Celtic,
One of my young ganders is marked identically to Caboosh as well. The other two are younger, so I hope you are right and their markings will clean up with their adult feathers. Tex, the younger goose doesn't have bad markings...just not as good as my adults or her older sister. The two I lost had great markings as well (one goose....one gander).
I am glad it looks like the one you got will be marked nicely. It looks like the one I have from Kawonu in the juvenile area is going to have really nice markings as well. I don't know how to vent sex: I have to wait for the head and beak to take their adult shape before I'll know if it is a girl or boy. At least with my geese, the females skulls are rounder with more pronounce cheeks and smaller beak by the time they hit about 2-3 months.
If you don't mind me asking, what bands do you use on your birds?
Oh, just a bit of a funny story. Our 26 year old son and his fiance moved in a couple months ago (lost their jobs). A couple days ago he comes running to get me in the garden. "I think something got one of the ducks!", he yells. So, we haul butt up to the front pond. My front yard literally looked like a white bird had exploded all over the place. I looked at the feathers and could tell they were both duck and goose....did a quick head count and everyone was fine. It seems that they all went into moult at the same time: the two adult geese, 2 pekin ducks, and all my fawn&white runners. The poor boy almost had himself a heart attack. He didn't know they lost their feathers.
