Found stray goose. What breed and gender?

[chickensioux]

Wow! Lucky you! I wish stuff like that would happen to me.....

 

[The goose girl]

As for breed, your guess is as good as mine.

My former geese have always liked to stay in their pond during the night, but if predators can access her pen, you should put her in a shed overnight. Geese don't feel more secure inside than outside. Where I live we only have the occasional small fox, and that has never been a problem for me. My current goose is diapered and sleeps in my bed, but you probably don't want to do that?

Geese mainly eat juicy green grass and weeds like dandelions. Corn and bread have low nutritional value and tend to make them fat. If you can let her forage during the day then you can feed her some waterfowl pellets in her pen at night. She'll keep your lawn mowed and fertilized if you let her! Geese always need access to clean drinking water and preferably a pond to bathe in.

If you decide to keep her, you should get her some company (another goose). Geese hate to be alone, and unless you spend a lot of time outside with her, she'll feel lonely. Also, she'll feel more secure at night if she has company.

 

[GrandmaAnn]

I love geese! They make great pets. They also can be a better watch "dog" than many dogs. I say she is a Chinese - its the Africans that have a dewlap. It's hard for me to tell the sex. I looked up weights in my old Standard of Perfection. A Chinese gander weighs 12 lbs. and a goose weighs 10 lbs. African ganders weigh 20 lbs and an African goose weighs 18 lbs. We used to raise Embden and American Buff. I can't remember if the dewlap grows when they are older or not, so if yours develops one, then it is an African. You'll know for sure on the sex if you see an egg!

Whatever this one is, it's beautiful! You are blessed if you get to keep it. I'd suggest you get another one also - after you are sure on the sex and the type. That way, you can get a mate.

 

[Kim65]

Africans are BIG geese. They look a lot like brown Chinese but Chinese are about half the size of an African. If you think your goose weighs over twelve pounds, you probably have an African

And I agree that she is female. Her knob is not very large and the males have very prominent knobs and larger wattles.

I also think she is a juvenile. Her feathers are too "perfect". You know how our adults who've gone through their molt this June are still looking a bit rough? This goose is too smooth and her feathers are too uniform. She is probably six months old or less.

I wonder if she got lost or dumped

Most people can't deal with a full grown goose, which I cannot for the life of me understand

Glad she found your family. You might have to name her Georgia

 

[Skittlez]

If you think your goose weighs over twelve pounds, you probably have an African

That is what I was thinking, but the dewlap was throwing me off. If she is an African, will her dewlap come in as she gets older? I will weigh her tomorrow. She is pretty heafty feeling.

I also think she is a juvenile. Her feathers are too "perfect". You know how our adults who've gone through their molt this June are still looking a bit rough? This goose is too smooth and her feathers are too uniform. She is probably six months old or less.

She does have very nice feathers. I didn't think of molting, i figured she would have molted already. If she is a juvenile, when should I expect her to start laying eggs?

I wonder if she got lost or dumped

I am starting to think that myself. I put a found ad on craigslist, one in the local newspaper, and hung some up at the different feed stores. NO calls or emails yet. I figured someone would call me just wanting her. Oh well, I really like her so she can stay

If she was lost, she would have had to travel 3-5 miles to were we found her on the river. Would a Chinese/African goose travel that far? And the river is very wooded on both sides.

She stays close to home. My chickens have to be in tractors because they figured out the neighbor has lots of bird feeders. The neighbor is only about 100 feet away from my house, but she has not crossed the lot line yet. She free ranges all day and I put her in a tractor at night. So far she is pretty quiet.

Where would I find a gander?​

 

[shelleyd2008]

I don't think all africans have dewlaps. I agree that she looks like a female african, chinese are much slimmer and they carry themselves differently. I would say she probably got dumped there by her previous owners.
Here's Metzer's page for Africans: http://www.metzerfarms.com/BirdInformation.cfm?Breed=African&BirdType=Goose&ID=A&CustID=19160
And here's their page for brown Chinese: http://www.metzerfarms.com/BirdInformation.cfm?Breed=Brown%20Chinese&BirdType=Goose&ID=BC&CustID=19160

They also have a super african that does have the dewlap. As you can see by these 2 pages, there is a carriage difference between the two breeds.

 

[Skittlez]

Thanks for the links, shelleyd2008!

She does have more the body type of the African. The colors are very close, so I studied the body type more and she is bottom heavy and squatty.

She is becoming more settled. Today my daughter and her friend sat in Georgias pool. When they got out, Georgia flew up at them, then ran and got in her pool. She stayed in it until the kids went back in the house. She honked at the kids the whole time they were in HER pool. Lol!

She tries to fly, she get up about 2 1/2 foot off the ground but will land about 15 feet away. She doesn't get far.

 

[Kim65]

If she was hatched this spring she'll lay next spring.

Geese tend to stay where the food and water are good. If she feels part of the flock with your family and birds, she'll stay home. I've never had a goose wander off for greener pastures

They think safety first, not adventure.

I think Georgia didn't wander or float away, she was probably abandoned near a body of water

to assauge someone's guilt. So I wouldn't worry too much about her leaving her new home. She's got it too good

.

People are always trying to get rid of ganders. Check out Craigslist, or put in a "wanted" ad. She will lay a yearly clutch of eggs whether she is mated or not. Do you plan to breed them or just give her a friend?

 

[Skittlez]

Thanks Kim65. I was going to get a gander mainly for her for a friend. My husband was thinking about raising a few for butcher. I would keep one or two for the herd. I thought I could just collect the eggs, I don't want to hatch. Or is that not a good idea? She, of course, WILL NOT be dinner

I am glad she will be inclined to stay home. I have been expiramenting with different food to see what she likes. She said no way to fresh spinach and cabbage, but LOVED cinnamon toast crunch cereal. She likes bread, but won't eat berries. I haven't tried apples or carrots yet though. Maybe tomorrow.

I guess don't understand why someone would get an animal, just to drop it off somewhere. I hope she wasn't out there long or too scared. She literally let my daughter go right up to her and pick her up. It seems she was longing for someone kind to come and help her. Animals flock to my daughter like bears to honey. She brought Georgia right home, gave her a nice bed with hay, filled up a little pool, gave her a huge bowl of food, and tucked her in for the night.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Most animals won't eat cabbage, and I've read that spinach isn't good for them anyway. Just pull up some clover or dandelions for her, my geese love both of those. But mine are free rangers, so they basically eat what they want.

ETA: Have you ever seen a baby goose? They are very tiny, and very endearing. I can understand perfectly why someone would get one, not much different than getting a puppy or kitten then deciding you don't want it. The only difference with that is normally people will try to find homes for dogs or cats, for some reason people think that birds can fend for themselves in the wild.