The African and Chinese goose thread!!

[Miss Lydia]

2 more out this morning and 2 left!

Yay great news!! Come on you last 2 babies

 

[Goosegrrl]

When they are all out and dry you know we need a group shot.
Love the little fluff balls!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

#5 is coming out now, no pip on #6 yet. Once #5 is dry the 3 newest will come out and will candle #6. I have had them hatch a few days later, so won't give up just yet.

 

[Miss Lydia]

#5 is coming out now, no pip on #6 yet. Once #5 is dry the 3 newest will come out and will candle #6. I have had them hatch a few days later, so won't give up just yet.

Great news, sure hope # 6 is just late.

 

[Daniel-Sorensen]

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Gorgeous! Just beautiful.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Gorgeous! Just beautiful.

X2!! Daniel your birds are always stunning.

 

[Goosegrrl]

So, my boy is starting to act 'all grown up'.
He gave my little JRT a good whatfor yesterday. She doesn't really chase them, she just runs around near them play bowing, rolling around in the grass, and generally acting like a goof ball trying to get them to chase her and play. They never did it before, always just scooting away. She got a little more than she bargained for I think.
I caught her looking back at him all "Hey, what was that for?"

Poor little girl. So misunderstood in all of her mischief.

Then as my husband was coming around the house today my boy bluffed at him.

My husband took no notice of the gander being a 'silly goose' behind him and kept on walking... and unfortunately I was too busy being proud of his first 'manly' display to correct him. Oops. I may have even chuckled at his antics a bit.

He never acts like that toward me... he's still pretty sweet.

But I suppose even that is a matter of time until the breeding season comes. And I'm starting to wonder if it's going to come sooner than the spring at this rate!
I mean, we have some cool spells in the fall and early winter, but we can see 80 degree temps on a regular basis right up until Jan/Feb. And even then we just get some shocks of 'cold' with mostly mild temps (50-70), then we're back to the 70-80 range in March.

The other weird thing is that they have backed WAY off on the amount of feed they are eating. Like 2/3 less. Seems they are basically just in the mood to browse on grass these days. I put food out and they pick at it, leave it to go off and browse. The only time they will really dig into it is when I shut them up in their pen, which is a large mobile run that I slide around the lawn every day so that they also always have fresh grass when penned. When I move it I simply hose all the droppings into the lawn... keeping things lush I tell you, even with less rain lately!
Is it normal for them to drop off the feed when reaching maturity? Or is it just the cooler, less stressful weather?

Hopefully tomorrow will be a good sunny day and I can get some good pics. I need to do some weeding out back and they should be all over me begging for treats.
One of my girls has the sweetest, softest, eyes... and I want to get some closeups.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

So, my boy is starting to act 'all grown up'.
He gave my little JRT a good whatfor yesterday. She doesn't really chase them, she just runs around near them play bowing, rolling around in the grass, and generally acting like a goof ball trying to get them to chase her and play. They never did it before, always just scooting away. She got a little more than she bargained for I think.
I caught her looking back at him all "Hey, what was that for?"

Poor little girl. So misunderstood in all of her mischief.

Then as my husband was coming around the house today my boy bluffed at him.

My husband took no notice of the gander being a 'silly goose' behind him and kept on walking... and unfortunately I was too busy being proud of his first 'manly' display to correct him. Oops. I may have even chuckled at his antics a bit.

He never acts like that toward me... he's still pretty sweet.

But I suppose even that is a matter of time until the breeding season comes. And I'm starting to wonder if it's going to come sooner than the spring at this rate!
I mean, we have some cool spells in the fall and early winter, but we can see 80 degree temps on a regular basis right up until Jan/Feb. And even then we just get some shocks of 'cold' with mostly mild temps (50-70), then we're back to the 70-80 range in March.

The other weird thing is that they have backed WAY off on the amount of feed they are eating. Like 2/3 less. Seems they are basically just in the mood to browse on grass these days. I put food out and they pick at it, leave it to go off and browse. The only time they will really dig into it is when I shut them up in their pen, which is a large mobile run that I slide around the lawn every day so that they also always have fresh grass when penned. When I move it I simply hose all the droppings into the lawn... keeping things lush I tell you, even with less rain lately!
Is it normal for them to drop off the feed when reaching maturity? Or is it just the cooler, less stressful weather?

Hopefully tomorrow will be a good sunny day and I can get some good pics. I need to do some weeding out back and they should be all over me begging for treats.
One of my girls has the sweetest, softest, eyes... and I want to get some closeups.

Aww, yep they are maturing! One very good sign is less feed intake. During the warm months my adults are uninterested in feed altogether. Geese are mature around 8 months. With your warmer climate, you may very well see babies sooner.

 

[Goosegrrl]

My trio was hatched on June 17th, which is the same day my granddaughter was born this year so really easy to remember... so they are shy of 5months.
It's been in the mid-upper 80's lately. Around 70-75 for the low at night. It's 11:45 and a sticky/humid 78 right now. Can't even open the darn windows. Ugh.
Right not they are almost completely off their feed.

At the peak of their growth I was feeding 6 pans (large stainless steel pan, same size I use to feed my 2 100lb GSDs) a day to them of FF, divided, B/L/D. And they were pretty much pigs just scarfing it all down. They also had constant access to good, fresh, grazing 24/7, even when penned. Suddenly at about 4 months that cut in half, then only 2 pans a day. Now they will hardly clean up one pan. And then ONLY when penned up with it in the evening. I was putting it out early in the day, and they would follow me into the pen, nibble at it, then leave it to go graze and just let it sit there all day.
For a couple of weeks I have been out of the seed mix that I was adding to my feed, so today I added more, and doubled up on it hoping that would encourage them a bit to clean up the feed as they like the BOSS quite a bit. Also, I figure with them maturing the protein can come down some more.

They look great though...
Their feathers have come in nicely and their moult into adult plumage has about stopped.
The geese are getting the lovely split in their breasts. And the gander is being VERY teenager-y. LOL Likes me still... men, not so much!

I walked them out to the back pasture today for the first time. (At sundown I walked them back to the yard and their mobile sleeping pen.)
I'm not really sure they appreciated the change of scenery even though I moved one of their swimming pools back there for them.
The grass back there is taller... they were not impressed, so I think I may have to mow.

Since they have matured... they have taken to digging holes around their water bucket. Yay.

I just fill it back in with the sand, and any manure/grass pluckings around the area... and consider that an "improved" spot in my sandy FL lawn. LOL