Goose or Gander?

[drdoolittle]

I have a one-two year old brown Chinese goose and a one year old toulouse goose. When I got the toulouse, the people said they thought it was a male. I wanted another goose of the opposite sex to keep with it, breed didn't matter. I purchased a brown Chinese, and was told it was a 1 1/2 yr. old female.

Well, a couple months later, I realised the toulouse was a female, not male. I was o.k. with that, at least there was another goose to keep her company. Things changed once again last night when I went out to feed and put the geese up for the night. After they were in the pen, I was watching, and the brown Chinese got on top of the toulouse-----they were mating!

There is a clutch of goose eggs in the goat shed that the toulouse (at least I think it was her---they ARE goose eggs, explanation to follow) laid. This evening when I went out to feed everyone and put the birds up, the brown Chinese was in the goat shed sitting on the nest and calling to the toulouse. I got the toulouse to go in the shed, but it was the Chinese who stayed on the nest. After I had been inside for awhile, I looked outside and saw the toulouse standing out in the big "free-range" pen, so I went out and put her in the duck/goose pen where she'd be safe. The Chinese was still in the goat shed, sitting on the nest and I left him/her there for the night.

My question is this: do you think the brown Chinese is a goose or a gander? Would a goose mount another goose as if mating? Would a gander be the one to sit on the nest? I need input, so I can decide if the Chinese should remain on the nest----obviously, if both geese are female, the eggs aren't fertile anyway.................

 

[ramirezframing]

Do these have a flap or bump under their bellies between their legs? If so its a hen laying eggs. I don't remember my moms gander chinese setting the nest, but its been years so I could be wrong.

 

[Hillbilly_Curt]

Some males will sit on a nest as well. The previous owner of my Africans informed me the male hatched out 7 muscovie ducks one year.

 

[desertdarlene]

From what I've experienced, most Chinese ganders will have a really loud voice and a very prominent knob on his head. So, it should be easy to tell if it's a male or female.

 

[drdoolittle]

My brown Chinese is very loud, and does have a knob on his head-----I just didn't think the knob was quite big enough for a male, especially since I was told it was a female of a year and a half when I bought it. Now I'm thinking it is younger than I was told, because the knob does seem bigger now. Can these 2 actually be successful in producing offspring, or am I better off getting the opposite sex of each breed?

 

[drdoolittle]

O.K., I found an old post about female geese, and they WILL mount each other as a display of dominance. I believe I have 2 females and that's all that is going on. Now I'm kind of feeling a let down, even though I do have them up for sale. I would love to have a bunch of goslings running around.

 

[fagusabello]

Well, the surest way to tell if you got a gander or goose is to see if the egg(s) are fertile, just incubate. If after two weeks candle the eggs and see if you got a complete set.

Had an issue myself with sexing. I was absolutely certain my Toulouse gosling was male (Pooh is in photo below) until he started laying eggs, couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, he... er no, I mean she is currently suffering from Egg Binding.

Things got stranger... one of my ducks (Drew, the Pekin behind Pooh) has been attempting to mate with Pooh. He hasn't left her side. This has ticked off my gander (Blinkie) who is usually pushed off my goose in mid-mount by Drew.

Same sex pairing is common with birds (and animals). My Blue Swed Drake (Curly, in the pen in front of Pooh, above photo) had for the last month been mounting the smaller of the Mallard Drakes (Athos, middle Mallard in photo below). At first I thought the behavior was just normal dominance until I looked carefully <cough-cough

>.

Finally got fed up with the constant mounting AND just snatched Curly off of Athos, holding him on his back until he calmed down. Shockingly, Athos has now become the aggressor, pecking and bullying Curly, who hides in a hole he has burrowed out of a Bale of Hay. Athos sits waiting for Curly to emerge to harass him (I created a monster). I guess payback is a pain in the... neck.

Anyway, I discussed this on another forum, found a lot of likewise antidotes, some birds will bond with anyone that they like best regardless of gender (or species). If the time of year is right, along with agreeable mating environmental factors, same sex couples will go through the motion of mating as well as laying unfertilized eggs or just brood on a nest.

Cheers,
Jonathan