American(Buff, Blue, Lavander,etc.)goose thread! Post pics!

[AuroraSprings]

Mi Ranchito: you can go to our website and fill out the form to order. Then I'll send you an invoice for you to pay. Link : http://worthitfarms.jigsy.com/waterfowl

 

[ChristineR]

Blue gosling meets Lilly, the Golden Retriever.

 

[ChristineR]

Maybe Lilly has a new babysitting job.

 

[flockman]

Cute!

 

[cvandermerwe]

Anyone in North East Iowa that has some American geese for sale? I am headed to Waterloo, IA tomorrow, Cresco, IA on Tuesday and Sterling IL Wed and Thurs. I know it's short notice for something like this but you never know what someone might have or know of.

Thank you,

C.J.

 

[Ravie]

I have an American Buff gander and I absolutely adore him. I have two questions for you Buff fans, though.

1) My gander is two-years-old. Last year he was much more "buff" in color. Then he molted, and is now really washed out! Is this normal?

2) He is my only goose. He is kind of "interested" in anything his size including my tom turkey, the kids' beach ball, etc. I have hesitated to get him a lady friend because I'm afraid a breeding pair would be too aggressive. My birds are free-ranging and I have three (very small kids). I never want to worry about the geese hurting the kids when they play. My gander isn't interested in them, would that change if he had his own "wife" and "kids"?

 

[RugenerGooser]

I have an American Buff gander and I absolutely adore him. I have two questions for you Buff fans, though.

1) My gander is two-years-old. Last year he was much more "buff" in color. Then he molted, and is now really washed out! Is this normal?

2) He is my only goose. He is kind of "interested" in anything his size including my tom turkey, the kids' beach ball, etc. I have hesitated to get him a lady friend because I'm afraid a breeding pair would be too aggressive. My birds are free-ranging and I have three (very small kids). I never want to worry about the geese hurting the kids when they play. My gander isn't interested in them, would that change if he had his own "wife" and "kids"?

Sometimes they will get a washed out look, especially out in the sun alot. I have pairs of Buffs and during breeding season they are more protective, but I have not had any problems with them coming after me unless I was messing with their woman. After some sweet talk they chill out. My Chinese geese I would have expected more aggression out of, but they were no worse than the Buffs or Pomeranians. My Brown Chinese gander and my eleven year old son went at each other for a while until I taught my son how to become the dominant gander. Teach this to your kids, just in case and you should have no problem. Your gander would be happier with a wife, though. If you want to know the techniques for dominance, I will tell you. They do not hurt the bird.

 

[larkflying]

You just never know how the hormones will strike the gander - especially if the kids play close to where the geese are fed / and lay their eggs. If you get another goose now, they will have time to get to know each other, and the kids before the breeding season hits. I have American Buffs and I have had no trouble this year, but last year I had an extremely protective gander that I had to rehome to a non kid household. He was fine during the rest of the year, but he considered an amazingly large area as his mates, and would attack you even through the fence 100 ft away during the breeding season. He was an exception though - this year, all my geese were extremely laid back and tolerant as long as I wasn't actually trying to count the eggs in the nest.

That gander knocked down my 4 year old - he was fine, however, it did shake him up a bit. I was right out there with them but looking in a different direction, so I didn't catch the ganders rush. If he'd been out by himself the goose could have repeatedly knocked him down and it would have been hard for him to get away. Plus, he would have been traumatized and be afraid of the geese. HE had gotten too close to the nest. Young children should not be left to play unsupervised near breeding geese - I have mine leave them strictly alone during the breeding season. -- older children probably will be able to deal with them just fine.

One possibility is to put up some kind of moveable temporary barrier between the main goose area and the kids play area, at least for the first few weeks. The ganders are worse once the goose is sitting on her eggs full time, so you could always pick up the eggs to prevent that. It wouldn't need to be expensive - even the plastic bird netting would work. It would help young kids to give the geese a wide space. Sometimes the geese also get aggressive with the other birds - mine mainly left the ducks and chickens alone, but you never know.

I would also recommend teaching the kids if they are old enough how to deal with geese. Geese do like to be in charge, and you don't want them thinking they can push people around. However, a younger child may not be tall enough to properly deal with the geese --- they listen now to my 10 year old much better than they did when he was 7. Standing tall, do not run, waving arms / sticks to make yourself look bigger etc.

Right now, I have one goose on eggs with a laid back gander -- He only gets upset if I go up to her nest and make her upset . . . the rest of the time he wanders around the field looking lonely. I'm sure your bird would love some company! I hope that you can figure out a way to get him another goose or two . . .

 

[flockman]

My gander during the off season is okay with kids. He tries to bluff but even my youngest who just turned seven, who is not big for her age, can back him down. During breeding season he will hiss at other people. He will hiss at me to start and then gets over it. He really only gets upset when I would bother his mate. A stick keeps him back. When his mate died he no longer hissed he would come to our door and tap on the window wanting us to come out. I bought 2 female buff goslings in March and he adopted them. Then 3 weeks ago he adopted 2 day old Toulouse goslings. He is a good father. Now that the 3 young goslings are getting bigger he is starting to calm down. Boris and Natasha were not allowed in the yard when breeding season started. When she died he was let out because he was so lonely. Once he saw the goslings he was done free ranging the yard. This fall he and the 2 girls may be allowed out in the yard. My kids 10, 8 and 7 aren't bullied by him during the off season.

Good luck on your choice.

Boris is very faded right now. I would imagine his color will return with a molt. My 2 females, Mary and Martha are considerably darker than he is. They are 8 weeks old today.

 

[ChristineR]

I asked this question in the Color Guide thread, but thought I'd post it here, too, since it's about American geese:

"Next we can look at the Blue gene (Bl) which has incomplete dominance and is not carried on the sex chromosome. Depending on the paired combination the visual effect is the same for males and females. By listing the possible pairings the visual appearance of the bird can be predicated.

bl, bl visual grey.
Bl, bl visual blue as the bird has only one dominant blue gene and the visual effect is partial.
Bl, Bl visual silver as the bird has a pair of dominant blue genes and the visual effect is even stronger which results in a paler blue which is referred to as Silver or Lavander." pete55


This spring I got a pair of American Blue and a pair of American Lavender goslings from Holderread.

Am I understanding the blue genetics correctly?

blue x lavender = 50% blue and 50% lavender offspring
blue x blue = 25% lavender, 50% blue, 25% grey

I'm confused, because I think I've heard of a Grey American...? Am I missing something?