Breeding season officially ended in the middle of May for our three trios and one pair of Pilgrims. I marked the breeding groups and put all the geese together in a large field.

For marking I used colorful zip ties, one on each leg: blue-North Field, red-orchard, orange-terraces and green-garden. No matter where I place the breeding groups next breeding season, they will be identified by those names. The zip ties are rather small so I will keep an eye on them, and exchange them as needed with larger ones.

Because they have been separated since last December for breeding, the geese have been reestablishing the flock’s social order. Two ganders have been battling out for top position in the flock. I placed all the geese in a large field so there is space for the squabbling, space for the loser to move away from the flock and space for the rest of the flock to avoid the strong wings and bills of the fighting ganders. This arrangement is opposite of what I do when moving rams back together after breeding season. When joining rams, I put them in a very small paddock, one small enough to prevent a running start to the “ramming” that rams engage in when they reestablish the social order of the flock.