Goslings of 2014 Hatch-a-long

[andreacroyle]

You´ll know when s/he might fly, because of all the flapping that s/he´ll do for a few days first. Just clip the flight feathers (primaries), but not too close. That´ll be all you need until next year.
If your bird´s a male, then the farmer doesn´t have Pilgrims.
I´d love to see a pic of the white feathers coming through, though. Very curious.
And really well done on all the work you´ve put into himher. A very special goose.

p.s. still looks female to me.

She is flapping a lot now. it seems more like she is stretching her wings like the ducks do when i let them out of their night time coop in the mornings. Saireth (my son) and I got punched my each wing the other day!! OMG!! We both felt like crying. Its the first time she did it. I cant believe her wing span is soo soo big. she isnt more than ? 3 lbs? I didnt realize she had the strength she had in her wings. im not sure about cutting her wings yet. the few inches of lift that she is getting is helping her get around the yard when we are outside. she flaps and it makes it so she isnt tripping every other step. i think i will wait a little longer.

she is such a sissy. i keep reading everyone's posts about how their geese fight and protect the ducks and "rule the yard" . when we are close enough to the ducks, there is one female duck close to Forest's age that picks on her. The duck tries to yank out Forest's feathers right behind her neck. Forest screams but doesnt defend herself. I always grab the duck and hold her down for correction. (dont know if this is right)
I took these pics yesterday. It is so hard to capture feathers with my phone. i will take better pics later with my good camera.

 

[Miss Lydia]

She is flapping a lot now. it seems more like she is stretching her wings like the ducks do when i let them out of their night time coop in the mornings. Saireth (my son) and I got punched my each wing the other day!! OMG!! We both felt like crying. Its the first time she did it. I cant believe her wing span is soo soo big. she isnt more than ? 3 lbs? I didnt realize she had the strength she had in her wings. im not sure about cutting her wings yet. the few inches of lift that she is getting is helping her get around the yard when we are outside. she flaps and it makes it so she isnt tripping every other step. i think i will wait a little longer.

she is such a sissy. i keep reading everyone's posts about how their geese fight and protect the ducks and "rule the yard" . when we are close enough to the ducks, there is one female duck close to Forest's age that picks on her. The duck tries to yank out Forest's feathers right behind her neck. Forest screams but doesnt defend herself. I always grab the duck and hold her down for correction. (dont know if this is right)
I took these pics yesterday. It is so hard to capture feathers with my phone. i will take better pics later with my good camera.

Forrest is beautiful and no telling what she may look like when finished with adult feathers, my 2 12 week olds are molting big time

 

[servpolice]

Haha Miss Lydia Same here my brown Africans are developing huge brown feathers while my buff Africans are developing huge pinkish brown Feathers.Are only Sloppy Joe is molting his back feathers of the two buffs but all my goings are molting their neck feathers

 

[Miss Lydia]

Haha Miss Lydia Same here my brown Africans are developing huge brown feathers while my buff Africans are developing huge pinkish brown Feathers.Are only Sloppy Joe is molting his back feathers of the two buffs but all my goings are molting their neck feathers

Been a long time to have gosling this age serv I had forgot how often they molt. Looking forward to what they all look like when finished. And the voice changing is dramatic right now too.

 

[livininbrazil]

Livin i thought the same! he is very close looking to a steinbacher but he is a bit too big. so i must cross him with one of my smaller females that are all white with grey feathers (it is very hard to find lavender females) or a brown female that has bloodline with white goose bloodline

That´s what I menat, to breed him back to... bred to an Auntie, or similar, to help to stabilize the colour and type, then next generation round, breed back again to the desirable colur and type, etc etc....

 

[8GeeseALaying]

I am not sure what to make of this. Peaches is now on the nest with Snow. I had assumed that my geese wouldn't lay till Feb. So why are they coming into lay now?

And even though I made nests in their coop, and in other places in the yard, they still prefer this as their nest. When I blocked it off, the ducks got very distressed. So I opened it back up for them.

It is not unusual for some chinese to lay this time of year. They are the egg layer breeds and mature a lot faster than the meat breeds. When you posted a few weeks ago saying that they looked like they might be mating i figured they would lay soon. I believe it is because yours were hatched early this spring and being chinese early doesnt have to be a whole lot lol a few weeks can make a difference. They should still lay this coming season though. Mine did when they would go through a fall laying season. I was hoping that some of mine would do it again this year but i let those raise goslings this spring.
Just be sure to put out oyster shell for them and enjoy some fresh eggs.

 

[livininbrazil]

Livin how many booders do you have?!

They are beautiful geese, look forward to seeing those goslings.. you didn't tell us you were that close to having goslings. 10 days how exciting.

Well, it´s a bit like being pregnant, isn´t it? Goes on forever....

10 days isn´t too bad. I just hope she has a successful hatch.

send me an egg!!! they are both soooo pretty! i love the coloring in the face of the bottom goose. is that a pilgrim? i cant tell any of the breeds apart yet. forest is starting to get the white feather in the face in a pattern close to this goose's face.

Haha, these look very much like Normandy geese (auto-sexing breed). They are smaller than my Pilgrim-types, and quite squeaky! They have beautiful blue eyes, too. The woman I bought them from just said that all the males turn out white, and all the females (I saw them too) look like these two.. so I´m looking forward to seeing what hatches. They´ve bred with the 'pilgrim' males, which are auto-sexing, so now, it´s just wait and see....
A pilgrim female is light grey, not extra white except for the white on the face and butt... This is one of mine with last year´s hatch.

 

[Starfire669]

I thought laying season was over for geese in the us? does it depend on how hot it is or something? i assume tx is pretty hot right now. what is that white goose ?

The white goose, Snow, is a white Chinese.

 

[Starfire669]

It is not unusual for some chinese to lay this time of year. They are the egg layer breeds and mature a lot faster than the meat breeds. When you posted a few weeks ago saying that they looked like they might be mating i figured they would lay soon. I believe it is because yours were hatched early this spring and being chinese early doesnt have to be a whole lot lol a few weeks can make a difference. They should still lay this coming season though. Mine did when they would go through a fall laying season. I was hoping that some of mine would do it again this year but i let those raise goslings this spring.
Just be sure to put out oyster shell for them and enjoy some fresh eggs.

Thanks. I have 2 buckets of oyster shell out there for them. With 1 gander and 7 geese, I'm glad I have no intention to let the geese hatch this Spring. Noel is trying his best to keep all the ladies happy, but he can only do so much, lol. Now more than ever I am glad I will be getting eggs from Utah and you, 8, to hatch goslings from. I definately need another gander, lol.

 

[andreacroyle]

A pilgrim female is light grey, not extra white except for the white on the face and butt... This is one of mine with last year´s hatch.

OH!! This is what I think is going to happen to forest's face!! the way her white feathers are coming in reminds me of this color pattern. i didnt know that there were geese smaller than pilgrims.