Pluckening*!

From what I can tell, one (or both) of the goslings took sudden exception to the feathers coming in on the faster-developing chicks and removed them. The feathers, that is. I separated the two types immediately - no permanent injury was done, and they are all currently outside enjoying whatever they are doing in the chick pen and gosling pen (next to each other).

I don't think this will necessarily happen with your mixed group but wanted you to be aware of the possibility. Forewarned is forearmed, after all.

How is he holding up?