Is my goose a hybrid?

[Miss Lydia]

Oh my gosh, livininbrazil I think you've hit the nail on the head perfectly! Thank you so much!!

From the images on Google, those cotton patch geese look EXACTLY like Goliath. And I think that solves the gender question, too! It looks like I definitely have myself a cotton-patch gander.

In regards to his size, no he isn't very large at all. He is only named that as bit of a joke, because he shared an incubator with a little chicken named Davey haha.

Goliath is pretty small and rather sleek, which I just put down to the fact that he's still pretty young, or maybe even female.

Thank you so much for telling me about this breed, I was particularly worried about the large white spot on the tip of Goliath's beak. I worried it was malnutrition.

On another note, how weird is it that an American work goose breed wound up being sold in a tiny little Australian pet store

Got pics? and

 

[livininbrazil]

Oh my gosh, livininbrazil I think you've hit the nail on the head perfectly! Thank you so much!!

From the images on Google, those cotton patch geese look EXACTLY like Goliath. And I think that solves the gender question, too! It looks like I definitely have myself a cotton-patch gander.

In regards to his size, no he isn't very large at all. He is only named that as bit of a joke, because he shared an incubator with a little chicken named Davey haha.

Goliath is pretty small and rather sleek, which I just put down to the fact that he's still pretty young, or maybe even female.

Thank you so much for telling me about this breed, I was particularly worried about the large white spot on the tip of Goliath's beak. I worried it was malnutrition.

On another note, how weird is it that an American work goose breed wound up being sold in a tiny little Australian pet store

Seems weird, doesn´t it? But in Australia you already have the "pilgrim", or at least, a version of it, called the "settler", which is much the same thing. These geese all originated in Europe, and when Europeans moved to other places they took their geese with them, and many goose breeds have developed form those. The dilute gene, which is what shows up to be white in ganders and pale grey in the females, was bred for a long time back. Embdens and a whole load of other breeds have been developed from the greylags of Northern Europe, and the greylags from eastern Europe into asia, that show the pink bill colouration. Now, yours may not be exactly a cotton-patch, but could simply be a descendant of the birds from E. Europe, which the cotton patch also comes from. Or could be a cotton-patch...You´ll find there are a number of breeds with the pink bills and feet. Have a gander at the "TULA and other breeds" thread, there are some interesting pics of lesser-known breeds.
The size of him makes sense. Cotton-patch should be able to fly, some pilgrims do, but they´re so laid back they don´t really bother much. And if he´s really easy-going, then he´ll be along the lines of cotton-patch/pilgrim/settler. Will you try to get him a 'settler' goose? He´ll be much happier to have a Mrs. By the way, he´s lovely.

 

[flatfoot]

To Miss Lydia and livininbrazil, unfortunately I don't have many recent pics of Goliath stored on this phone. Can only seem to find ones from when he was small and fluffy..

When you say laid-back, well, that really depends He loves me like crazy and spends all day following me around and calling me (no lie, he goes underneath the house and sits beneath my bedroom. When he hears me walking around in the morning getting ready for work, he cries out repeatedly in the funniest-sounding shriek until I come outside and cuddle him haha.)

However he has no patience for my little sisters, and will chase them all around the yard if they decide to go out there. I don't think it is aggressive though, as he doesn't hiss. I've seen him chase our pet dog with wings outstretched and hissing like crazy - he isn't like that with people!

For now he lives with Davey the rooster and we will be getting some hens soon, so I wasn't sure if they would be enough company for him. Do you think I should get him another goose?

 

[livininbrazil]

To Miss Lydia and livininbrazil, unfortunately I don't have many recent pics of Goliath stored on this phone. Can only seem to find ones from when he was small and fluffy..

When you say laid-back, well, that really depends

He loves me like crazy and spends all day following me around and calling me (no lie, he goes underneath the house and sits beneath my bedroom. When he hears me walking around in the morning getting ready for work, he cries out repeatedly in the funniest-sounding shriek until I come outside and cuddle him haha.)

