Anyone's Cotton Patch Geese laying?

[RHRanch]

The lighter colored and darker colored bills (as well as down) is how you identify the gender. The darker are the female, the lighter are the male. You can tell the difference between solid and saddleback with both male and female, but it's a lot easier on the females since they have darker coloring. The solids generally don't have splotches of dark, the saddlebacks do. The easiest way to tell a saddleback is if it has grey on its head then a yellow neck and grey again. It takes some practice and I even mix them up a bit after doing it for years.

I have had mommas squash their babies. I think it's a new mom thing as my older girls have never done that since I've had them (they were older when I bought them)

Aurorasprings, why don't you post some pics and we'll try to identify them?

I agree that the squishing is an unexperienced/new mama thing. Thats why I am pulling any goslings my girls hatch this year until the babies are a bit more hardy. The geese I have sitting are probably just now about 1 year old, so they have a strong mothering/setting instinct, but they still have learning to do on how to take care on newborns, and I just don't want to risk it.

 

[AuroraSprings]

Three light bills, two dark bills; all have colored down


Newest - dark bill



Dark on right, Light on left


And family photo to conclude


What do ya think?

 

[AuroraSprings]

So saddleback males have coloring? I thought they wouldn't outwardly show the saddleback, since only females have coloring? It was a long time ago when Mark explained it to me, so I can't clearly remember.

 

[RHRanch]

This is my first year hatching out babies, but I think the saddleback males have coloring - I hope Serina can chime in here. I am posting a pic with a large pink billed gosling with dark marks on back and head - I think its a saddleback male. Serina?

 

[Serina81]

So saddleback males have coloring? I thought they wouldn't outwardly show the saddleback, since only females have coloring? It was a long time ago when Mark explained it to me, so I can't clearly remember.

Saddleback males have coloring in their down which doesn't show up when their feathers grow out.

 

[Serina81]

Okay, let's put my gender specifying skills to the test lol.
The first picture (auroraspring's): The gosling top left looks like a male (I'm going to guess solid, but looking at the neck helps) with a female next to it (hard to tell without seeing her bill, but looks like the legs are dark and her down looks pretty dark compared to the boy next to her)
Second picture: the same top two and then below them from left to right, definitely a female (look how dark that bill is) with a male next to it. Looks like the female may be saddleback as her neck looks light, but that could be a trick of the picture. The male next to her appears to be solid as he has overall a light grey coloring, the third peaking in looks like a solid male

Third picture: For sure a female (the dark bill is still dark even though the tip is light, that's normal-and the legs are dark), looks like a solid
Fourth pic: looks like a male on the farthest left, another male, the third with the serene expression

looks like a female saddleback, but depending on how accurate the coloring of the picture is, it could be a male saddleback. She has a bit of grey right at the top of the bill which makes me think it's a female-the saddlebacks are the hardest to tell apart because the bill is much less grey on the female saddlebacks. The best way to learn the difference between the two is look at a hatch of all saddlebacks and compare the two. The other two goslings are definitely female solids.
The fifth picture is: Adorable

And for miss RHranch, that is definitely a male saddleback. So now you can see the difference between this saddleback and the one in aurorasprings fourth pic



Another trick is that males are smaller than females and saddlebacks are smaller than solids. So the smallest gosling will be a saddleback male and the biggest a solid female.

 

[RHRanch]

Thanks Serina! I hoped I was right as he went to his new home today. What a relief to know I guessed right. I have hatched 6 babies so far. I am expecting more from the second goose who is setting on another nest so folks in So Cal who want goslings should let me know.

 

[hossfeathers]

Okay, I need some suggestions/advice, please...

So the girls are now laying. Thirteen eggs total, including the three in the frig. No steady sitting, yet, although I have seen one of the girls sitting on the nest early in the morning and more frequenlty and consitantly over the last couple of days. Here she is from Sunday.


Every time I go out to the nest, it seems there are more eggs, and there are a few eggs that are being shoved "outside" the nest. These eggs are still in the nest, but tucked into the straw around the nest "bowl" not the nest itself.

So my questions are:

1) Days to hatch start when she is sitting on the eggs pretty much permanently, yes? And don't worry until she starts to set permanently, because there is not anything I can do until then...

2) Should I collect up the "outside" eggs? This is three of them (and no I have not marked them) and today the "inside" eggs were warm but the "outside" ones were not.

3) I think I didn't mention it, but I gave up on separate pens for the two pairs, and put both pairs back together, and that's when they started laying. (Unclear if this is related...at least to me.) I'm still letting them out for a few hours in the evening. Any harm in continuing this? On sunday, one of the girls (see pic above) went out with the others, then went back in to set on the eggs. She wandered out with the rest today, but when I walked them back in at dark, she went right over to the nest and settled down in it. Thoughts?

4) When she starts setting, should I change the let out schedule?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and help!

 

[hossfeathers]

Okay - update -

Twelve eggs in the nest, including now five "outside". And one or the other of the girls is just about always on the nest.

Thoughts on getting an incubator running now, and trying to pull the "outside" eggs & incubating them?

Thoughts on pulling them and putting them under a muscovy that is getting broody?

 

[AuroraSprings]

Personally I'd pull as many as would fit under broody hen and hope they lay a second clutch.