Advice on gender/breed of my adult American Buff Goose

[smt1990]

So we have these 3 American Buff Geese (I think). When we originally got them in May 2018 they were supposed to be 3 females but the one on the far left was always bigger than the others. It grew massive and has this large dewlap, and then began acting more "dominant" and aggressive so we kind of assumed it was a gander after that. Maybe they sexed wrong when they sent the chicks over? Last year I even caught "him" in their kiddie pool seemingly mating with one of the little girls.

Today though our "boy" was in their little house making a nest bowl in the straw/shavings. I made sure it was clean and dry and left and low and behold tonight there were 2 eggs. Could this in fact, actually be female? I am so shook even though it really isn't a big deal since we don't keep them for the eggs and I love them all regardless. My curiosity is killing me though and Google isn't helping.

Any advice on our mystery bird here? Is it possible he was just making a nest bowl for one of the others or is "he" really a "she"?

 

[Goosebaby]

Well I’m here to confuse you even more!

#1 I once had a female who outsized and outweighed all but my biggest gander “her dad” who’s massive. Super sized girls are uncommon but do occur.

#2 females will mount other females, and males will mount males. Breeding season makes everyone randy.

#3 Ganders can and do act “broody.” Some help the female build nests, some build nests themselves, and some will even sit on eggs for a minute or two.
For example here’s my gander Parsnip, cuddling his “babyegg.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_p-22Tg7mh/?igshid=15x06y73npqkj
He only does this for the babyegg, not actual eggs but his dad Leo once kicked the girls off their nest so he could squat on the eggs for about 5 minutes.

Looking at your tall goose I would say it is a gander based on the neck length, even my supersized female Kiwi was still built like a girl even though she was so big, gander’s tend to have longer necks in proportion to their bodies compared to girls so I would say you’ve got a gander with big dad instincts and that the others probably laid the eggs. On the other hand if you see them go full broody and not want to leave the nest for a few hours you might have a girl that just looks like a guy.

I’m sorry it’s so confusing.

 

[3xhhheather]

Agreed, the long neck makes me think you have a gander. Did the pool action result in a lot of honking? My gander loves to announce it to the world when he's had a good time.

#3 Ganders can and do act “broody.” Some help the female build nests, some build nests themselves, and some will even sit on eggs for a minute or two.
For example here’s my gander Parsnip, cuddling his “babyegg.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_p-22Tg7mh/?igshid=15x06y73npqkj
He only does this for the babyegg, not actual eggs but his dad Leo once kicked the girls off their nest so he could squat on the eggs for about 5 minutes.

My gander also has a 'babyegg', but its a hose nozzle

 

[Goosebaby]

Agreed, the long neck makes me think you have a gander. Did the pool action result in a lot of honking? My gander loves to announce it to the world when he's had a good time.



My gander also has a 'babyegg', but its a hose nozzle

Here’s to our ganders and their weird babies!