Mystery Goslings

[GardienneWings]

OK so I bought 5 eggs labeled Goose eggs at a sale All 5 hatched but it is still a mystery what kind they are...
They look just like a picture I found of a Toulouse gosling but they also look just like a picture of a Canadian gosling and almost like a picture of an African gosling!

Does anyone have any suggestions for telling the 3 types apart? They do have a pink tip on their bill like the toulouse photo And they don't have as dark an eyeliner line as the African picture but I'm not sure if either is a reliable way to tell the breeds apart. And then there is always the possibility that they are mixed something or other....

I realize I may just have to wait another month or so for them to start coloring before I can know for sure but any suggestions are appreciated!

Val

 

[ShadyGlade]

Pictures would be terrific if you want good attempts to place the breeds of your goslings.

 

[goosedragon]

An african is going to have a brown stripe running down the back of its neck.

 

[GardienneWings]

I had 1 african in my last batch that also had the black eye stripe and these don't exactly look like that one did - the eye stripe on these is grey. I will take pictures tonight.....

 

[GardienneWings]

Here is the photo....

 

[HenMamma]

To me it looks like an African. It has an arch at the top of the bill.

 

[GardienneWings]

That would be ideal as I have 1 lone African from the first batch of goslings I hatched this year!!! He/she is super talkative and prefers our company to the Sebastopol goslings at this point - so she needs a friend!

She had a darker eye stripe then these do but I guess that can vary.

 

[farmertank]

Ok I could be way off it's hard to tell from the pic, but could it be a Toulouse?

Julie

 

[adrian]

From what I've seen, brown africans have black bills upon hatching, while toulouse geese have dark brown bills. I believe this is easily explainable – african geese grow to have black bills, whereas toulouse geese do not. Your baby looks to be an african. Brown africans and brown chinese have similar or identical coloring, but your goslings don't seem to have the face or build of a chinese gosling. Difficult to say how they differ, but I can see it.

Edit: There is a little bit of fatty tissue beneath the baby's chin – to me, this hints at the dewlap africans develop later in life. So I am betting african!

 

[farmertank]

Oh thanks Adrian very good info. I do see the fatty tissue, I can see that becoming a dewlap.


Julie