Goslings of 2014 Hatch-a-long

[servpolice]

That "African" is 15 weeks old. No knob and about the same size as my 21 week old white Chinese geese, no dewlap though.

 

[servpolice]

Iain are you saying that metzers are sneaky too! You can't trust any hatcherys these days -_- but a honest breeder

 

[Iain Utah]

I happen to like Metzers very much. Not sure if they are intentionally sneaky, but we do refer to Africans from metzers (and other similar places) as "hatchery Africans". In fact, even Metzers distinguishes their stock as Africans and "super Africans", which means to me that the super Africans are pure and the others are mixed with Chinese.

 

[Starfire669]

Don't you worry! unlike chinese pure African goslings knob grow very slowly and the Dewelp even slower!
It may take 14 months for a dewelp to start appearing

Oh good. One thing I have noticed is my 15 week old "Africans" have baggy pants and my Chinese don't. I love the saggy bottoms they have! My younger "Africans", which were purchased from the same place, don't have the saggy bottoms yet. I am hoping it develops as they age, but with you telling me they are Chinese X African I am a bit worried it won't.

My 15 week old Africans and 14 week old Chinese geese and some of my chickens are molting badly right now, it looks like someone has a major pillow fight in my yard! Feather everywhere! And the poor birds have bald patches where you can see the new feathers starting to grow in, they look so mangy, poor babies. The younger Africans are losing some feathers as well, but I don't think it's a true molt, more like baby feathers being replaced by adult feathers gradually.

 

[Starfire669]

I happen to like Metzers very much.  Not sure if they are intentionally sneaky, but we do refer to Africans from metzers (and other similar places) as "hatchery Africans".  In fact, even Metzers distinguishes their stock as Africans and "super Africans", which means to me that the super Africans are pure and the others are mixed with Chinese.

That's good to know. If ever in the future I need to order some Africans I will look for the super Africans. I want my Chinese tolook Chinese and my Africans to look African.

 

[servpolice]

Iain you are dead right with that! Those super Africans are pure breeds while the Africans are just Africanxchinese! i think we had that conversation before

 

[servpolice]

Starfire the saggy fat at their legs indicates they do have african in them since pure chinese don't have that but the female has it when broody mostly.
AfricanXchinese are really common probely more common then the actual African breed and they can develp a dewelp with that cross alright but mostly don't but their children may get dewelps which sounds odd but that's how nature works

 

[Starfire669]

Are figs OK to feed chickens, ducks, and geese? My mom has a huge fig tree that for years has given us so many figs we give buckets full to neighbors and friends, and still end up throwing a bunch away. Can I give some to my flock as treats to reduce waste? My mom gives figs to her dogs as treats, she had to fence off the tree though as the dogs learned how to pick figs and got constipated form eating too many.

 

[Starfire669]

Starfire the saggy fat at their legs indicates they do have african in them since pure chinese don't have that but the female has it when broody mostly.
AfricanXchinese are really common probely more common then the actual African breed and they can develp a dewelp with that cross alright but mostly don't but their children may get dewelps which sounds odd but that's how nature works

I hope my hatchery Africans develop the dewlaps, I really want the true African look. I like both the fat bodied, saggy bottom, dewlap look of Africans, and the smaller more graceful slim look of Chinese. A small flocked mixed with African and Chinese with the distinctive looks of their breeds would be wonderful to have. Can separate the breeding pairs and trios during breeding season and then allow them all together again afterwards.

I'd love to have white and buff Africans, as well as white, brown, and pied Chinese. But fight now I only have pens for 2 ganders, so I couldn't really keep that many colors and expect them to stay pure. I think adding a white African breeding pair, plus a few brown and pied Chinese females next year is all I can do for now.

 

[Iain Utah]

Yup, I think I remember that conversation. For what it is worth, my goose who hatched the solo baby earlier this year is a metzer African, and she took forever to get a purebred African look... But when she turned 2yo, she grew a nice sized dewlap and filled out considerably.