African Goose size?

[crj]

Hi, I have a Super African goose that I got from a guy that couldn't keep his 1 month old geese. He also had an American Buff which I took as well. I would like to know if anyone can tell me how tall will the Super African goose will get? I've read it can get up to 28 pounds. This goose is from Metzer Farms. If anyone has a picture so I could see the scale of how tall they would be I'd be very happy. Thanks. I just love these geese. I don't know the sex of the African but I'm leaning towards a girl. At 2 1/2 months old she doesn't have that knob yet. She is loud .......... lol.

 

[crj]

Can anyone tell me how tall these geese get? I also would like to know if the nob can determine the sex of a 2 1/2 month old African goose. Someone on here has to know something...... lol. Thanks.

 

[Oregon Blues]

If the goose is from Metzer's, then you can go to Metzer's web pages and get all sorts of information about that breed.

 

[crj]

I did look there and several other sites. None of them mention how tall they get. All that is mentioned is that they are big birds. Thought maybe someone on this site had some and would share some information. That's the reason I posted the question.

 

[Jen C]

I have Buff African geese that came from Holderread's. At 2 1/2 months I wouldn't say that the knob size is a good indicator of gender. Here is a picture of 2 of my ganders. They are approx. 5 months old and their knobs are really just starting to develop and I know for a fact that these are both boys.

 

[Jen C]

Sorry, I was going to mention height too. I am terrible at judging height just by looking at them and I don't have a good picture that shows them standing next to something that would make a good reference. At 2 months old though your goose is probably close to 2/3 of its mature height. Mine at 5 months are probably not going to get much taller but will continue to fill out for a while. Here is a picture of a couple of them standing.

Jen

 

[crj]

What pretty geese. In order to figure out the sex do I have to wait until I see an egg or not? It's amazing how these birds disguse their gender. I sure wish it was easier....... lol. I would love to give my goose a name but not knowing what sex it is kind of makes it hard to do.

 

[Jen C]

Generally if you have more than one that are the same breed and age you can often figure out if they are males or females by looking at the differences between them. Just having the one though it could be difficult. Aside from waiting to see if you get eggs or if the African and your Buff goose try to breed you can vent sex them. Metzer farms has an online video that shows how to do it. It is not too hard once you get the hang of it but can be a little difficult at first and a lot of people just prefer to wait and see.

Jen

 

[crj]

Quote:
I do know how to vent sex ducks. I've done that many times with great success but they were a few days old. Can you do this with geese that are 3 months old? I'd figure it would be kind of difficult to do if it could be done at all.

 

[Jen C]

Absolutely it can still be done. They are a little more awkward to hold on to due to their size, but geese of any age can be vent sexed and if you already know how to do it then I wouldn't think that you would have too much trouble

With the larger geese I find it helpful to support their head/neck between my legs when I am holding them upside down. Let us know if you try it and what you end up having!