Flighted?

[June2012]

Chinese geese indeed are the best layers (white Chinese are supposed to be better layers then brown chinese).
If Metzers is closest to you then I advise you to buy off Metzers because they are trustable.
Most hatcherys that only sell either Chinese or African cross breed them so you get a mix of them both, not that there is anything wrong with the cross but you expect pure breeds.
Chinese are for the eggs and can be aggressive while Metzers super African is for the meat and are a very gentle breed and are more rare.
Metzers have African and super African and the super African is the actual Dewlap African while their African looks like African crossed Chinese.
Sorry if I confused you.
I just do my research

I'd love to have both, then! If I were to have a pair of each breed (2 african 2 chinese), would they still mate with each other? I would prefer for them to be pure to keep things simple.

And oh goody! I won't be meeting them in person, but I'll be ordering them online.

 

[servpolice]

Yes they will breed with eachother especially since they are quite similar.
All geese domesticated and wild will breed with eachother

It will also be likely that one of the females (probably the Chinese female) will want to mate with the African gander and not the Chinese gander because the African is bigger and stronger.
So it's likely you will get crosses.
You can buy Trios also (1 male and 2 females).

 

[June2012]

Yes they will breed with eachother especially since they are quite similar.
All geese domesticated and wild will breed with eachother

It will also be likely that one of the females (probably the Chinese female) will want to mate with the African gander and not the Chinese gander because the African is bigger and stronger.
So it's likely you will get crosses.
You can buy Trios also (1 male and 2 females).

Oh... Would an African and Chinese cross result in good dual purpose geese? I would like the African since I read that their meat is lean. (I very much appreciate lean meat!)

 

[June2012]

Oh, and are the Chinese and African geese broody? I'll take whatever is broody!

 

[servpolice]

If you cross breed a African and a Chinese the mix will just make them look like large Chinese geese (this cross is very common).
The cross will lay less eggs but will have a bit more meat then the Chinese breed
African geese have very lean meat with little fat making it a popular choice.
I don't keep my Africans for the meat as they are very rare.
It would be a expensive dinner
If I have too many males I sell them. Maybe one day I'll taste a pure African goose meat.
Chinese geese aren't as broody but I did have a few broody Chinese and were excellent mothers while the Africans can be very broody and love being mothers and will hatch more successfully.
Only problem with broody African geese is they can break the eggs due to their heavy weight but I haven't seen mine do that yet.
African geese are gentle and more quiet while the Chinese are hyper and full of energy

 

[June2012]

If you cross breed a African and a Chinese the mix will just make them look like large Chinese geese (this cross is very common).
The cross will lay less eggs but will have a bit more meat then the Chinese breed
African geese have very lean meat with little fat making it a popular choice.
I don't keep my Africans for the meat as they are very rare.
It would be a expensive dinner
If I have too many males I sell them. Maybe one day I'll taste a pure African goose meat.
Chinese geese aren't as broody but I did have a few broody Chinese and were excellent mothers while the Africans can be very broody and love being mothers and will hatch more successfully.
Only problem with broody African geese is they can break the eggs due to their heavy weight but I haven't seen mine do that yet.
African geese are gentle and more quiet while the Chinese are hyper and full of energy

Ah, I see. I'll go with the African then! What should I be looking for when purchasing adults? My local CL has some for sale all the time! Or would it be better to purchase from Metzer's?

 

[servpolice]

If you want pure African geese then I advise you to purchase from Metzers.
Here on Byc all the time we get people saying they bought African goslings from the local feed store and they always have ended up being Chinese geese.
Dewlap Africans are rare so it's unlikely local feed stores sell them.
If you want to see details of a Chinese and African here is some info.

This is a Chinese gander as you can see they are quite skinny and slender and stand very erect and their knobs tend to be more popped out then the African.
They have very long and skinny necks.

This is an African goose, they are heavy and big and don't stand as erect as the Chinese breed their knobs are as wide as their head they also have very thick necks.
But what really tells an African is the dewlap the flap of skin hanging under their beak