The African and Chinese goose thread!!

[Miss Lydia]

Someone had asked that I post pics of my chinese and africans goslings for comparison. Here is a close up, kind of. The left is the chinese who is about 11 weeks old and one of the africans that is 1 week younger. The african is about the same size as the chinese, maybe a bit bigger but the knob is already growing on the chinese.

Sure are pretty.

 

[NanaKat]

Questions...I'm thinking Charlotte may really be a Chad...just on behavior.
Her knob has gotten pretty big and now she has started fronting me and has nipped me several times. I've had to discipline her.
She lets me know ...loudly... that the food bowl is getting low and that the pool needs to be changed. She is the first to get in to bathe, making Ninya wait for her turn.
She is the first to lower her head and charge anyone else who comes around me.
I'm thinking these are all male behaviors.

Ninya though has a smaller knob, has remained smaller in weight and is a docile sweet little girl.

Guess it's time I turned Charlotte upside down and complete a vent check...maybe I should video that...might make for a Funniest Home Video..

 

[Miss Lydia]

Questions...I'm thinking Charlotte may really be a Chad...just on behavior.
Her knob has gotten pretty big and now she has started fronting me and has nipped me several times. I've had to discipline her.
She lets me know ...loudly... that the food bowl is getting low and that the pool needs to be changed. She is the first to get in to bathe, making Ninya wait for her turn.
She is the first to lower her head and charge anyone else who comes around me.
I'm thinking these are all male behaviors.

Ninya though has a smaller knob, has remained smaller in weight and is a docile sweet little girl.

Guess it's time I turned Charlotte upside down and complete a vent check...maybe I should video that...might make for a Funniest Home Video..

 

[Going Bhonkers]

Thanks for the picture! I wonder when the african will start to develop its dewlap. And I wonder how much bigger they are in comparison to Chinese, once full grown.

Someone had asked that I post pics of my chinese and africans goslings for comparison. Here is a close up, kind of. The left is the chinese who is about 11 weeks old and one of the africans that is 1 week younger. The african is about the same size as the chinese, maybe a bit bigger but the knob is already growing on the chinese.

 

[Going Bhonkers]

Questions...I'm thinking Charlotte may really be a Chad...just on behavior.
Her knob has gotten pretty big and now she has started fronting me and has nipped me several times. I've had to discipline her.
She lets me know ...loudly... that the food bowl is getting low and that the pool needs to be changed. She is the first to get in to bathe, making Ninya wait for her turn.
She is the first to lower her head and charge anyone else who comes around me.
I'm thinking these are all male behaviors.

Ninya though has a smaller knob, has remained smaller in weight and is a docile sweet little girl.

Guess it's time I turned Charlotte upside down and complete a vent check...maybe I should video that...might make for a Funniest Home Video..

I dont know why, but I find vent sexing to be intimidating. I haven't even checked out the video that's on the Metzer site that's supposed to show you how to do it. Good luck NanaKat. ... and I hope you can tell us that it wasnt that hard or too bad of an experience!

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Not all africans are dewlap, there are hatchery stock africans that never grow a dewlap

 

[Iain Utah]

Nana, sounds to me like Charlotte is a gander.

I have an example of two african ganders, hatched on the same exact date and raised together (and are best buddies). They are now 6 months old. One is Metzer stock. The other is Holderread (actually a brown/white cross). My Holderread gander weighs at least 3 lbs more than the Metzer one. This pic was taken a few days ago:

 

[flaming007]

If any one is interested i will have young pairs of brown africans for sale this fall. Let me know if you want pictures.

 

[Going Bhonkers]

An update from April & Nine!


They're a little over 5 months old now. At around 4 and a half months, Nine (the gander) really started giving us problems with aggression. Definitely had to use the tips on here https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/561849/geese-training [see post #19] to remind him that his human family are the leaders of the flock. Of course, if a vulture or an airplane fly over, he needs no reminding at all and runs to hide behind one of us.





They've also started to attempt to mate. Nine (gander) hasnt really gotten the hang of it and April (goose) tends to get impatient and jumps out of the pool.




And they're still hesitant to go into the pond without a "parent". Even then, they'll only swim near the edge of the pond and avoid swimming in the middle.

 

[NanaKat]

Nine and April are gorgeous!!
Iain..those granders are truly handsome.

Well, Charlotte is now Charlie.
Vent checking was easier than I thought it would be. Just followed the instructions in the Holderrand book. The nice drawings in the book were very helpful.

I think if I had waited another few weeks, Charlie's knob would be a dead giveaway. His is huge compared to Ninya's knob....his already has a distinct crease below the ball shaped knob.

His aggression has been escallating and the bump on the chest with my foot has had to be done more frequently. Will definitely have to practice pinning tomorrow.