It's Complicated

[Miss Lydia]

Just to finish this off here are 2 pics, one of the happy couple and one of the new goose definitely not a gander haha now I can see the difference.


Her head is much sleeker and overall she is smaller built. Now I can hear the sounds as well, before they sounded the same so I could not tell, that is of course because they were the same sex.

Very pretty and what a nice beginning for these 2 to hit it off so well from the start. Congrats.

 

[servpolice]

i think you made the best choice you will get a few goslings nxt year or maybe this year! If you would some offcourse

 

[Wild1]

Hi and Good Afternoon,

Just to complete my story and ask a couple of more questions if I may.

My new little goose has settled great the gander looks after her fantastic they looks thought they were meant to be hahaha. when ever she enters the water he will follow and she allows him too mount and mate with her however he never tries to mount her on the land so;
IS THIS THE NORMAL WAY THEY MATE?

Today we had our first egg, figured it would not be long, these last few days the gander was paying a lot of attention to her, I put a plastic baby bath in their place filled with soft dry grass, but she laid in the dirt under the chicken house. Not the ideal place for her to sit eggs thats for sure. HOW CAN I PERSUADE HER TO SIT IN THE NEST I MADE FOR HER??

Now that she laid her first egg will she lay every day like the chickens? if yes then how many eggs will she lay? if no what will be the period in between eggs?

This quite exciting we have chickens for some time but this is our first goose experience.

 

[livininbrazil]

Hi and Good Afternoon,

Just to complete my story and ask a couple of more questions if I may.

My new little goose has settled great the gander looks after her fantastic they looks thought they were meant to be hahaha. when ever she enters the water he will follow and she allows him too mount and mate with her however he never tries to mount her on the land so;
IS THIS THE NORMAL WAY THEY MATE?

Today we had our first egg, figured it would not be long, these last few days the gander was paying a lot of attention to her, I put a plastic baby bath in their place filled with soft dry grass, but she laid in the dirt under the chicken house. Not the ideal place for her to sit eggs thats for sure. HOW CAN I PERSUADE HER TO SIT IN THE NEST I MADE FOR HER??

Now that she laid her first egg will she lay every day like the chickens? if yes then how many eggs will she lay? if no what will be the period in between eggs?

This quite exciting we have chickens for some time but this is our first goose experience.

Hi. First, yes, geese prefer to mate in the water, and some only mate in water.
They like to make a nest in a dirt bowl under something, it´s all quite normal. You may be able to get her to use your nest if you put it in the same place that she chose if, of course, it´s a safe place for her. (Could you protect her there under the chicken house?
Mine usually lay an egg every day, so sometimes she´ll lay each day, then a break, then the next day, a bit like chickens, but they do have a longer time in-between laying, and they´ll even lay at night, at least mine do, but others apparently lay every other day.
Have fun with your geese!!

 

[livininbrazil]

Well I now feel such a fool!!!

Today I called the guy who sold me the so called pair of goslings 6 months ago, fortunately he is a family friend and is an ok type of guy. So he agreed for me to bring one back and he would swap it for a slightly younger female, Now then decision time, which one do I take back?

I like the look of the smaller darker bird even though he is not that friendly, he comes to me but stays just out of touching range.
The larger lighter coloured bird is very friendly better than a labrador dog haha (not exactly) he will follow me and want petting all the time you are in the field.

Well I want the geese primarily to chase away the monkeys from taking the eggs from my chickens so I went with the not so friendly smaller darker bird and took my very friendly bird back to where he came from

. You should have seen him, we got out of the car and he jumped out from the back my pickup followed behind me all the way down the field until we got to the lake and the other geese then off he went never looking back. I hope he settles there I am thinking there will be some squabbles but our friend said he would be ok.

Now then the stupid part, having never seen an adult female Chinese brown goose before and then now our friend passes this really nice cute as anything bird to me. I can tell in an instant the difference now having actually seen one in the flesh so to speak it is so easy to tell the difference. I bet all the people out there reading my first post must think what an idiot !!!!! hahaha now I can see.

Well I took the little girl back home and first put her in the goose house locking the other male outside, I was scared incase they fought. She got all hot panting and pacing back and forth climbing the walls nearly to get out, so we let her out after 1 hr. She settled straight away like she had been born there talking away to the male and he showed no sign of aggression to her. Now they are talking to each other and walking side by side around the pen. when together the difference is great and easy to see now I am embarrassed

but they look ok.

To finish off, the female got into the pond right beside the male and straight away he did what he used to do to his brother which was grab its neck and try to climb on his back but this time the female did not fight him like the other gander did, she let him do it but he still cannot get on top properly, even though he used his wing to try to push her underneath, however he is still young and still trying. So I think eventually when he gets this sorted and has some practice we might just have them settled. Now I have a goose and gander, confirmed.

Thanks again, all the help was appreciated.

Stephen from Malaysia..

We´re all idiots until we know...then we become experts! Nice outcome.

 

[Wild1]

Many thanks for your reply, I thought this was the case that they preferred to mate on water but was not sure. the place she has chosen is not that good really as all the chicken house is raised up on legs and the poop drops down at night through the slats in the floor so I would prefer she nested somewhere else. I have put the new nest I prepared for her in the same spot and today if she lays then we will see what she does. The other thing I worry about is that she left the egg yesterday like she didn't know what to do, then the chickens all came to look and I worry they might peck and break the egg. I will try to collect it if I can find the egg in time assuming she lays again today. I will put these first eggs into the incubator and see what happens who knows maybe they re good and get new stock of birds.

Stephen From Malaysia

 

[subhanalah]

What great news! I hope you get some baby gossies!

 

[DeniseM02]

Stephen where do you live to have monkeys?

 

[subhanalah]

He's in Malaysia.

 

[livininbrazil]

Many thanks for your reply, I thought this was the case that they preferred to mate on water but was not sure. the place she has chosen is not that good really as all the chicken house is raised up on legs and the poop drops down at night through the slats in the floor so I would prefer she nested somewhere else. I have put the new nest I prepared for her in the same spot and today if she lays then we will see what she does. The other thing I worry about is that she left the egg yesterday like she didn't know what to do, then the chickens all came to look and I worry they might peck and break the egg. I will try to collect it if I can find the egg in time assuming she lays again today. I will put these first eggs into the incubator and see what happens who knows maybe they re good and get new stock of birds.

Stephen From Malaysia

I´d be surprised if a chicken could breaka goose egg...even I have difficulty breaking them open! As regards where she has her nest, could you not fix a piece of board sloping over the goose so that the poop doesn´t fall on her, but she still has a little place to hide away, and then you can clean the poop off the board? Geese tend to like to nest in a low spot, and they like to duck (Ilove this pun) their heads to get in. They feel secure. Or they like an island,,,they also feel secure. She may lay today, maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after...if she´s young. However, I would think it best to leave one egg there for her to feel that it´s a safe place to lay. Or put a tennis ball in there, she´ll likely not notice the difference. On the other hand, of course, if you want her to move her nest, then take the eggs. She may not continue laying in the same place in that case. But geese are funny when it comes to nesting sites. After you´ve taken some eggs, will you let her raise some herself? It´s very enjoyable to watch them with their little ones.