Here is my story! Has this happened to anyone else?
I had a friend with a mated pair of Brown African geese and asked me to incubate the 3 eggs the goose laid for him. 2 out of the 3 were fertile and hatched. About 3 months after that, he took a job out of town and had to get rid of all his birds. I bought the pair of geese and he gave me the 2 , that I hatched for him, that fortunately turned out to be another mated pair.
About 6 months later before they started to lay again, the oldest male, got taken, during the night. (probably a raccoon or a fox), a couple of days later, the second male was taken, too.
We looked all over to where the predator could have gotten in, and could not find any holes in the fencing or holes in the yard. Then we spied a drainage covert that we had put several metal posts in front of, and an opening a little too small for the body of the goose to fit through. There was the second male goose's body, headless, half pulled through the opening between the posts. We put a 150# grate in front of the drain, but we then only had 2 females and no males, and they started laying eggs 3 days later. two infertile eggs everyday.
I went on line and ordered the min. of 8 Brown African Geese required by Ideal Poultry. When they came, they were cute robust healthy baby geese.
We kept them in the brooder for a few weeks, but the week we put them on the pond 2 were taken by chicken hawks or owls. So we were left with 6 plus the 2 mature females. Luckily, 4 turned out to be males, giving us 4 pairs to mate.
As they grew, I realized that the new geese were not the breed I ordered.
They had sent Brown Chinese Geese, instead of Brown African Geese. The feathering is exactly the same, but the Chinese are much lighter, with longer necks and noticeable different knobs! Now I am back to square 1 with my 2 mature female Africans.
So, I called Ideal Poultry. They confirmed that I ordered African, but said I would have to send them pictures. DH went out and bought a digital camera, because we did not have one that worked (I had one, but lost the CD program for it and could not download one, because it was obsolete) and took pictures. I sent them, twice, to Ideal, but have not gotten any response from them. They just ignore me! I am going to try one more time, and if they do not correct their error, I won't be buying from them again. I have bought a lot of birds from them, over the years, too!
I find the Chinese are very much more aggressive than the African. The African are very gentle and terrific parents, too!
I had a friend with a mated pair of Brown African geese and asked me to incubate the 3 eggs the goose laid for him. 2 out of the 3 were fertile and hatched. About 3 months after that, he took a job out of town and had to get rid of all his birds. I bought the pair of geese and he gave me the 2 , that I hatched for him, that fortunately turned out to be another mated pair.
So, I called Ideal Poultry. They confirmed that I ordered African, but said I would have to send them pictures. DH went out and bought a digital camera, because we did not have one that worked (I had one, but lost the CD program for it and could not download one, because it was obsolete) and took pictures. I sent them, twice, to Ideal, but have not gotten any response from them. They just ignore me! I am going to try one more time, and if they do not correct their error, I won't be buying from them again. I have bought a lot of birds from them, over the years, too!
I find the Chinese are very much more aggressive than the African. The African are very gentle and terrific parents, too!
