The African and Chinese goose thread!!

[SummerChick]

Great photos EVERYONE! Everyone needs a goose or 2! LOVE THEM! I should have had them all along. They are the best!

I finally named my goslings.....(left to right) meet Beetle, Juice & Newton.



Juice taking a little nappy.

Darling goslings and cute names!!

 

[SummerChick]

My Chinese Brown, DuckDuck, is 8 weeks old today and has no knob at all. Is DuckDuck female? Could DuckDuck be a cross? DuckDuck's feet started out black, as a hatchling, and are now fading to a paler shade of gray/pink. But they are definitely NOT orange. Photos attached. We are eager to sex our feathered fried so we can acquire the right mate. DuckDuck really needs a goose-friend.

My Africans are about the same age as yours, they had same black feet that turned to orange.

 

[Going Bhonkers]

My Chinese Brown, DuckDuck, is 8 weeks old today and has no knob at all. Is DuckDuck female? Could DuckDuck be a cross? DuckDuck's feet started out black, as a hatchling, and are now fading to a paler shade of gray/pink. But they are definitely NOT orange. Photos attached. We are eager to sex our feathered fried so we can acquire the right mate. DuckDuck really needs a goose-friend.

Hey, DButlerLynch!

Duckduck is adorable! About the knob question, BOTH female and male Chinese geese develop knobs. Check out some of the earlier posts on this thread.. i forgot what page it was, but there was a discussion on here about Chinese geese & their knobs, and African Geese and their dewlaps (skin under their beaks)... it could be that Duckduck is an African Goose
So since both males & females (Chinese) get knobs, how do you tell them apart? A couple of ways: A male is larger than a female, and his knob is larger as well. Males have a higher pitched honk, and females have deeper voices. There are also behavior characteristics, such as males usually are more defensive/ protective, and most people say that their female geese are more shy in comparison... but you can't always count on a goose's behavior as a gender tell because some geese are different (my female geese is way more social, and my gander is the shy one). Of course, if you only have Duckduck and no other goose/ gander to compare with, it makes it a little bit harder.
The best ways to find the gender are to either vent sex your goose, or by DNA test with feathers (google "avian dna testing", not as scary as it sounds and not crazy expensive).
If you're just looking to get Duckduck a friend, and aren't interested in increasing your flock by becoming Goose Grandparents, any gender is ok. There is no problem if you have 2 females, or 2 males, you just obviously wont get fertile eggs.

 

[zooweemama]

My babies are getting feathers awwwwwww! Not many but a couple on the wings, tail and sides. They are getting SO huge!

 

[DButlerLynch]

Very useful info. Thanks so much.!
I read on a earlier page that by 8-10 weeks the knobs would be sufficiently developed to sex the goose. I was really hoping to be able to do that. Still, there are no other Chinese browns to be had this time of year so it may be a completely moot point until spring. I'm thinking DuckDuck is a female, but it's just a hunch....something about the shape of her chassis. I have looked at a lot of pictures of other geese and there is a definite silhouette in a male that DuckDuck does not have. As for a friend, I would really like to have a mated pair, even if we don't let them raise goslings. I understand they're much happier mated. DuckDuck is so attached to us, I'm sure she would attached quickly to another Chinese Brown. About the Chinese/African question....I have studied her for hours and she has a certain slender stature that makes me think she's Chinese..,,but again, I'm comparing her to other geese in photographs, so I could be wrong all the way around. If she is African, how old would she be before her carriage began to drop and her neck/chest began to thicken?
I'm proud to say that, as of this morning, she is sporting a very tall stature, about 26", and her wing span is a solid 3 feet. Also, she has an intimidating hiss. I know this because grandma's retriever is visitng, and DuckDuck escorts him from the yard, with a great deal of dramatic display, posture and noise, everytime he appears there.

 

[zooweemama]

Our goose dog horses and my daughter. Lol. Love these geese! Do do the kids.


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

 

[SummerChick]

My goodness zoo, I think your geese grew overnight!! hehehe

 

[Going Bhonkers]

Very useful info. Thanks so much.!
I read on a earlier page that by 8-10 weeks the knobs would be sufficiently developed to sex the goose. I was really hoping to be able to do that. Still, there are no other Chinese browns to be had this time of year so it may be a completely moot point until spring. I'm thinking DuckDuck is a female, but it's just a hunch.
About the Chinese/African question....I have studied her for hours and she has a certain slender stature that makes me think she's Chinese..,,but again, I'm comparing her to other geese in photographs, so I could be wrong all the way around. If she is African, how old would she be before her carriage began to drop and her neck/chest began to thicken?

I can't help you out on the African question, as I dont know how old they are when their characteristics start developing. But from your description (tall & slender) she does sound like a Chinese. My geese (white chinese) are 15 weeks old, no knobs yet, but it looks like our male is starting to develop something, but just barely. Kevin565 also has Brown Chinese, I remember reading (somewhere on the Goose forum) that his took a while to develop knobs too, longer than 10 weeks. You might want to message him to get an idea, he's pretty knowledgeable when it comes to geese - this is my first time with them.

 

[zooweemama]

I was looking back a couple weeks worth of pics and stumbled upon a pic of both my goslings under my neck. At 4 weeks- I struggle to carry them both down the stairs to their yard. They are ginormous! I wish there weren't so many stairs or they could walk them. Can geese navigate stairs pretty well? I think there are 8 stairs...they navigate 3 stairs just fine now but I am not sure of 8 going downhill though. My ducks grew fast but these guys blow them out of the water! My rottweiler is awesome around all the birds. He is a big dope and often wants to walk right up to them- to sniff. But the goslings aren't used to him yet and the male hisses at him. My dog looks at me like- moooom what IS that? rofl They both want to follow me around the property and poor doggy is just clueless that he is intimidating them. BUT the goslings go back to mowing really quickly, the male hisses less and is beginning to ignore the dog so I think they are getting used to him. Will try to get some pretty pics today!

 

[SummerChick]

I was looking back a couple weeks worth of pics and stumbled upon a pic of both my goslings under my neck. At 4 weeks- I struggle to carry them both down the stairs to their yard. They are ginormous! I wish there weren't so many stairs or they could walk them. Can geese navigate stairs pretty well? I think there are 8 stairs...they navigate 3 stairs just fine now but I am not sure of 8 going downhill though. My ducks grew fast but these guys blow them out of the water! My rottweiler is awesome around all the birds. He is a big dope and often wants to walk right up to them- to sniff. But the goslings aren't used to him yet and the male hisses at him. My dog looks at me like- moooom what IS that? rofl They both want to follow me around the property and poor doggy is just clueless that he is intimidating them. BUT the goslings go back to mowing really quickly, the male hisses less and is beginning to ignore the dog so I think they are getting used to him. Will try to get some pretty pics today!

I remember carrying mine down 3 steps but then they would kinda run from me! But I would catch them. Then one day they showed me that they were big enough to make the stairs themselves. Sometimes they don't look where they are going and have a lil accident.
They made me laugh yesterday, they were not watching me for a few moments, were playing in their pool, I walked away maybe 25 feet, when they noticed I was away the screamed, jumped of the pool came running after me! I stopped walking because they ran making large circles but as they ran they were somehow sliding! If you can imagine them running and circling and as they would do the curve, their little legs would slide! This was on sand and grass!! I laughed so hard, looked like it was a game to them!
Anyway, they like to make he stairs on their own now but I put a piece of plywood to make a ramp for them, they probably don't need it anymore and will remove it soon.