Anyone's Cotton Patch Geese laying?

[RHRanch]

rhranch I'm so jealous! Mine were laying by this time last year so that's why I was wondering. Did yours just start?
Hossfeathers I'd say keep them separated and let on pair out each day together. But that's just me. If you don't think they're stressed then keep doing it. Maybe I'm underestimating them.
Morgan, what's their lineage? I might be interested.

I think mine have been laying about a week to 10 days at this point, i didn't notice at first because they did such a good job covering them up lol. I think between the 2 nests I have about 8 eggs so far, but I havn't checked in a few days. (I don't want to stress them by tearing up the nests all the time.)

 

[hossfeathers]

When did they start breeding behavior? What are the first things to look for?

 

[morgan mc]

Mine are from here in Pocahontas county West Virginia . I gathered up geese from about 5 flocks. I should have breed them serprate but I didn"t. I found out what they were in 1996 or 97 by then most all of them were gone. They use to be the only geese around here. They are the ones Bernard Gill took to Cannda then sent to Texas from there they have spread to different places. When they were in cannda some solid gray blood was added that is different than the solid hens I have, mine are much lighter gray. where are yours from?

 

[bel]

My pair laid 4 eggs, a lot of action in the goose pool, followed by Spot the gander throwing twigs and grass into the pool like he is building a nest, he's pretty but not the sharpest. I moved the eggs into the incubator since there has been no signs of them sitting on the eggs. They might not be fertile, its their first clutch and it took a while for Spot to figure things out.

 

[Serina81]

Hossfeathers, Stressed looks like a lot of pacing, the feathers start to become tattered, a lot of excess vocalization...basically look at them when they're happy and see if they act that way. Mine started breeding behaviors about a month ago, but it's really increased recently. My younger geese have only started breeding in the past week though. What you look for is them swimming together, a male goose grabbing the females neck, climbing onto her and doing the wild goose thing. All of my geese start honking to announce to the world that mating is going on.

RHRanch, I think I'll dig deeper through their nests and see if I missed them. They have a lot more straw this year than usual (darn ranch hand can't follow directions) so maybe I missed them. And just so you know, last year we had such a bad raven problem that I was collecting eggs 4 times a day (they'd be eaten within about 30 minutes of being laid) and it didn't seem to stress the geese.

Morgan, my gaggle is Tom Walker's original breeding gaggle, plus some of their offspring. I had the offspring for a while and when Tom decided to retire, I drove out to Texas and picked up his geese. Good thing because the texas fires swept through his area and he lost all his animals. Terrible.

Bel, that's hilarious. I have a goose who will occasionally lay her egg in water. Not the brightest...

 

[bel]

lol, fortunately the goose is smarter than the gander and lays in a nest she built.

When mine started getting interested Spot the gander would stand next to Gray lady in the pool, the first signs were her putting her head under his chest while in the pool, I also noticed her arranging twigs and straw in various places, and the pair sticking around areas with a lot of twigs. When Spot started to get more interested, but not quite figured things out he would be next to her in the pool and bite her neck feathers without even trying to mount her, then start flapping and announcing like he had did the deed and was gods gift to goosedom. He has also become more loud and more protective.

 

[bel]

How long does it take your geese to sit after laying? I have not used a broody goose, only the incubator with shipped eggs.

 

[Blackhorsehill]

Hi Serina, Hi Anne!!

Glad I saw that you guys had this thread going. Anne (Hossfeathers) got her geese from me last fall. Good to see they are doing well.

This is my experience so far this season. My ganders starting fighting back at the end of November. I was pretty taken aback because it seemed pretty violent to me. None of that had been occurring during the last summer so it was surprise to me. It ebbed and flowed, and I thought it was over, only to have it start up again. In the end, I had 2 ganders that were looking pretty darn ratty, and I started to worry someone was really going to be hurt. Plus, it started to get subzero at night, and one of the guys had lost so many feathers I worried over him being able to stay warm. I ended up dividing them up until it seemed to be calm. When the days were decent, they were let out to roam, but the fights would continue. At least one could get away from the other better with more room. This is pretty much the way I continued until around the first part of February, when I noticed that breeding activity was commencing. When I freshened up their water is when they started. At that point something also became a little more clear. The 2 ganders that had been fighting were the ones also doing the breeding. (I have 5 ganders and 2 geese)

So, we put up more fence (we had the posts in place since last fall) and I divided up the two pairs. The weather has been decent enough to at least have liquid water during the day so the kiddie pools came out, and as soon as I filled them up, they started breeding more consistently. I would say things really got going right about Valentine's Day, just as Dr. Walker has mentioned. They especially go at it when I refill the pools with fresh water. I have to do this everyday because there is usually an inch of ice . There has been no fighting among the bachelor group. The only thing with them is that apparently one of them is in love with ME. I don't know whether to be honored or horrified, but ... I do tend to not pay any attention to that guy if I can help it. I wondered why he had gotten sooo friendly.

One of the geese laid her first egg on the 24th. She laid her 3rd one today. The other one laid her first egg a couple of days ago, and none since. The second pair does not seem as bonded, so I wonder how that is going. Also, last year, the girls shared a nest, which I wanted to avoid this year, and I wonder if that is affecting her. I have huts made of cattle panels in their pens with straw in the bottom. Their nests are really cool, very cone shaped. The nests appeared the same day as the first eggs. I made a photo album with some descriptions if anyone might find it helpful. https://www.backyardchickens.com/ga...73595/user_id/43027#page=0&sort=display_order

I wasn't sure if there was a better way to link to this. Someone let me know if there is.

 

[AuroraSprings]

Hey Serina! We have 15 CTP eggs that we put in the incubator tonight. Hopefully, we are good goose egg hatchers We are planning to let the geese set the batch. Our geese have been breeding for about a month and a half now.

 

[Blackhorsehill]

Morgan,

Mine are from here in Pocahontas county West Virginia . I gathered up geese from about 5 flocks. I should have breed them serprate but I didn"t. I found out what they were in 1996 or 97 by then most all of them were gone. They use to be the only geese around here. They are the ones Bernard Gill took to Cannda then sent to Texas from there they have spread to different places. When they were in cannda some solid gray blood was added that is different than the solid hens I have, mine are much lighter gray. where are yours from?

Could you post pictures of your geese? How many do you have now? Any more information would be really interesting. My geese came from Dr. Walker in Texas, as I think most people's have, since he has been the most active in trying to keep this breed going. I am curious about other lines that might be out there. I know the unwritten standard includes elimination of orange bills and feet, but wonder if that is just Dr. Walker's call, or if there were orange bills and feet back in the old days. I realize that probably weeds out the possibility of pilgrim blood. Not trying to play devil's advocate, just wondering how to get more lines of this wonderful little goose.

Anyone else wanting to chime in? I think Aurora Springs is trying to get a breed association started? Since this is essentially a land race, just wondering how we would proceed as to a standard. Would love to hear some good discussions!!