Is there any way to sex my geese?

[5paceDandy]

I have 4 geese, 1 white Chinese and 3 African geese (I believe…). I am pretty sure my white Chinese is a female, and I was told that the 3 African are split, 1 female and 2 males, but I was never told which was which. Is there anyway to tell? Or does anyone want to venture a guess? The link below is to a video I have uploaded to YouTube if anyone would like to take a gander (lol… ).

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

No expert on these breeds, but the three African all seen to have long necks and are protective of the white one, so I'd guess you have 3 African gander and a Chinese goose. Definitely wait for more opinions than mine.

 

[Tonyroo]

They look all female. The males for the Africans would have a huge bump on there face. Yours don't have that unless there still under a year old.

 

[NatJ]

I was told that the 3 African are split, 1 female and 2 males, but I was never told which was which. Is there anyway to tell? Or does anyone want to venture a guess?

Without knowing geese, but after reading the other responses, I think your 3 Africans are all the same gender as each other.

(One of the other posters said male, and the other said female, and they both had specific reasons for their answer. But neither one pointed out differences between one African and another.)

I did find an older thread where people were talking about sexing 2 African geese:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/are-our-african-geese-males-or-females.1433747/
(They discussed various ways to tell, decided both were male, got confused when the owner found a goose-sized egg, and then the egg turned out to be a giant double-yolk duck egg instead.)

I found a page on a different website with a photo of a male & female African goose, labeled:
http://www.majesticwaterfowl.org/arthonks3.htm
I see the male is bigger in general, and has a much bigger knob on his bill in the photo.
Of course, differences like "bigger knob" are easier to spot when you have some of each gender to compare.

I've read that geese can be vent sexed, and I know it's possible to pay for DNA sex testing on any bird (iqbirtesting.com is one place for that.) If all three Africans are the same gender, getting a definite answer for just one could tell you what they all are.

Or of course you would wait and see if any lay eggs in the spring. How old are they?

 

[JRies]

The 3 brown look like color genetic splits (white x brown breeding) thats where the white patches come from. the tell tail sign Im seeing for boys is the way they stand tall and trow there chest out. Its a boy thing, the way they are all performing for the white and the depth of the whites voice is pointing towards girl. The white also walks in a lower position (chest closer to the ground) another sign you have a girl.

 

[telandra2]

The three browns look up to the sky a lot, that is something my ganders do. (Same as stand tall with chest out?)

My white gander has a huge knob and a mini dewlap. His 'sister' has a knob larger than yours and acts much more docile than 'her' brother, my brown gander and his hormonal ganderlings. Based on that I agree yours is a she. (Quotes because maybe mine will end up being a docile boy.)

My boys have started challenging dad. Chest bumps and wing flapping. The girl rank fights have been 'whose on top' pseudo mating. The young ganderlings also had serious 'gosling fight club'.

 

[Goosebaby]

I wish I knew but I don’t have Africans or Chinese geese.

They’re beautiful though!

 

[Iain Utah]

The browns are all boys and the white is a girl. Others are correct that the posture for males is more upright and they appear to be strutting and fawning over the white goose. The most tell-tale sign for me are the vocal sounds. Boys have the higher pitched screechy kind of wail, where girls have a low-pitched honk-honk.

 

[5paceDandy]

I had read that geese mate for life, so is having only 1 female a BAD idea? And they are still young (the white goose was born July 18th and the Africans are about a month-month and a half older), is it too late to try and balance out the ratio? Today I had one of the African geese attacking to other 2 and my partner told me the one even went after the white goose briefly! He was biting them on the back, shoulder feathers-kind of area and on the neck and holding on; chasing them around. We separated him from the rest who are all getting along just fine…

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I had read that geese mate for life, so is having only 1 female a BAD idea? And they are still young (the white goose was born July 18th and the Africans are about a month-month and a half older), is it too late to try and balance out the ratio? Today I had one of the African geese attacking to other 2 and my partner told me the one even went after the white goose briefly! He was biting them on the back, shoulder feathers-kind of area and on the neck and holding on; chasing them around. We separated him from the rest who are all getting along just fine…

I had three ganders bond with a goose last year and it wasn't good. I removed two of them. Poor goose had a bald neck very quickly.

I'm not sure if you can get them to pick a new mate. The grabbing sounds like attempts at mating or dominating. Personally I'd remove one, or two, but I know not everyone is willing to eat or rehome extras.