The African and Chinese goose thread!!

[Going Bhonkers]

Hello everyone, I'm a newbie here and have spent hours reading on this site and just love it! I am a fanatic lover of my ducks and geese! I have 10 ducks and 4 geese. Two of my geese are wee babies, almost 2 weeks old! Africans..... This is most likely a very redundant question, I'm going to ask it anyway.....
At what age will their knobs begin to emerge and one of the goslings is much more yellow then the other, is this an indicator of sex? I'm praying they are both female or just one male, as I have two yearling saddle backs, one female for sure, a LIL undecided yet on the 2nd......I didn't realize how bad mating season can be with more than one gander until I started reading on BYC.......now I'm scared to death now to find out I've got two ganders!!!
If the way they act is any indicator, one is very quick to come running up to me and wants to be held, the other is slower to come to me, a LIL more a luff, stand-offish......then will come up out of shear competition!
Thank you so much to anyone willing to share info!

I have Chinese geese, so hoping that some African owners can jump in to answer your question, BUT with my guys, their knobs started showing around... I think 3 months? Just a small little bump. As far as color being an indicator of sex, I dont think Africans show sex-linked traits as goslings (unlike Pilgrim geese). You could try vent sexing them, which gets harder to do as they get older http://www.metzerfarms.com/SexingVideo.cfm?CustID=1382532 and if done incorrectly can give you the wrong answer or, if you really, really want to have zero doubts, you can DNA test them with a feather sample. Just google "DNA bird test" & you'll find numerous places that do it (here's 1 that gets mentioned a lot http://www.avianbiotech.com/ ) and its not too pricey if you're doing it a couple of birds.
Behavior can indicate sex, to a certain degree, as some people have said they own an overly assertive goose & passive gander (usually those roles are reversed). In my case,the gosling that would come up to us ended up being a female & the cautious stand-offish one, our gander. The differences in behavior become more obvious as they get older.
Hopefully you have 2 little ladies, but if you end up with a pair, you can house them separately & they'll be ok. And if they have enough space, probably wont be a problem for them to forage together - just make sure they have enough room

 

[fowlmama]

Thanks so very much for all the info! I really appreciate it!
I have another question......
I've raised 10 ducks and two geese, and have two two week old african goslings..... The question is this.. I have hand raised all of them, held them, petted them, cared to their every need, etc Once they are old enough to go outside it seems like they don't need me anymore and become stand offish. The ducks more so than my geese, but gradually my geese have distanced themselves from me as well. It breaks my heart and frustrates me. I REALLY want my two new babies to be different but I don't know what else to do? I spend as much time as I can with them, hold them, pet them, love them etc and they already seem to be suspicious of me.....I want to be able to walk right up to them and pet them and pick them up and hold them. Even after they go outside to join the "grown-up's"
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Thank you
stacey

 

[fowlman01]

Some of my China geese flock.



Walt

 

[Miss Lydia]

Some of my China geese flock.



Walt

Lovely geese Walt.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thanks so very much for all the info! I really appreciate it!
I have another question......
I've raised 10 ducks and two geese, and have two two week old african goslings..... The question is this.. I have hand raised all of them, held them, petted them, cared to their every need, etc Once they are old enough to go outside it seems like they don't need me anymore and become stand offish. The ducks more so than my geese, but gradually my geese have distanced themselves from me as well. It breaks my heart and frustrates me. I REALLY want my two new babies to be different but I don't know what else to do? I spend as much time as I can with them, hold them, pet them, love them etc and they already seem to be suspicious of me.....I want to be able to walk right up to them and pet them and pick them up and hold them. Even after they go outside to join the "grown-up's"
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Thank you
stacey

What your looking for is a dog, and geese are far from it, My geese come around when I am outside and I can even touch my gander if I want too, but I know that they really don't want me to. I am happy with the relationship I have with them even if i would like to give a hug once in a while. now on the other hand a couple years ago my Muscovy duck hatched a duckling and tried to kill it so we brought it inside and raised it, now at almost 2yrs old we can walk right up and pick him up and love on him all we want to. He will come inside and visit with us if the dog door is open, but when he was coming into sexual maturity he was a pistol, he wanted me in his harem and would jump me every chance he got. I was sure we were going to have to put him down but we worked on his problem and now he still knows us as his family but is very happy with his girls. I think if you only have 1 gosling it will imprint on it's human but 2 will mostly imprint on each other, and honestly thats the best way. They really do much better having their own kind to grow up with and socialize with. It's good to have a relationship of trust with our geese in as much as if we need to treat for wound or medical condition we can but other than that I am hands off out of respect to them. All the best to you and your gaggle.

 

[fowlmama]

Thank you, I do have dogs, and they are coddled and loved very much. As a lover of geese and ducks you surely can understand my desire to continue "mothering" we'll beyond the baby stage
I completely understand what your saying. I guess it reassures me that I'm not doing anything wrong and in fact my crew is very normal. I think I was wondering if I spent even MORE time with my goslings, (holding, loving, petting) would they be more likely to come right up to me and let me pet them etc once they're turned out. And if I understand what you're saying it sounds like it really isn't going to matter.....they're going to do what they want.
My two yearling Pom geese do trust me, last spring summer, they were very attached to me, followed me everywhere, came when I called to them etc. now that we've gone through winter and I've not been able to interact with them as much it seems like this spring and summer will be much different. We've had a few really nice days that I've been able to work outside and they will come down to where I'm working and craze nearby......I guess I'm just going to have to be happy with that! Most importantly I wanted to be sure there wasn't something more I could be doing or that I was doing something wrong.

Thanks again for the input!
I so enjoy BYC, so much info on here and delightful photos and stories!
Stacey

 

[Going Bhonkers]

Thank you, I do have dogs, and they are coddled and loved very much. As a lover of geese and ducks you surely can understand my desire to continue "mothering" we'll beyond the baby stage

I completely understand what your saying. I guess it reassures me that I'm not doing anything wrong and in fact my crew is very normal. I think I was wondering if I spent even MORE time with my goslings, (holding, loving, petting) would they be more likely to come right up to me and let me pet them etc once they're turned out. And if I understand what you're saying it sounds like it really isn't going to matter.....they're going to do what they want.
My two yearling Pom geese do trust me, last spring summer, they were very attached to me, followed me everywhere, came when I called to them etc. now that we've gone through winter and I've not been able to interact with them as much it seems like this spring and summer will be much different. We've had a few really nice days that I've been able to work outside and they will come down to where I'm working and craze nearby......I guess I'm just going to have to be happy with that! Most importantly I wanted to be sure there wasn't something more I could be doing or that I was doing something wrong.

Thanks again for the input!
I so enjoy BYC, so much info on here and delightful photos and stories!
Stacey

We feel the same way!! I mean, they're so soft with all those feathers, I dont understand how they dont LOVE to be hugged

Its so hard for my parents to settle for just a pat here and there

 

[fowlmama]

I understand that! I actually got a special treat today! I got to pick up Clyde! (My year old Pomeranian) Gave him hugs, and nuzzles! Told him how beautiful and awesome he is and then sent him on his way!

 

[opalwednesday]

Here's my contribution to the African family. Another BYCer identified them as production Africans. I'm SO happy that I get to spend another spring with goslings!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Here's my contribution to the African family. Another BYCer identified them as production Africans. I'm SO happy that I get to spend another spring with goslings!

They are so cute, is the red and blue mark telling you goose/gander?