The African and Chinese goose thread!!

[zooweemama]

The weather should be nice today so my goslings can go out today. I am so excited. I wish I had a way to pen them up near me though as I am working out wayyyyy out in the yard on the chicken coop. They sure are crying for us a lot. They need some outside time to grub around for goodies.

 

[zooweemama]

They took advantage of a fresh cup of water and had a head dunking bath.
Then proceeded to call and call and call for me. So I snuggled with them briefly.

I think they will love being outside today!


If it doesn't make sense - I blame autocorrect. Sent from my sweet iPhone 4s.

 

[SummerChick]

Pinkchic, I did some research on your question about the dewlap. What I read was depending on the individual goose the Dewlap can start to form between 6 months and 18 months and fully developed at 3 years of age. Read this at yardlyfarms.com.

 

[SummerChick]

Zoo, you and your goslings look so cute and happy together!! We were out playing yesterday also, was really hot here... I was sitting in a chaise lounge chair that sits low to the ground, my babies (1 month) climbed in the chair and sat down beside me!!! Lucy actually got in my lap!!! That made my day.

 

[Going Bhonkers]

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't been on in a while - still had to do some outside stuff despite all this rain we're getting from Tropical Storm Debby. Incidently, we learned geese still enjoy their pools when its raining.

Questions for all the geese folks....I'm confused (easily done, LOL).....Are my geese Chinese or African?

I've been reading as much as I can and looking at 100's of photo's and can't figure out for sure what they are. 2 of them are distinctly different colored in the head area then the others are. Only 2 of them (the 2 that are different) have Dewlaps. With a questionable one on Ben (photo'd below).
Is it true that they can take up to 3 years to fully mature and develop their breed characteristics such as the dewlap and knob?

Here's a couple photos...hoping you guys and gals can help me out.

Here is my Big boy Ben, does it look as though his dewlap is developing?


This is one that is colored differently in the head area, like a gray and shaded differently then the others, there are 2 like this and the other one is much younger, no knob yet but just starting to develop the dewlap. Please excuse the funky angle of the photo...they were all just in the tub for a bath and preening afterward.
(This one looks like an African Goose)

pinkchick, I am a bit confused now too. I initially read that Africans = Dewlap, no knob; Chinese = Knob, no dewlap. But when I searched google images, I saw Africans with knobs?! Okay, okay, this I know IS accurate: there is a great size difference between the two. Africans are listed in the heavy weight class & Chinese are in the light weight class. There is also a visual difference in their necks, Africans will have shorter, thicker necks & Chinese will have longer, skinnier necks (sometimes described as swan-like). But your best bet, since a lot of the experts that have posted in this thread havent been online in a while, is to post a separate thread on the main Goose forum, so you'll get *hopefully* better informed responses. Make sure to separate your pictures by goose (like, here's Ben, and have a couple for him, then here's Lucy, and a couple of hers). More than 1 picture of each goose will probably be more helpful. Oh! and try to get them when they're standing.
Question, did you get them all together & from the same place? Is it possible that you could have some that are African and some that are Chinese?
ps. YOUR GEESE ARE PRETTY!

I love to see them do that also..its so cute. That is Lucy (tilting head) who i think is a male lol. And Elly is the smaller one...i thought i added the comment but it didnt appear with the picture.
Thank you Zoowee!

SummerChick, super cute pictures. I love pictues of geese in their pools

 

[Jen C]

Africans and Chinese both have knobs, but only the Africans have dewlaps. My Africans generally start showing a dewlap around 2-3 months of age and it will continue to get bigger as they mature. By the time they are around 6 months old they will have a large well developed dewlap, but the dewlap can continue to increase in size slightly until they are 3 years of age. Most Africans that come from hatcheries will have little to no dewlap. That is because over the years the hatcheries have crossed Chinese with their Africans to increase production (Chinese lay more than Africans). Pinkchick, looking at your pictures I would not expect the birds that have no dewlap to develop one.

 

[Going Bhonkers]

Quote:

Africans and Chinese both have knobs, but only the Africans have dewlaps. My Africans generally start showing a dewlap around 2-3 months of age and it will continue to get bigger as they mature. By the time they are around 6 months old they will have a large well developed dewlap, but the dewlap can continue to increase in size slightly until they are 3 years of age. Most Africans that come from hatcheries will have little to no dewlap. That is because over the years the hatcheries have crossed Chinese with their Africans to increase production (Chinese lay more than Africans). Pinkchick, looking at your pictures I would not expect the birds that have no dewlap to develop one.

Can we see some pictures of your birds too?

 

[zooweemama]

Miss Sarah taking a breather. She was busy finding all the tender green tidbits off the weeds lol.

I think Chuck likes the camera. I get so many butt shots of Sarah but lots of face shots of Chuck.

They had so much fun outside yesterday!


If it doesn't make sense - I blame autocorrect. Sent from my sweet iPhone 4s.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Miss Sarah taking a breather. She was busy finding all the tender green tidbits off the weeds lol.

I think Chuck likes the camera. I get so many butt shots of Sarah but lots of face shots of Chuck.

They had so much fun outside yesterday!
If it doesn't make sense - I blame autocorrect. Sent from my sweet iPhone 4s.

They are precious and look so healthy.

 

[Jen C]

Here are some young Buff and Brown Africans. They were about 10 months old here. I have a bunch of white, buff and browns right now that were hatched in April. I will try and get some pictures of them tomorrow to share.