Mods- please move to "Geese"?- Growing Goslings!

[chickenlisa]

She (Mikaela at Ideal) agreed with me to wait a week or so, for me to be sure of what I have. Then she'll reship what I was supposed to have in my order/ First she said the whole order, then she said a pair. I just asked if we can be sure of what I have first, then ship out what I was supposed to have. She said that sounds good. So for now, I'll play with and love who I have and hopefully not have 3 boys ,because I won't be able to keep 3 males and only have 4 females.
I'll post more as I know it and I"ll get new pics too so you all can help ID what I've got.
Thanks
Lisa

 

[Omniskies]

The best thing about goslings is that I've never noticed them to have an "ugly" stage. Chicks are adorable, but they get to that inbetween-age where they're all neck and legs and a mish-mash of fuzz and feathers

.

Goslings just keep looking like goslings until one day you notice the fuzz has become feathers.

I also absolutely love the fact that goslings _want_ to see you. They get all happy and excited and start asking you a million questions. Then if you say anything to anyone nearby they're convinced that you're trying to chatter back. Chicks and ducklings can become friendly with a LOT of work. Goslings naturally want to love on you.

Down below is a picture of the brand new little girl. She was born with the nice black bill and feet you want in a female gosling. As she gets older the bill and feet will lighten until finally turning orange. As the bill fades it becomes a bit more difficult to tell a light female from a greyish looking male until you see the feathers coming in.

Edit: Geese aren't like ducks or chickens and genuinely like to pair up with one another. Younger birds (read: males

are happy to have 2-4 girls to fawn over, but as they get older - usually by 4-5+ years of age - geese become more and more devoted to just one lover. Having three males to four females wouldn't be a problem at all. I try to keep all of my geese in pairs and trios if I can.

 

[crazedguinea]

at what age do goslings get in their feathers? will they stay this sociable for the rest of their lives(excluding breeding season)? will they continue to be a bit more on the tame side more so than guinea fowl, peafowl, and chickens? i mean now they seem like they enjoy humans whereas keets...some are ok with people but for the most part they run away(my really tame guineas took quite a bit of work too). will they stick around the home more than guineas do??? these are probably the coolest baby birds i have raised and seem easier to tame for the most part since they are a bit more gregarious and relaxed about humans. i'm just hoping they end up being a bit "calmer" tempered than my others and stick around so i don't have to be chasing them all over to come back home....someone told me geese are more of homebodies-i hope so, and said pilgrims have a nice dispostion-seems true so far....i just hope they stay so cool and friendly.

 

[Omniskies]

Goslings start to get in their feathers by week two in their tail. They look completely like miniature geese by 12 weeks of age.

With Pilgrims they should be friendly and sociable _even during_ breeding season. Good Pilgrims are bred to be laid back and friendly - that's one of the traits the breed is required to have. During breeding season they may start hissing, but you will never have to worry about being attacked.

Geese in general are much more laid back than your other birds. They're a lot like turkeys, and the explanation I was given for why makes a lot of sense.

Geese are extremely large birds. Their defense isn't to run and hide like your smaller birds, so they don't bolt at the first sign of danger. Because of this, they're less likely to be intimidated by something - especially if they're in a group. When they feel threatened, they'll keep their distance, but then they'll turn around and look at the potential threat and chat about it to one another.

Your goslings - especially Pilgrims, American Buffs, Sebastopols, and Dewlap Toulouse - will always be happy to see you. Louder geese will blast out to let everyone else know their favorite person is in the yard and come waddling over.

They're big puppy dogs. A lot of them grow out of the habit of wanting to be held or picked up (if they ever wanted to be picked up in the first place), while others will try to crawl into your lap. I have one Pilgrim gander that wants to be held so he can look around and will constantly try to crawl into your lap looking for treats (we taught him that if he sat patiently in our lap while we live harvested down he got snacks...he took it a step farther and decided lap = treats

.

These guys are absolutely incredible. More people need to be bitten by the goose bug (instead of the goose

and help promote raising and keeping friendly, rare geese for the homestead.

 

[crazedguinea]

thanks omniskies, you have been providing us with a lot of info. for us "geese newbies". thanks for being so cool, helpful, and nice. looks like chickenlisa and i are in for a lot of future fun with our growing geese.

 

[Omniskies]

No worries

As you can probably tell, I'm -slightly- addicted to geese.

 

[chickenlisa]

I'm getting there too! I wish I was home all day everyday; I'd sit down there and play with them and take them outside as soon as its really nice (today is, but prolly only 65 tops. it is 64 out now.) But I 'm subbing at our school all week long so I won't get much playtime with them til the weekend. I get a few minutes in the morning and later in the day. Omniskies- I have to thank you again for writing all you have written (please don't stop!) and teaching us more and more about these wonderful birds. Thank you!
Lisa

 

[Duck Keeper]

I haven't read the entire thread, but here's my two cents. My white chinese goose IS noisy, but she is in no way mean! Someone even commented on how well behaved she was, saying "I've never met a goose before that didn't want to take my hand off!" I feel as if it's entirely up to how well you treat them, how they grow up (are there lots of other geese/ducks around? were they properly socialized?), and how much time you spend with them. Hope you're happy with geese! If I could do it over again, I'd get more geese than ducks. Geese have real genuine personalities... Ducks are stupid. But I love them!

 

[chickenlisa]

ok- they are over a week old now. Today my daughter and I decided to let them swim for a few minutes and then warm them back up quickly. I took pics while we did this so maybe anyone (Omni?) can maybe tell if I've got 3 boys and 1 girl or something else....I need to email Ideal(Mikaela) back soon.
Here are a bunch of pics...

#1 solo pic

#2

#3

#4

and now for the swimming ones

We think they had fun, but they also worked so hard paddling around. We only left them for a few min and then dried them off and put them back under the red light in their brooder box. More swimming again another day.

So what do you think? How many girls and how many boys?
Lisa

 

[chickenlisa]

Help ID them- someone please? I need to get back in touch with Ideal to let them know what to do and when...I don't want to wait too long or else any new goslings will be that much younger than these ones and I'll be afraid the older ones will hurt the younger ones...