Pilgrim Geese thread

[JLynnsDuckies]

Happy to hear things went well. It would be so nice if everyone could live in harmony[I believe that was a song at one time] lol to the tune of "All we need is love." right? anyway I noticed my drake yesterday he will let them eat and drink thankfully I put out an extra feeder just in case he was being really mean. But he likes to herd them, maybe in his dreams he always wanted to be a Boarder Collie.

Hopefully your 2 groups will co mingle better now.

Haha! Miss Lydia you are hilarious and gave me a good laugh reading this! Hopefully the drake let's them eat... Stinker! Harmony would be wonderful! I think I'm going to have a chat with them about it in the morning. Lol! Oh yeah, and I have a question for you. Should my boys eyes be blue by now? They are about 8 weeks and there's not even a hint of blue in their eyes.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Haha! Miss Lydia you are hilarious and gave me a good laugh reading this!

Hopefully the drake let's them eat... Stinker! Harmony would be wonderful! I think I'm going to have a chat with them about it in the morning. Lol! Oh yeah, and I have a question for you. Should my boys eyes be blue by now? They are about 8 weeks and there's not even a hint of blue in their eyes.

That I can't tell you as far as eye color I always thought Pilgrims had blue eyes right off but maybe not. Hopefully someone who has Pilgrims can give you an idea on that one.

Oh yes let me know how your little talk goes, Mine listen to me but then go and do what they want, [remind me alot of teenagers]

 

[EvenLater]

If Pilgrims are anything like Poms (I think they are?) from what I've been reading the eye color change comes a little later, some time around their more "adult" molt, or around the time they'd be ready to breed?

Cas is a little over 11 weeks old now and his bill is turning more reddish (looks like he's blushing lol) and his eyes are beginning to lighten from the dark brown they are, almost like a hazel now. He's is halfway through his second (shedding "baby" feathers and getting "adult" ones) molt if this helps?

 

[Carrosaur]

I think they start off dark and get lighter. My Emdebn goslings started out with dark brown eyes too.

Eye color is determined by the parents of course, the dark/light/pigment of the eye is due to something called "melanin". Human, light skinned, babies are usually born with blue eyes because they lack melanin at birth, as they get older and they start to get their natural skin tone, their eyes will also probably darken. (melanin = color). So since melanin determines your eye and skin color, it would also determine feather and eye color for geese. Lighter geese usually have blue eyes! Embdens, male Pilgrims, Roman, etc. So TECHNICALLY your goslings should genetically have blue eyes! But if the parent's didn't, maybe not.

 

[EvenLater]

I've also heard of rare cases with Emdens and some other breeds having two different color eyes! How cool would that be! Like a Husky with a brown and a blue eye! And yep, you are right, it's all about genetics, and fair eyes are actually a Recessive trait, where dark eyes are a Dominant trait, so if the parent geese had one with dark eyes and one with light eyes, you could get either a mix of light eyed and dark eyed goslings, or even just all dark eyed. Just like human genetics, a brown eyed person and a blue eyed person could have offspring with either color, or both, but the brown eyes are more common. AND it gets even weirder because two with blue eyes could STILL pass along brown eye trait to offspring if they carry the gene, so just breeding two creatures with blue eyes doesn't always mean you'll get only blue eyed babies! Weird huh?! LOVE genetics!

 

[Carrosaur]

I've also heard of rare cases with Emdens and some other breeds having two different color eyes! How cool would that be! Like a Husky with a brown and a blue eye! And yep, you are right, it's all about genetics, and fair eyes are actually a Recessive trait, where dark eyes are a Dominant trait, so if the parent geese had one with dark eyes and one with light eyes, you could get either a mix of light eyed and dark eyed goslings, or even just all dark eyed. Just like human genetics, a brown eyed person and a blue eyed person could have offspring with either color, or both, but the brown eyes are more common. AND it gets even weirder because two with blue eyes could STILL pass along brown eye trait to offspring if they carry the gene, so just breeding two creatures with blue eyes doesn't always mean you'll get only blue eyed babies! Weird huh?! LOVE genetics!

I read somewhere that if Emden's didn't have blue eyes they weren't pure, but I bet all the other white breeds had that option. Its hard with Pilgrims because the mom usually has brown eyes also. But they're auto sexing that's weird enough.

