Geese Behaving Badly

Lately JoJo has become an obnoxious goose, hissing at just about everyone except for me and biting at the goats whenever possible. Oddly enough BullyBob tolerates the nips and never steps back from the fence when JoJo reaches through to harry him. The does are less patient and step out of JoJo's reach if he reaches into their pasture.

With the perimeter fence complete, the geese have been limited to the upper acres. They've been reluctant to be herded into a cage for shelter at night, allowing me to do so only once every few nights. Since they've been so disagreeable I've figured they'll be okay fending for themselves, so most nights I don't even try to herd them to shelter. On Saturday morning I finally understood JoJo's behavior. I had blocked the front entrance to the barn at night to discourage the geese from settling in there. In the morning I noticed a distinct absence of geese until I stepped up to remove the welded metal barrier from the barn door. As soon as I got close to the barn, JoJo started hissing at me, at me!, in earnest. Undeterred by my hissing back, he was adamant that I stay out of his barn. Then I noticed LaLa lying peacefully underneath my dad's desk (the barn is still full of boxes and furniture from our move). She got up to reveal a nest of hay and two goose eggs--the first I've seen.

Once she left, I took the cool egg to the house, leaving the newly deposited egg there should she wish to settle upon it. The time had come to unpack the Hova-Bator incubator. With the help of Google, I found the instruction manual for assembly and operation, and set the incubator up in my office. Will the egg hatch? Time will tell. I've since been told that geese will lay eggs in several spots, so LaLa may well have more in reserve.

All told, I'm glad to understand JoJo's assertive behavior. I was glad to learn that such over-protectiveness is par for the course in spring and JoJo had not just turned into a sour goose out to intimidate people.