The African and Chinese goose thread!!

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: I bet she will do fine. Brown Chinese are great moms!
Honestly, I am far enough out in the country the noise doesn't bother my few neighbors, one keeps geese too. For me, I adore them so much I like to hear them.

 

[NathanZee]

Embden, Chinese and greylag at first.
Then came the Pomeranian, pilgrim and Toulouse geese.
Roman tuft and then my last were the African geese.
And a lot of mixes

Were the greylag fun to raise? Did they fly around much?

I bet she will do fine. Brown Chinese are great moms!
Honestly, I am far enough out in the country the noise doesn't bother my few neighbors, one keeps geese too. For me, I adore them so much I like to hear them.

I hope so! I've heard of some peoples geese starving to death on the nest, how can you keep up their weight? I do like to hear my geese, but I can get tired of it.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: I put feed and water right at my broody nests. They sure will hunker down and not get off those eggs. If I see a hen looking pale, I make her get off and eat, drink and bathe. I have taken eggs away before because the hen was getting weak, too. They are serious brooders! I watch my girls very close. I have also learned who is not ready to be a mother and will take that goose's eggs as they lay them. be sure to note when you see the first egg, and notice her brooding, I make a point to not allow them to collect more than 10 eggs. Rotten goose eggs are really BAD. Its a horrible stench if one blows up. Once I see she is broody I candle the eggs and date them, and a week later repeat. I pull out any infertile or bad eggs right away. I also remove any new eggs laid and put in my incubator weekly.
Just pay close attention to what she is doing daily. She may sit on as little as 2 eggs or wait for several more. My good moms leave the nest once a day, and its all a loud rush. Lots of vocal sounds and dad comes rushing to her. She poops, eats and takes a fast bath in a kiddie pool, back on the nest in a few minutes. I just make sure my hens have everything close, clean and filled nonstop.

 

[servpolice]

Were the greylag fun to raise? Did they fly around much?

I hope so! I've heard of some peoples geese starving to death on the nest, how can you keep up their weight? I do like to hear my geese, but I can get tired of it. 

Most of my crosses had greylag in them therefore half of my geese could fly. The older ones knew where to fly and knew the fields and the young ones started flying once they got their first molt and knew their mistakes
The pure breed greylags were quiet but funny and obviously were brilliant fliers but flew less then the mixed breeds

 

[NathanZee]

I put feed and water right at my broody nests. They sure will hunker down and not get off those eggs. If I see a hen looking pale, I make her get off and eat, drink and bathe. I have taken eggs away before because the hen was getting weak, too. They are serious brooders! I watch my girls very close. I have also learned who is not ready to be a mother and will take that goose's eggs as they lay them. be sure to note when you see the first egg, and notice her brooding, I make a point to not allow them to collect more than 10 eggs. Rotten goose eggs are really BAD. Its a horrible stench if one blows up. Once I see she is broody I candle the eggs and date them, and a week later repeat. I pull out any infertile or bad eggs right away. I also remove any new eggs laid and put in my incubator weekly.
Just pay close attention to what she is doing daily. She may sit on as little as 2 eggs or wait for several more. My good moms leave the nest once a day, and its all a loud rush. Lots of vocal sounds and dad comes rushing to her. She poops, eats and takes a fast bath in a kiddie pool, back on the nest in a few minutes. I just make sure my hens have everything close, clean and filled nonstop.

Thank you! How can you tell if a goose is pale? And how do you decide if a hen is ready to be a mother? Right now its a little too cold to leave the eggs in her nest, so we are bringing them in when she lays. How many eggs do you think we should have her brood?

Most of my crosses had greylag in them therefore half of my geese could fly. The older ones knew where to fly and knew the fields and the young ones started flying once they got their first molt and knew their mistakes

The pure breed greylags were quiet but funny and obviously were brilliant fliers but flew less then the mixed breeds

My geese were (and the gander still is) a little funny when he lands sometimes! Where did you get the greylags?

 

[servpolice]

My father bought them as thinking they were Chinese years back but turned out to be greylags.
Then we decided to get more since they had a fun character

 

[NathanZee]

My father bought them as thinking they were Chinese years back but turned out to be greylags.
Then we decided to get more since they had a fun character

Do you know where he bought them? But I suppose they are a little easier to get in Ireland where they are native.

 

[servpolice]

That's like me asking for where I can get Canada geese since we don't have them, here well not a lot of them anyway. The greylags are native here so they were quite easy to find. Canada geese are really hard to get.

 

[NathanZee]

That's like me asking for where I can get Canada geese since we don't have them, here well not a lot of them anyway. The greylags are native here so they were quite easy to find. Canada geese are really hard to get.

Oh, I suppose. Canada geese are pretty expensive here unfortunately, or you have to get them in larger quantities.

 

[servpolice]

Where in the states are you from? I thought Canada geese weren't hard to get there :L
I guess it depends on the habitat around you.
Greylagxembden geese will give white males that fly and I think seeing white geese fly is amazing!