The African and Chinese goose thread!!

[livininbrazil]

Maybe it's due to inbreeding which can "fix" genetic traits both good and bad. Maybe it's because the goslings are weak or deficient in some way that we can't see. Or maybe it's a recessive or sex/linked trait like color blindness in men. But the fact that it never happens to whole sets makes me curious as to why it happens at all.

Not inbreeding. Happened to totally unrelated birds. Nothing that I read about it is consistent.

 

[livininbrazil]

We seem to have slowed down posting photos of our beautiful African and Chinese geese. So I will restart the cuteness overload with these.

Here is my youngest son holding one of our new baby female Africans today


Here are both my sons holding the 2 African females.


The older gang out in the yard and loving it!



This gosling always wants to climb in my lap. I adore him and hope he stays this loving.

Lovely pics. Is this the little lad that has a new gosling to care for?

 

[Starfire669]

No, my older son is the one who lost his gosling. My youngest loves having his picture taken.

Not inbreeding.  Happened to totally unrelated birds.  Nothing that I read about it is consistent.

One thing I learned about diseases and illnesses is sometimes things that seem random actually do have a pattern. It can be really hard to figure the patterns out though.

 

[livininbrazil]

No, my older son is the one who lost his gosling. My youngest loves having his picture taken.
One thing I learned about diseases and illnesses is sometimes things that seem random actually do have a pattern. It can be really hard to figure the patterns out though.

Well if you ever discover what it is for certain that causes angel wing, be sure to let us know!

 

[Starfire669]

Well if you ever discover what it is for certain that causes angel wing, be sure to let us know!     

From what I read it's a recessive genetic trait, that makes a gosling more susceptible to getting angel wing. So family lines can carry it and only if both parents have the gene will it manifest in up to half the goslings from that pair. They went on to say that angel wing must then be triggered by environmental stimuli. She believed it was nutritional, related to protein and vitamin levels combined.

You can decide if that sounds right. The lady who wrote that is testing her theory by breeding geese and documenting families or pairings that have angel wing babies and then making different crosses.

 

[Starfire669]

I left the 2 new goslings to settle and warm over night, they stayed with the chicks after all because they don't want anything to do with each other! Each was in the middle of a ball of chicks when I went to move them. It was so cute i didnt have the heart to separate them from their new friends.

When I went to let the older goslings out the babies heard them and got excited so I brought them out to meet the older gang. 2 of the big boys attacked the babies! Thank goodness I was holding the little ones, the bigger goslings got my fingers instead except for 1 who bit the bill of a baby. The baby is ok, I grabbed the attacking goslings bill and opened it without pulling to avoid injuring the either gosling. I then checked the baby to make sure she was not injured, she is fine but scared now when she heards the older goslings calling.

Will my big guys always be this aggressive to the new babies or will they accept them at some point? How can I help the big goslings accept the new babies?

 

[livininbrazil]

From what I read it's a recessive genetic trait, that makes a gosling more susceptible to getting angel wing. So family lines can carry it and only if both parents have the gene will it manifest in up to half the goslings from that pair. They went on to say that angel wing must then be triggered by environmental stimuli. She believed it was nutritional, related to protein and vitamin levels combined.

You can decide if that sounds right. The lady who wrote that is testing her theory by breeding geese and documenting families or pairings that have angel wing babies and then making different crosses.

No. from my own experience it doesn´t make sense. I have here 3 geese that are 3rd generation in-bred (not my doing) and no angel wing, and the place this family of geese came from I´ve never seen angel wing. But they produced 2 angel wing goslings out of 11. And the protein thing is an old arguement. But no matter. I´ll just tape them up if it should happen again.

When I went to let the older goslings out the babies heard them and got excited so I brought them out to meet the older gang. 2 of the big boys attacked the babies! Thank goodness I was holding the little ones, the bigger goslings got my fingers instead except for 1 who bit the bill of a baby. The baby is ok, I grabbed the attacking goslings bill and opened it without pulling to avoid injuring the either gosling. I then checked the baby to make sure she was not injured, she is fine but scared now when she heards the older goslings calling.

Will my big guys always be this aggressive to the new babies or will they accept them at some point? How can I help the big goslings accept the new babies?

Sorry to hear about what happened with the goslings. Maybe it depends a bit on the breed?

 

[livininbrazil]

Hi everyone! I was told that our little goslings are an African Grey and a Chinese. Hoping you all out there can confirm or deny this for me. Either way we love them! They are so adorable and so fun. Interesting to watch their soft little baby fluff turn into feathers.

Hi Pamsmith. whatever these are, (something asiatic) they´re gorgeous! The white one looks like it´s smiling! So sweet.

 

[Starfire669]

Sorry to hear about what happened with the goslings.  Maybe it depends a bit on the breed?  

Could my big goslings have been jealous? I know their not human with human emotions. But could their momma having new strange babies have threatened or upset them in some way?

 

[livininbrazil]

Could my big goslings have been jealous? I know their not human with human emotions. But could their momma having new strange babies have threatened or upset them in some way?

No, it´s not really that. Geese, and goslings too, can be inclined to get bossy. It´s their nature. Some are worse than others. Some people don´t keep different ages together, because of this. It depends a lot on the breed, as I´ve never had a problem with mine, and I expect it could also be a bit of an individual thing. That´s why I always say for people to keep an eye on them at first, just in case this should happen. Your chickens will possible get what for when they´re all older.
Easiest thing to do is keep them mainly separate for now, maybe with a wire mesh fencing between them, so they can get used to each other. When they´re a few months old, they´ll be much the same size, etc, and by then they will be used to each other. You may be able to get them together earlier than this, just keep trying to see how they are. They´ll be fine when they´re a bit older.