Dont forget to separate your breeders

[kimberly35042]

What kind of sprouts have you been feeding, Shellie? Oats, barely, wheat? I am going to start sprouting soon. I just picked up some oats, wheat, and barely. I'm going to try my hand at sprouting them.

~ Aspen

Dana at Moose Manor shared a really great thread on sprouts with pictures, directions and all. Hope this helps!

http://lifeatmennageriefarm.blogspot.com/search?q=fodder

 

[aoxa]

Good thing I only have 1 breed of geese. Gotta get to the chickens as well..

Breeding pens.. Ugh.. Not looking forward to it. Time to get that wood out of the barn to make space for it. I have tons of pallets ready for the walls.

 

[kimberly35042]

1 breed certainly helps minimize strategy! I sold my American pair for the same reason. The "pets" will spend time on the front lawn and pond while the breeders are busy in the fenced side yard.

 

[Haunted55]

We have a butt head gander here, he thinks he is such the man he can handle all the girls. He has his own yard away from everyone during breeding season with his girls we chose. Come June they all inter mingle again like they have been doing it for 10's of years.

This being my first year with geese and ducks, it's interesting to say the least. I have a female Toulouse who is now constantly after me. I'm guessing she wants to have my children. It's like the little kid sitting on her mothers foot and getting the free ride. Yeah, like I said, interesting. I learned today that the females act like they are attacking the male to get his attention. Okay, what was that song about whips and chains exciting me? Does anyone else have these problems? I am still not sure who is a girl here and who is a boy. I have a few of them figured out....I got the memo. Yup, no doubt now, Ling-Ling is a boy. As for the Embdens, I think I know, but they are still trying to reach the top of the pack. I have 2 maybe 3 females in the Embden group.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Dana at Moose Manor shared a really great thread on sprouts with pictures, directions and all. Hope this helps!

http://lifeatmennageriefarm.blogspot.com/search?q=fodder

Great blog post! Thanks for sharing Kimberly!

Good thing I only have 1 breed of geese. Gotta get to the chickens as well..

Breeding pens.. Ugh.. Not looking forward to it. Time to get that wood out of the barn to make space for it. I have tons of pallets ready for the walls.

I have about 12++ pens that need to be built...ugh

1 breed certainly helps minimize strategy! I sold my American pair for the same reason. The "pets" will spend time on the front lawn and pond while the breeders are busy in the fenced side yard.

LOL

~ Aspen

 

[Cottage Rose]

I was told 10 days separation by someone who has bred geese for many years. Would you mind sharing your source for the "30 days" ?

Maybe the 30 days was "to help with the pair bonding" as she said.
I like to give geese at least a couple months to bond. Geese can be more sensitive/picky than ducks or chickens so this is a good reminder.

Yup I book marked that blog Kim....thanks!

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

No source Kim, from my own personal experience watching 2 females not want who we put them with and pacing the fence line for hours a day watching the gander they wanted. Not all info has to come from someone else. Since our season starts so much earlier than others here I have time to sit outside in good weather and watch them. We have a goose and a gander (not together) who both pace and want other mates. It will settle down, but the more time the better when pairing and splitting. If you are breeding say all buff dewlap toulouse then there isnt as much separating as with white sebbies and buff sebbies ect.

 

[Cottage Rose]

When McGraw & Peaches were here, Peaches never bonded to McGraw. She always wanted the gander in the next pen, pacing the fence line constantly trying to get in with him.
She did allow McGraw to breed her but she never bonded to him or paid any attention to him. Since some geese can be so particular its best to pen them together well in advance.

 

[Haunted55]

No source Kim, from my own personal experience watching 2 females not want who we put them with and pacing the fence line for hours a day watching the gander they wanted. Not all info has to come from someone else. Since our season starts so much earlier than others here I have time to sit outside in good weather and watch them. We have a goose and a gander (not together) who both pace and want other mates. It will settle down, but the more time the better when pairing and splitting. If you are breeding say all buff dewlap toulouse then there isnt as much separating as with white sebbies and buff sebbies ect.

Celtic, would you explain the seperating to me. If a set or trio has bonded, do I seperate them from the rest? In my situation, 5 Embdens [3 females, 2 males] and 4 Toulouse [2 males and 2 females]. Then the 1 Chinese. Unfortunately, the 2 T females have taken to the C gander and are always with him and refuse the advances of the T ganders and to be honest, they don't seem much interested in those females at all. How best to handle this? My birds are hatchery geese so there is no line to protect. The breeding is something I hadn't given a thought to before this and am not sure what the best approach would be. Do the 2 E ganders split the females? Do I put all of them together into one pen? Or is it as I think, 1 gander per pen. What happens to the 2 T ganders who do not have a female that will take them? Force the issue and put one of the T geese in with them? To me it's confusing. I had thought it would be more like chickens and they would sort it all out themselves.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Haunted your situation is tricky and one of personal choice really. If you dont want goslings collect the eggs and eat them or sell them to others. I would watch for male aggression between ganders though and split as needed to keep the injuries at a minimum. if you want eggs from particular pair or trio then yes split them off from the others to allow time for bonding (if they havent already) and to be sure who the gander is that is breeding the goose.

Geese are so not monogamous and if allowed to free range together you are risking ganders you dont want goose A to breed her anyways.