It's Complicated

Well finally I have joined BYC I have followed this site and forums for the last 6 months from when I got my (what the locals call) Kampung Chickens, I am an English man living here in Malaysia for the last 17 years. I bought in total 47 birds at 6 weeks old and they were going great until 3 weeks ago when some person or persons thought that they would make a quick dollar being as the demand is super high for the so called medicinal properties of Kampung Chickens and the forth coming Chinese New Year and broke in stealing 30 of my birds. I was prepared against the monkeys, monitor lizards and other wildlife but I was not prepared against the human. Anyway my remaining 17 birds are still fine and I am getting 9 eggs a day which is great.

All that was off subject sorry for that I thought I would give a little background, anyway about 6 months ago I bought a pair of 3 week old Chinese brown geese they were supposed to be a pair, one was bigger and seemed stronger than the other so maybe they were.(I bought them as a deterrent for monkeys) However as they have grown and come of age so to speak they have changed. I thought I had them sussed but I am not sure now.

The bigger one when they were small is now the smallest one,

The smallest one is much darker than the other,

The lighter coloured one is really light in colour and bigger is in size,

They both hiss, stretch their necks and speed their wings when I come to feed them.

The lumps on their heads are about the same size,

The darker smaller one will not let you closer to it, it always stays just out of arms reach,

The larger one is better than a labrador dog, it will come to you and walk between you legs wanting to be petted all the time, it loves to be picked up,

I have not listened to their sounds so not sure about that,

When they get in the little pond they love to bathe,

If the smaller darker bird is in the pond the bigger lighter coloured bird does not bother it,

If the bigger lighter coloured bird gets in the water then the smaller darker bird tries to grab the back of the other birds neck and pushes it under water, seems like it doesn't know he supposed to get on top haha (sorry) anyway I am confused after reading all the facts on the forums it would seem that the smaller bird is the gander but everything I have read tells me the opposite. How do we really tell? or do I have to wait until there are either eggs or not in a couple of months time??

Stephen

Quote: Their sound is the biggest giveaway, so if you're impatient, you should start listening to them.

Make a picture! then we will tell you since its easiest to tell if you have a picture :/
sounds like your geese are the same sex

Yes please post a picture!

The first pic is my larger very petty friendly more lightly coloured bird, the second pic is my smaller darker not so friendly bird.

Just what i thought they are both males XD
They are brown chinese cross with white chinese goose because they have white at their belly but they are still pure chinese
the first pic looks like brown african cross whiite chinese (africans are a lot lighter in colour then chinese)

Thank you for your reply, I sort of thought that deep down but hoped I was wrong. I only have room for 2 geese comfortably so if I want a female, then one has to go. This is a very difficult choice because I really like the colour of the darker smaller bird but the other larger bird is just so friendly.

On another note, if I keep these 2 males will they fight later when they get older?
If I added one more female will they fight then?
If I part with one bird and replace with an adult female will they get along together?
Now I am a little disappointed would have solved my problem if they had sold me correctly in the first place.

Thanks again for the inputs I really appreciate it.

Stephen

Wild1 said:

Thank you for your reply, I sort of thought that deep down but hoped I was wrong. I only have room for 2 geese comfortably so if I want a female, then one has to go. This is a very difficult choice because I really like the colour of the darker smaller bird but the other larger bird is just so friendly.

On another note, if I keep these 2 males will they fight later when they get older?
If I added one more female will they fight then?
If I part with one bird and replace with an adult female will they get along together?
Now I am a little disappointed would have solved my problem if they had sold me correctly in the first place.

Thanks again for the inputs I really appreciate it.

Stephen

Click to expand...

Iain Utah a member here had 2 ganders on her property when she moved in and they were best friends even raised some goslings for her. Now if you add a goose to the mix they may fight over her. But if you keep one gander and get him a goose they will have some adjustments to make till they get to know each other but mating season usually enforces their relationship. But i can tell you from experience most ganders are pretty cranky during breeding season so your very sweet boy may turn into Mr Hyde for a while.

Well I now feel such a fool!!!

Today I called the guy who sold me the so called pair of goslings 6 months ago, fortunately he is a family friend and is an ok type of guy. So he agreed for me to bring one back and he would swap it for a slightly younger female, Now then decision time, which one do I take back?

I like the look of the smaller darker bird even though he is not that friendly, he comes to me but stays just out of touching range.
The larger lighter coloured bird is very friendly better than a labrador dog haha (not exactly) he will follow me and want petting all the time you are in the field.

Well I want the geese primarily to chase away the monkeys from taking the eggs from my chickens so I went with the not so friendly smaller darker bird and took my very friendly bird back to where he came from . You should have seen him, we got out of the car and he jumped out from the back my pickup followed behind me all the way down the field until we got to the lake and the other geese then off he went never looking back. I hope he settles there I am thinking there will be some squabbles but our friend said he would be ok.

Now then the stupid part, having never seen an adult female Chinese brown goose before and then now our friend passes this really nice cute as anything bird to me. I can tell in an instant the difference now having actually seen one in the flesh so to speak it is so easy to tell the difference. I bet all the people out there reading my first post must think what an idiot !!!!! hahaha now I can see.

Well I took the little girl back home and first put her in the goose house locking the other male outside, I was scared incase they fought. She got all hot panting and pacing back and forth climbing the walls nearly to get out, so we let her out after 1 hr. She settled straight away like she had been born there talking away to the male and he showed no sign of aggression to her. Now they are talking to each other and walking side by side around the pen. when together the difference is great and easy to see now I am embarrassed but they look ok.

To finish off, the female got into the pond right beside the male and straight away he did what he used to do to his brother which was grab its neck and try to climb on his back but this time the female did not fight him like the other gander did, she let him do it but he still cannot get on top properly, even though he used his wing to try to push her underneath, however he is still young and still trying. So I think eventually when he gets this sorted and has some practice we might just have them settled. Now I have a goose and gander, confirmed.

Thanks again, all the help was appreciated.

Stephen from Malaysia..

Just to finish this off here are 2 pics, one of the happy couple and one of the new goose definitely not a gander haha now I can see the difference.


Her head is much sleeker and overall she is smaller built. Now I can hear the sounds as well, before they sounded the same so I could not tell, that is of course because they were the same sex.