2019 Gosling Hatch-A-Long

[Iain Utah]

Best of luck, Serv! Hope the storm doesn't cause too much of a mess.

 

[servpolice]

Storm in the end wasn't too bad thank goodness. Only minor damage.

Now my geese are in mating mode once again!

My 3 year old gander was mating with my 5 month old female.

My 3 5 month old ganders are doing mating signals constantly while my 3 year old female is mating too.

I don't expect eggs but I've never had African geese so young being active like this.

We'll see how it goes.

 

[Iain Utah]

Serv, glad you fared well with the storm!

I wouldn't be terribly surprised if your 3yo laid eggs, but I think 5 months is too young.

Winter came super early at our place, with our 2nd major snow storm in the last 10 days. No signs of breeding at all around here. That probably means we'll get an early start next spring. My flock is at max capacity, so I hope to not hatch any eggs next year, but will enjoy watching others hatch babies.

 

[servpolice]

I do hope for eggs but the female doesn't seem to nest or anything but you never know.

I don't expect anything from my goslings. I just wonder why they decide to get active so early.

The weather has been nicer than our usual Octobers. My goslings are fast maturing this year I guess!

I haven't had a buff gander in 2-3 years so that's my aim in 2020.

 

[servpolice]

Update on the youngsters! I sold two adult ganders and one of my females from this year. I now have 2 adult males, 2 adult buff females, 3 young males and 2 young females from this year. Haven't lost a goose this year which is a success! My emus chase away anything usual in my fields which has reduced the fox sitings during the day completely. The emus are my poultry bodyguards.

My goslings from this year are developing their dewlaps earlier than usual and look great! Selective breeding is working. I expect the dewlaps to develop even earlier next year.

One of my females has no dewlap yet and isn't as big as my other female so I might end up selling her as a pair with another gander in 2020.

Long ago my African goslings developed their dewlap after they were a year old at abut 16-18 months. This year they developed a Dewlap at 5 months. These are my future breeders.

Hope everyone and their animals are doing well, we are feeling the brisky wintery weather over here in Ireland.

 

[Miss Lydia]

They are beautiful @servpolice

 

[erehwon]

Impressive birds @servpolice

 

[Iain Utah]

Beautiful birds, thanks to your solid breeding program! I noticed the same exact thing with my dewlaps. Most of the eggs/babies I originally got lacked early development, but as I mixed the most well-developed grey birds with the buffs, each year my goslings develop faster and are overall much bigger than the original stock. The six-pack that hatched this year look nothing like the ones that I hatched back in 2012.

Congrats on no losses to predators! Your emus sound awesome.

 

[servpolice]

It's funny how it works! Can't wait how my 2020 goslings will look like.

 

[Miss Lydia]

@Iain Utah how come no Emus at your place?