Sexing African Geese?,

[Julianna]

Hello, I am about to get some African grey geese. Long story. I want to get 2 females and a gander and have been reading some things about how to tell them apart. But the lady said the females have orange bills, and I have searched all day online without finding any verification of this. I think either the ones with orange bills are immature and/or crossed with something else. How old are geese before they STOP laying? Some of her geese have what seems to be "wet feather" and one drags her wings. Is this coccidiosis, or worms? I want healthy animals. There is little choice here in Hawaii, and most poultry can't be shipped here, so I am trying to pick out the best of what is offered. I am going to get them this afternoon....can any one help?

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Africans don't ha e orange bills, they are black. Males are larger than females. I have a close up of our Africans on our web site. I can load more here if you need/want to see them.

 

[crj]

I have an African Goose and it's got a black beak. I don't know the sex of it yet. I believe I will have to wait and see if it lays an egg or not come spring time. Good luck.

 

[pete55]

Hi

It may be different in the UK but beak colour in Africans is not a method of sexing. Yes some do have orange beaks but its a fault and only the Whites should have that. When we bought our Buff Africans the breeder did have a number with orange beaks and admitted it was problematic in the the Buffs but selected for darker beaked birds. I ensured ours all had dark beaks and intend to breed back to Browns to help breed this feature out.

Sexing is usually done by males having a bigger more masculine head and a much larger and prominant knob on the top of their beak. They usually are larger in the body than the females. I dont like the sound of dropped wings or wet vent and think you may be correct in your diagnosis of a Coccidiosis like infection. However if caught early and treated then usually the birds will recover. In the UK we use a product called Coxoid which is usually effective and is added to the drinking water for 1 week.

Hope that helps

Pete

 

[Julianna]

Thank you so much! This is my first post ever. I love this forum! The lady with the geese sold me 3, but as of yesterday there were only 2! I have a ton of space, so I hope it's around, but am still worried. Can these geese fly, or are they too heavy? Should I trim their wings? I don't have much in the way of predators around here...just an occasional hawk, owl, or maybe a stray cat...but I don't think any of these would take out a goose(?) and there are no feathers around. The goose lady wants to give me another goose because it's straggling in her gaggle (haha, the gaggle straggler), and it's the one with the wet looking feathers and drooping wings. I rescue animals a lot, but I don't think I want to add a sick goose in with all of my poultry, and it sounds like she doesn't believe in medicines, so I'm out of luck thinking she'll medicate it before I bring it home. Still there's the temptation...free goose...rescue goose........Advice?? The lady insists that the goose isn't sick. I certainly don't know everything about poultry, but I am overly willing to learn...it's worrisome that some people aren't. :*(
Thanks again!!

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

if you can isolate it at home, it might be worth giving it a better home. Post photos here and hopefully someone here can help you out.

oh and yes ours think they can fly, I am sure if they tried harder they could. currently they get about 2 feet off the ground. I would worry about stray dogs, fox and raccoons taking the geese and killing them.

 

[pete55]

Hi Julianna

Im lucky as our ours dont fly though a gosling from this year made it over the fence but now a little too heavy. I'm afraid I'd avoid taking the bird with the wet vent and dropping wings as sounds quite unwell and in need of treatment. Let your head rule over your heart for the sake of your other birds

Pete