The African and Chinese goose thread!!

[holm25]

Any guesses on gender for my Gerty and Louis? Louis on the left and Gerty is on the right I think.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Any guesses on gender for my Gerty and Louis? Louis on the left and Gerty is on the right I think.

I think you maybe right and they are beautiful. Does Louis walk around with his head held higher than Gerty's?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Today I saw this near my chickens. I'm not sure what it is. When I poked it,tiny white bugs came out of it? Do you think it could be harmful?

Kind of looks like a preying mantis egg casing. There are usually hundreds of baby mantis in them. It really is hard to tell though since the pic isn't clear.

 

[Miss Lydia]

This is a preying mantis egg casing. awesome to have around your house they eat lots of bad bugs.

another pic.

 

[grannyh]

Wonderful! Thank you Miss Lydia! I've been seeing these around and didn't know what they were! Hubby has purchased them...(and lady bugs) in past years.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Hi everyone. New here... been lurking for quite some time on the forums(mostly in chickens) but never posted.

Anyway. Tonight I'm picking up three one month old 'African' goslings locally. Hand raised.
I don't know if they are the Super Africans or the standard mixed with Chinese Africans that are typically sold, but I'm pretty sure they won't be dewlaps.
No problem for me.
I'm hoping for at least one lady in the group obviously... fingers crossed!

This is my first time with geese, and I'm pretty excited.
I'm hoping that they will be happy here... I live on two acres of lush, organically, tended lawn, with an additional two acres of mown pasture.

I have enjoyed the antics of so many goslings in this thread. Looking forward to some silly gooses in my own back yard.

You will love them! Between weather, flooding and power outages I only had 1 gosling hatch this year. They are the most precious babies, just melt your heart.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Any guesses on gender for my Gerty and Louis? Louis on the left and Gerty is on the right I think.

Looks to me that you may have a pair. Ganders have longer necks, heavier legs. Higher pitch to the voice. My ganders sound like Geee, Geee and hens are more a deep honk, or waawaa sound. Has the voices changed yet, that will really tell you for sure.

 

[holm25]

Thanks all. Yep Louis holds his head higher and Gerty has started to honk a little. They r only 3 months old.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thanks all. Yep Louis holds his head higher and Gerty has started to honk a little. They r only 3 months old.

They sure are beautiful.

 

[Goosegrrl]

Well, here are the babies!
One is 4 weeks today(the one in the back that is more feathered out) which means this little fuzz butt shares my brand new granddaughter's B'day!, the other two will be 4 weeks on the 23rd or 25th.


Gobo-Middle facing away, smallest of the bunch, same age as Wembly... leader of the pack. Has the same white chest marking as the older one:Mokey Also more grey colored than Wembly.
Wembly- Front in pic. Bigger and browner of the two younger hatch mates, but definitely not the leader.
Mokey- Rear in pic. The oldest. White chest bib(no clue why, but its cute). Sweet and quiet, kind of off in space... does it's own thing, sometimes those things seem a bit weird. Like going back to the same tall tough stem (or even dead weed stump)over and over again just to nibble it into submission, but not eat it.

They were a bit stand offish at first this morning, so I made them a nice fresh little trough of water and bowl of food and sat down to baby sit for a while.
It may have been their first bath... they loved it.
They previously had to be kept segregated into a small space because the people who originally purchased them already had some teen/adult ducks that did not take kindly to their introduction and were beating them up. The previous owner bought them from an individual that owned the parents; both parents had names and were pets. So these aren't directly from a hatchery... not sure how that bodes for their chances of being more or less 'African'.
The littlest fuzzy, Gobo, led the others right into the bath. Then after much preening and some picking at the food and some tasty grass, and then another bath and some more preening, it was also the first one to come over to me. Including responding to my 'goose,goose,goose' calls while I ruffled the grass then picking grass where I was showing it. And then after a few trips to visit me an allowance of some pets. After a bit it brought it's hatch mate, Wembly, over... later Mokey strolled by on its own time and actually allow me to lift and cuddle it.

Yes. I'm in love.

I assume it will be a little while before I know the sexes of these little fluffs.
Not sure how it works having three. So, if there is an extra lady does the gander bond with both? But if there is an extra gander I'll need to get another goose?