However he has no patience for my little sisters, and will chase them all around the yard if they decide to go out there. I don't think it is aggressive though, as he doesn't hiss. I've seen him chase our pet dog with wings outstretched and hissing like crazy - he isn't like that with people!

For now he lives with Davey the rooster and we will be getting some hens soon, so I wasn't sure if they would be enough company for him. Do you think I should get him another goose?

So he´s imprinted on you. The shriek is another gander thing.
It´d be good if you could help your sisters to not run away from him, as it can encourage him to think that he is higher in the pecking order, if you see what I mean. It could lead to him giving them a pinch, and that really hurts. They may find it fun to run, but it´s always best to encourage the geese to be calm and regard people as out-of-limits as regards the pecking order. Although, these breeds are not as difficult generally as some others can be.

Chickens aren´t much company for geese, really. A muscovy duck would be better, but you only have to see geese with other geese to see how they love to be together. (not 2 ganders, though, they may fight). A gander and his goose make for a very contented life for them. It´s so lovely to see them together, moreso at breeding time, although the ganders can get a bit possessive of their goose.
Have fun with your birds!

 

[RURU]

This is Goliath in his pool, see how the beak and feet are not orange?

What a cute little goose! Also welcome to BYC

Hope you enjoy your goose for a good long time. The goose would do much better if there were another one with it. This way Goliath would be happy to be with another goose... Might help him from chasing your sisters around. I believe since he has imprinted on you he is just wanting to be with someone because he is lonely.

I agree about not letting him chase your sisters around. This is not a good thing for them to run from him... Good luck and enjoy and welcome to the goose family...

 

[flatfoot]

Ok, I'll see about getting him another goose to be with.

As for the chasing thing, it's very annoying because my sisters think it is a fun game to play 'outrun the goose' - although they are starting to lose more and more as he has learnt to semi-fly whilst running now, and he gets to some impressive speeds doing it

Thank you to everyone in this thread who helped me out, it's a huge weight off my mind to know my goose is healthy after all!

 

[RURU]

Ok, I'll see about getting him another goose to be with.

As for the chasing thing, it's very annoying because my sisters think it is a fun game to play 'outrun the goose' - although they are starting to lose more and more as he has learnt to semi-fly whilst running now, and he gets to some impressive speeds doing it

Thank you to everyone in this thread who helped me out, it's a huge weight off my mind to know my goose is healthy after all!

Did you know that geese like kale, turnip green, romaine lettuce, cabbage, apples, tomatoes, red and green grapes, pumpkin, watermelon, all different kind of things. Peas, nuts like shelled peanuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, pistachio shelled seeds, safflower seeds. Many different things. Others will ad more things that they find they like.

 

[servpolice]

This is Goliath in his pool, see how the beak and feet are not orange?

thats not a embden and yea its a crossbreed andit looks like a greylag x embden but thats not a embdenand it looks like a male and its dark blue eyes means that the father had to be the embden due to its blue eyes and mother was greylag brown eyes
ive these crosses also here with my geese

 

[livininbrazil]

thats not a embden and yea its a crossbreed andit looks like a greylag x embden but thats not a embdenand it looks like a male and its dark blue eyes means that the father had to be the embden due to its blue eyes and mother was greylag brown eyes
ive these crosses also here with my geese

I doubt there are any greylags in Australia, serv! If there are, they´d be way off course!

GPS malfunction!

 

[livininbrazil]

Ok, I'll see about getting him another goose to be with.

As for the chasing thing, it's very annoying because my sisters think it is a fun game to play 'outrun the goose' - although they are starting to lose more and more as he has learnt to semi-fly whilst running now, and he gets to some impressive speeds doing it

Thank you to everyone in this thread who helped me out, it's a huge weight off my mind to know my goose is healthy after all!

It´s the same with pups!! There you are trying to train a pup not to jump up at people and your guest is there trying to encourage it to do so!! And then one day, your big dog jumps up at some little old lady and it´s no fun anymore!
Same with a young gander. If people run from them, they´ll just do it more until they MAY 'bite' someone.
Here are some of my gang.
My auto-sexing ones (ie pilgrim/cotton-patch/Settler/West-of-England etc) are to the right of the pic. The greys are the females.