Anyone Know Geese?

[DragonEggs]

I just started working for an exotic animal breeder. She bought these geese for lawn ornaments and since I have chickens she had left me in charge of the bird dept. Can anyone tell me what kind of geese these are and if they are male/female, how old they are and anything else you might know about them?

The white ones have blue eyes. I've been giving them game bird maintenance. It's been a week and I haven't seen an egg at all. IDK how geese lay, if this is normal or what. The previous owner said they were 2 breeding pairs and my boss said she's found a couple of eggs since she's had them. If I knew what breeds they were I could at least search the web for more info. Thanks!

 

[3dogs]

Afraid I won't be much help, but the white ones are emdens. The others might be African. Can't tell sexes or ages, but ganders generally stand a bit taller with the head held higher - more "in your face" attitude. Geese are seasonal layers and may be done for the year.

 

[DragonEggs]

Quote:
Emden? Is that said the same way it's spelled? I'll get to researching. Are they spring layers only?

 

[crash0330]

As said white ones are most likely endems and the dark ones are either brown chinesse or african geese, Im guessing african tho since they look so big, usully brown chinesse are slimer, geese are seasonal layers they usually lay from april through june, but in some cases they will continue laying a little bit longer, african and endems are not great layers, usually chinnese are the best layers and they will only lay abot 60 eggs ear, so african and endems will probably lay around 30 to 40.

 

[sillysister74]

The white ones are Embdens... I have two. You can tell sex by honk sometimes. The male has a higher pitch and the females are lower honkers. Looks like the farther one is female and male up front. I am guessing mostly by head shap and the way they are carrying the neck. Also the male usually puts himself before the female. It is a theory but that is the behavior that Jesse does.


I am not sure about the browns. I cannot tell the difference between a chinese or african just they both have bill bumps.

 

[DragonEggs]

They think they're watch dogs and honk at anything strange that comes by. When I first started working there I noticed they had different sounding honks, so I guess it is a pair of each. I guess since theyre seasonal they're done laying (I've been there over a week and no eggs). I don't think she wants the eggs to eat considering she bought an incubator and a goose egg turner and had a pen buld just for baby geese but considering all her lemurs have babies in the spring I don't think she'll be too dissapointed to find out this is when the geese will start laying again. Does anyone know how often they lay? (every other day, once a week) and a good diet to have them on? Will the male mate with his designated female or will they try to mate every female and there will be mutt geese (can there be mutt geese?) Also, is the mating pretty obvious like it is with chickens? How often do they mate and how long till the eggs become fertile after mating, how long will they stay fertile after they quit mating? Also when do they usually molt?

When they start laying again whats the incubation period for goose eggs and how often should we candle?

Sorry so many questions. I know NOTHING about geese and my boss figured since I knew chickens I'd be able to handle them. ANY information you guys can offer up is VERY HELPFUL!!! THANKS!!!

ETA: How do you say "Embden"?

 

[Gypsy07]

Embden is pronounced pretty much like it looks: EM-din, with the emphasis on the first syllable. Not every big white goose is an Embden though, and many white geese sold as Embdens are actually just crosses of different types of white geese. Roman geese and Czech geese are also white. As for sexing them, well, it's problematic to say the least. I had a pair of big white geese a couple of years ago. I couldn't tell what they were until they laid some eggs and then later on when they hatched out three goslings I knew I obviously had one of each. And with the goslings, we never figured out if they were boys or girls at all.

I think when geese come into lay, they lay on a 36 hour cycle, so two eggs every 3 days. If you keep different breeds together you can end up with mutt geese, but I'm not sure if that's cause one male will mate many different females or cause different breeds will happily pair up with each other. From what I understand, geese aren't monogamous but they do form strong bonds with their family 'group' which could be one male with two or three females. I think it's okay to keep them in big groups as long as there are enough females for all the boys to have at least one girlfriend each. That way the boys won't squabble over the ladies!

I never saw our geese mating, so I don't know how often they usually mate or anything like that. I never even saw anything that looked remotely like mating behaviour. My chickens are fairly out in the open about it, my geese seemed to do it in private. Either that or they were VERY quick about it!

I didn't think geese moulted, as I never noticed ours in moult, but according to my duck and goose book I just looked in, geese that are kept together will all moult together, over a period of 21-24 days. They only moult their outer feathers though, and keep their down feathers for warmth and waterproof-ness. The mother goose starts moulting her flight feathers when her goslings are a few weeks old, so that when the goslings are 6-8 weeks old, the flight feathers of the adults and the babies are at a similar stage of development. Goslings grow amazingly fast, so when they're 6-8 weeks old you'll actually have difficulty telling them apart from the adults.

Incubation period for goose eggs is 28-32 days. If you're incubating them yourself it's recommended that you mist them with tepid water once a day. This mimics the mother goose getting off the nest and going for a swim, then sitting back on the eggs while still wet. Stop turning them round about day 25. Temperature is the same as for chicken eggs but I think the humidity should be higher. Candling is down to personal preference, but I'd try to only do it twice - at 7-10 days to check fertility and then at 14-18 days to check they're developing properly and that the air sac is looking fine. I've never tried incubating goose eggs though as my geese did the work themselves!

Hope all that info might help you a bit

 

[destiny_56085]

The brown ones are either what the hatcheries call 'production' africans or crossbred. They don't have the dewlap (fold of skin) under their chin or the deep keels like they should. Too large and broad to be a chinese. Here is a pic of a chinese and african in the same photo:

 

[zazouse]

They are very beautiful

 

[willow]

Hi, Don't worry you'll catch on.

The brown ones are african "productions" and the white ones are emdens. Both sets are pairs.

Good luck with your new buddies!!