I started with two pairs of Cotton Patch geese. Two pairs of the Philadelphia line geese in September of 2019. I kept them as one flock in my small fenced-in pond. I tried to keep an open flock for breeding but the ganders fought so bad I had to split the pen and pond in half.. It worked well until breeding season hit. Even then there was a lot of honking and strutting with some arguments but nothing serious. Until it wasn’t fine the two ganders started seriously fighting

I found the one gander, Gideon, huddled inside a nesting hut with his head into the corner while my other gander, Captain Crunch, continued to beat and crunch Gideon’s elbows and beak when Gideon tried to bite back. The feathers on both elbow joints were pulled out and they were bleeding. His beak was badly bloodied. Up until this point, I had no idea that the beak of a goose was different than that of ducks and chickens. Instead of being just a hard bill, it has skin on it that gets bloody when they fight.

I took the injured gander into the house and I put him in the shower. With a handheld shower, I washed the blood from his feathers. I dried off the injuries and sprayed the open areas with a product called Alushield. It is a silver aerosol bandage that is waterproof. I held a rag over his eyes so I didn’t get it in his eyes. It takes a little to dry but lasts very well. My gander now had a silver bill and silver on his wing elbows.

Because some poultry can die from just the shock of an injury I was concerned that he was beaten so bad. I closed the shower curtain and turned off the light. In a few hours, I took him back out and penned the offending gander separately. I now know geese are very tough but at the time I didn’t.

I made a small pen, for the offending gander, Captain Crunch, next to the large pen that surrounds the pond. I put Gideon in with my two geese. For the next week, the Captain Crunch just paced back and forth all day in his small pen until he had worn a ditch six inches wide by five inches deep. Now I had another problem. I had a very stressed-out gander. While they are tough the ongoing stress caused him not to eat very much. This leaves them open to diseases much more quickly.

We finally decided to make a divider through the middle of the pen going straight through the pond 4″x6″ grid and 12′ long cattle panels. I didn’t think the geese could get through. But I knew when goslings hatched they could swim right through those large holes. But that was for another day. I’ve since have learned that my smaller birds can squeeze through if they are determined enough! But for the moment I didn’t know that. By this time the injured gander was fairly well healed minus a few feathers so I figured all was settled for now.

It took a few days till I had the holes under the fencing sealed up so the ganders couldn’t get through. Evidently, geese aren’t the smartest at times. I had one pair on either side but the ganders fought through the fence and again bloodied each other’s beaks and elbows up. In sheer desperation to protect them from each other, I decided on a few strands of very mild energizer fence. They still fought but when one tried to climb the fence their feet hit the wire. He got even more furious thinking the other gander had nipped him. After a number of times touching their feet against the wire, they both decided the other had hurt them.

Once the goslings hatched I had a problem. How was I going to keep the goslings from getting thru the 4″x6″ holes in the cattle panels. I decided to zip-tied a small mesh I had used to cover my grapes. But the ganders could still see each other through the fence. Then someone on the Cotton Patch Geese Society Facebook page said they might do better if they can’t see each other.

I zip tied weed barrier landscape fabric onto the fence. I unhooked the wires because they were no longer needed now that they could no longer see each other. Finally, there was peace in the goose pens.

I learned from last year and put up fences in mid-January. I blocked their view of each other using an off-brand house wrap that my husband, Roger, was given. The ganders strut and honk and try to see over the fence but make no attempt to slaughter each other. I had one goose fly over the fence so I clipped one side of her primary, long, wing feathers which prevents her from flying straight so they can’t get very high. I prefer not to clip them in case of danger that they need to fly away from. But as a last resort to protect themselves from their poor choices, I clip only the offending geese on one side. This makes them fly crooked which prevents them from flying over the fence. It doesn’t hurt them if the feathers are completely grown in and are white. When the feathers first start growing they have blood in them. But when fully grown they no longer have blood in them. Every year when birds molt they lose the old feather and grow new ones.