 

[JLynnsDuckies]

If Pilgrims are anything like Poms (I think they are?) from what I've been reading the eye color change comes a little later, some time around their more "adult" molt, or around the time they'd be ready to breed?

Cas is a little over 11 weeks old now and his bill is turning more reddish (looks like he's blushing lol) and his eyes are beginning to lighten from the dark brown they are, almost like a hazel now. He's is halfway through his second (shedding "baby" feathers and getting "adult" ones) molt if this helps?

I think they start off dark and get lighter. My Emdebn goslings started out with dark brown eyes too.

Eye color is determined by the parents of course, the dark/light/pigment of the eye is due to something called "melanin". Human, light skinned,  babies are usually born with blue eyes because they lack melanin at birth, as they get older and they start to get their natural skin tone, their eyes will also probably darken. (melanin = color). So since melanin determines your eye and skin color, it would also determine feather and eye color for geese. Lighter geese usually have blue eyes! Embdens, male Pilgrims, Roman, etc. So TECHNICALLY your goslings should genetically have blue eyes! But if the parent's didn't, maybe not. 

I've also heard of rare cases with Emdens and some other breeds having two different color eyes! How cool would that be! Like a Husky with a brown and a blue eye! And yep, you are right, it's all about genetics, and fair eyes are actually a Recessive trait, where dark eyes are a Dominant trait, so if the parent geese had one with dark eyes and one with light eyes, you could get either a mix of light eyed and dark eyed goslings, or even just all dark eyed. Just like human genetics, a brown eyed person and a blue eyed person could have offspring with either color, or both, but the brown eyes are more common. AND it gets even weirder because two with blue eyes could STILL pass along brown eye trait to offspring if they carry the gene, so just breeding two creatures with blue eyes doesn't always mean you'll get only blue eyed babies! Weird huh?! LOVE genetics!

Awesome guys thanks for the help! I guess I figured it was a trait of Male pilgrims. White feathers with the gray highlights with blue eyes. I wasn't sure if they were born with dark blue that gradually lightened. Theirs are just dark right now. I adore them either way!

 

[JLynnsDuckies]

That I can't tell you as far as eye color I always thought Pilgrims had blue eyes right off but maybe not. Hopefully someone who has Pilgrims can give you an idea on that one.

Oh yes let me know how your little talk goes, Mine listen to me but then go and do what they want, [remind me alot of teenagers]

Well the talk went well until I realized they have been EATING my house! There is a fairly large hole in the stucco and nibbles in the foam installation. Sigh. I seriously hope this doesn't hurt them in anyway. They seem fine. I covered the hole so they can't get at it anymore and washed the little pieces that were on the ground away. I am hoping that they were not ingesting it just chewing and spitting it back out. Now I'm going to worry about them all day...

 

[EvenLater]

Well the talk went well until I realized they have been EATING my house! There is a fairly large hole in the stucco and nibbles in the foam installation. Sigh. I seriously hope this doesn't hurt them in anyway. They seem fine. I covered the hole so they can't get at it anymore and washed the little pieces that were on the ground away. I am hoping that they were not ingesting it just chewing and spitting it back out. Now I'm going to worry about them all day...

Oh my. I wouldn't be as worried about the stucco as the insulation which I think is made from spun glass! That's why it makes us itch when we touch it, that itching is actually little tiny cuts! I'd def figure a way to keep em from eating you out of house and home (LITERALLY!) and keep a close eye on them. I'd worry it would plug up in their crops or wrap around in there and that would lead to issues. Best of luck! And keep us posted PLEASE!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Oh my. I wouldn't be as worried about the stucco as the insulation which I think is made from spun glass! That's why it makes us itch when we touch it, that itching is actually little tiny cuts! I'd def figure a way to keep em from eating you out of house and home (LITERALLY!) and keep a close eye on them. I'd worry it would plug up in their crops or wrap around in there and that would lead to issues. Best of luck! And keep us posted PLEASE!

Even she said foam which still isn't good to eat at least it isn't the kind that is spun glass



I'd had to watch my younger gander he was chewing on the vinyl on our house a couple quick hits with the hose took care of it. I believe they will eat us out of house an home if we don't keep an eye on things.