Spirit - the amazing grey dewlap toulouse gander!

[Iain Utah]

Funny.. me too!

 

[Going Bhonkers]

J i would rather be knee deep in discussions than in other possible scenarios

 

[Triplell]

Well last night I had lost another goose. I found her on a new nest with 1 egg in it. So now I have two geese that are laying. I was up until 11:30 down at the barn getting another breeder pen put up. So far the two good eggs are not cracked from the cold. Today it shound get up to 35F and then tommarrow up to 40F. We are having a Tropical heat wave, a Tropical heat wave!!!e

 

[psue]

Yum! I can't wait for my geese to start laying.... Or maybe I can as I do not have my place set up for breeding yet. Hubby and I are knee deep in discussions about how to best go about it. I am not sure how many possible breeders I have because most are juveniles, and from what I understand, may not even produce fertile eggs in their first year. I know a breeder who is also a dvm that got a dewlap gosling pair from holderread 2 years ago, that did not produce last spring as 1yo pair. I don't know if that would apply to the Africans, though.
From what I have read, according to holderread, any babies produced by a first year couple are considered bonus babies. But what if the gander is a 2yo and the goose is a 1yo (like paulla's buff or Marty having Dude as her only adult gander dewlap)? Or what if the gander is 1yo, but the goose is 2yo (like 3 of my dewlap pairs)? If both goose and gander need to be 2yo to make babies, I may only have one pair (or trio) to separate out.

J from what I understand ... it's up to the boy to "get it right" so to speak

But even without the boys hitting the spot they will still bond and fight. The only question is if a pair will give fetile eggs. They will still go through the motions and attitudes of an older pair.

 

[Iain Utah]

Congrats, triplell!! I talked to a dewlap African breeder I respect very much, and she said that many yearling Africans will be very fertile, so best of luck with yours hatching healthy babies!

Paulla, that makes sense. It goes without saying that we will need to separate any that are fighting, but I don't know if it is worth separating the juvenile dewlaps right away for potential fertile eggs and to eliminate cross breeding, or if I should just separate my one adult pair?

 

[psue]

I'd separate anyone over a year. The one year old ........ maybe put them into breed groups and watch for aggression within the youngsters. But be ready to seperate everyone..... Napoleon is not showing agression yet but him and Josephine are never more then just a few feet apart.

 

[Triplell]

Thanks Iian, I am very excited and hoping for gosslings. I don't know how old these crosses are, just when I got them home they were very under weight. Two of them must be girls as they are the one's laying the eggs. I had to put my other goose in with the first pair as she just got beat up by the others. She seems much happier with George. He seems to be a gentle gander.I put the Toulouse pair in thier own pen as they are the one's causing most of the fights. So now I just have 1 pair that is still able to go outside during the day. At least until I see another nest and egg. This spring I will be making better breeder pens so they can be turned out everyday. These will be permiment. Can you put all the parents together in the spring and summer? I am looking for all 7 geese to be together plus the gosslings?

 

[Iain Utah]

Thanks for the good advice, paulla. I will definitely separate my adult dewlap pair. I am debating on creating a 2nd yard for hopeful breeding juveniles, and a 3rd yard for eating eggs (not counting my special needs) vs making pens for each pair. I also have Chicory, my one production Toulouse, who is grey split to buff, that I thought about putting in a pen with barley, my buff dewlap goose that did not get a dewlap. I think they would make nice production Toulouse babies, but don't know if it is worth the extra hassle to add another breeding pen to the equation. In the meantime, hubby is working away on designing and building breeding pens for the Africans. Hope to have them penned up by next week.

Hope your buff pair make lots of gorgeous babies for you and Jerry!

 

[Iain Utah]

I just had an amazing call with Gary Overton, the top dewlap breeder authority and judge in the country. He said to put my adult buff with my two best grey adult girls and leave all the rest in one group and collect all eggs for eating. He said yearling ganders really cannot get the job done... And yearling geese will lay small eggs, produce small babies, many of which are not healthy. He said he would never breed his dewlaps until at least 2yo and they really don't get highly productive with sizable offspring until their 3rd year.

He offered to critique all my dewlaps, if I send him pics via snail mail, and then he will send me pics of his best dewlaps to give me an ideal to strive for. He said he would mentor me over time to make sure I breed and cross breed my flock for best long term results. He is such a sweet man!!!

Oh... And we talked briefly about hubby showing our white African gander. He said we should as they are quite rare and will do well at shows. He said if we do show him, to bring a flake of straw to put in crate for better bedding.

 

[Triplell]

I just had an amazing call with Gary Overton, the top dewlap breeder authority and judge in the country. He said to put my adult buff with my two best grey adult girls and leave all the rest in one group and collect all eggs for eating. He said yearling ganders really cannot get the job done... And yearling geese will lay small eggs, produce small babies, many of which are not healthy. He said he would never breed his dewlaps until at least 2yo and they really don't get highly productive with sizable offspring until their 3rd year.
He offered to critique all my dewlaps, if I send him pics via snail mail, and then he will send me pics of his best dewlaps to give me an ideal to strive for. He said he would mentor me over time to make sure I breed and cross breed my flock for best long term results. He is such a sweet man!!!
Oh... And we talked briefly about hubby showing our white African gander. He said we should as they are quite rare and will do well at shows. He said if we do show him, to bring a flake of straw to put in crate for better bedding.

Congrat's!!