Sexing Chinese Geese - arghhh.

[Puddle Foot Farm]

Hey guys!

I am home for winter break from college, and am trying to sex my four stupid chinese geese and my toulouse. I cannot do it for the life of me. Vent sexing is not an option.

They're all very loud, except for the toulouse. They don't exactly make "screechy" noises, but they don't exactly don't.. They have knobs, but they're not huge. Two of them are very friendly, one of them prefers not to be touched but can handle it, and the last one hates being touched. Luna, the toulouse, switches between wanting to be touched and held and biting me when I go up to their fence. Can ANYONE give me tips on sexing these things? One of them is pretty big and two of them are kind of small, but the fourth one is right in the middle. They were hatched in early August.

Sexing them is honestly driving me crazy. I've been looking on youtube for videos, but it's very hard to tell from that. They don't screech like >

the ones in that video, but they make the kind of short noise, sharp noise that those geese make. They sometimes put their heads down, but sometimes they don't. Argh! I think they're trying to trick me.

Thanks in advance!

I can post pictures of them, and videos if I can figure it out.

Oh, and Happy Holidays!!!

 

[Ducks-R-Us]

I have 6 Chinese geese - 4 white and 2 gray, My females are noticeably smaller than my males. I have 4 males and two females. I have vent sexed all of them, so I am positive of the 4 males. The two that I assume are females are smaller than the rest.

 

[Chickies-duckies-etc]

'Ganders are bigger, stand more upright, when moving from one place to another will tend to hold their heads up high with their noses up.
Geese are smaller, stand more horizontal, when moving from one place to another will tend to curve their necks with their heads tucked a bit.

The knob on the gander is larger than the goose, but yours may still be growing so not so easy to tell.

The ganders voice is more shrill, but he can also make the lower honks. Ditto the geese, her voice is lower, but she can make the shrill noises. It is a "most" of the time thing,

When "danger" approaches, the gander will tend to stand in front of the geese and hold his head/neck out across the geese to protect them. If there are two ganders they tend to cross their necks for better protection.

The toulouse - no knob of course, but I understand most of the other things apply to them also. But, with my embdens, I have not been able to tell with my adult flock untill just recently and now I am beginning to see the ganders tall, reach for the sky stance and the geese keeping their heads lower more. And size difference is getting to be more noticeable.

The more time you spend just observing them, seeing how they interact, who tends to be boss, etc will also give you more information. As they get older, the differences get more pronounced and it is easier to tell. My two old ganders have HUGE knobs and they are a lot bigger and let everyone know they are boss.

 

[Puddle Foot Farm]

Hmm.. Still no idea.

But, the geese have officially moved outside forever.

Let's say we have all ganders.. What do we do? Eating them isn't an option. Should we get a bunch of pekin female ducks so the ganders can be "occupied" before we get new geese?

 

[sduenas]

After seeing the you tube video I just figured out I have two ganders. This is their first spring and both have gotten VERY aggressive!!! I hand raised them and had picked them up and loved on them till the last couple of months and now they are attack geese! Will they accept females if I put them in with them or do I need to get babies and let them grow up with them? I have them in with another goose/gander have no idea which or what kind, they all 3 were raised together and also with my ducks. They are very protective of the other goose/gander which is very small and has a crooked neck as well as the ducks.

 

[Miss Lydia]

After seeing the you tube video I just figured out I have two ganders. This is their first spring and both have gotten VERY aggressive!!! I hand raised them and had picked them up and loved on them till the last couple of months and now they are attack geese! Will they accept females if I put them in with them or do I need to get babies and let them grow up with them? I have them in with another goose/gander have no idea which or what kind, they all 3 were raised together and also with my ducks. They are very protective of the other goose/gander which is very small and has a crooked neck as well as the ducks.

Oh my them ganders are full of them selves when they come of age aren't they, Best thing to do would be if you get some girls for your boys would be to introduce slowly, like have the new girls in separate fenced in area so the boys get to meet but can't over whelm them with their affection or hurt them, ganders can be un predictable, let them get to know them for a while this way then your probably going to have to separate each gander with a goose or most likely fighting will break out. or wait till breeding season is over then let everyone be together. but still go through the getting to know each other faze through fencing. It will be much easier on you and the new geese, and if you decide to get goslings you'll have to introduce the same way after these babies are big enough to be outside 24/7. My gander fell in love with all the ducklings that hatched last year, they make awesome daddys. So you may keep that in mind.

 

[flockman]

Oh my them ganders are full of them selves when they come of age aren't they, Best thing to do would be if you get some girls for your boys would be to introduce slowly, like have the new girls in separate fenced in area so the boys get to meet but can't over whelm them with their affection or hurt them, ganders can be un predictable, let them get to know them for a while this way then your probably going to have to separate each gander with a goose or most likely fighting will break out. or wait till breeding season is over then let everyone be together. but still go through the getting to know each other faze through fencing. It will be much easier on you and the new geese, and if you decide to get goslings you'll have to introduce the same way after these babies are big enough to be outside 24/7. My gander fell in love with all the ducklings that hatched last year, they make awesome daddys. So you may keep that in mind.

Yes they do make great dads. My gander adopted the 2 female goslings and the 4 ducklings.

 

[flockman]

 

[sduenas]

Thanks for the advise! I am going to try and find some Girls for them!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yes they do make great dads. My gander adopted the 2 female goslings and the 4 ducklings.

That is so sweet.