This is an African Goose, right?

[mama24]

I got 2 goslings a couple weeks ago, but I have absolutely no experience with geese other than the mean neighbor's goose that chased us when we were kids. This one is extremely tame. I am on a local Facebook group for people with backyard chickens. Someone posted that she was walking at one of our large wooded parks and this goose started following her, and would someone please rescue it. A wildlife rehabilitator also on the group and this woman caught it today and I brought it home. Poor thing must have been so scared! Obviously it had been someone's pet since it comes when you call it, and will let you pet or pick it up without moving, and they dumped it at the park thinking it would be ok with the Canadian geese that live there. I was the only volunteer to take the goose. I guess most people in the group live in the city and I am lucky enough to be on a rare 40 ac farm just outside of city limits! I tried feeding it some layer crumbles, then a local feed called super cock, which is a 16% protein mostly whole grain feed with whole beans, peas, and sunflower seeds in it. It's marketed as being for roosters, of course. She/he wasn't interested in anything I offered. I'm not sure if she just wasn't hungry or is too scared. She seems thin to me, but it could be that she's just very young and has a lot of filling out to do. She doesn't weigh more than maybe 12lbs. Is there a particular feed I should buy now that I have a grown goose? I have not seen anything specifically for non-chicken poultry ever at any local feed store. I have seen Flock Raiser, but that's it other than regular layer, broiler, or chick feed, plus the different rooster feeds and scratches. Right now, I just have my ducklings and goslings on medicated chick started and figured I would figure it out as they grew. Now I need to know now! Thanks for any help! Oh, what does it mean when the goose wags it's head at you and points its beak at the ground. It kept doing that to us and also to my chickens and ducklings. I felt like he was trying to be friendly, but had no idea. lol

 

[The goose girl]

What a beautiful bird!

Adult geese love grass and if there's enough of that, they need little more. Is he/she foraging? My goose gets some chicken layer pellets as a supplement to grass/weeds - she doesn't like the crumbled pellets.

I don't know about the head wagging. If a goose is nervous/apprehensive/scared/aggressive, it's neck feathers will quiver. The usual friendly goose greeting is a lot of chattering and head-bobbing, up and down, no neck quiver.

Your goose looks African to me, but I'm far from being an expert.

 

[mama24]

Her neck was quivering during the car ride, but she seemed ok after that. I meant nodding up and down by head wagging. I'm glad to know I was right about that being a friendly motion. We have PLENTY of grass to eat here, so she should be fine! We even have Canadian geese that graze in our front yard and in the back pasture. There's more than enough to share.

 

[flaming007]

That looks like a brown china. Brown Africans are allot bigger and stouter. These are hens i hatched last yr. The female on the right is a good example of what a African should look like.
hope this helps!

 

[desertdarlene]

I'm glad you rescued her! In my limited experience, friendly greetings are usually done with the head up or bobbing and curling up and down. A flexible and mainly upright neck is a good thing. When they straighten out the neck or lower the head to the ground with the neck straight, that is a signal that they want whatever is nearby to move back.

 

[mama24]

She only pointed her head straight at my dog. The rest of the time her neck was curved. She's very friendly! My ducklings seem scared of her, but she's very interested in them. I hope they accept her soon. She just seems starved for attention and companionship.

 

[hihk]

Try mixing the feed with some water (consistence like baby food), then she might eat that. Our ducks and geese won't eat dry food. And yes geese love grass and lots of water (to drink, clean, play, mate, etc.)

 

[mama24]

Do any of you have any idea if it's a girl or boy? Is there any way to tell at all? I've been calling her she and we named her Lucy (Lucy Goosey, probably the most common goose name, I would imagine!) so it would be easier to change that now rather than later! I used to be really scared of geese. A neighboring farm when I was growing up had a huge gray goose that was super mean and would chase and flog us and bite us on our behinds when we ran through trying to get to a friend's house. 1/2 mile cutting through that farm, probably 3 miles going around!!! The people were absolutely fine with us running through, but that goose sure wasn't! My MIL talked me into getting the 2 goslings I had already. She was afraid of roosters, but thought geese were fine! LOL. I'm already over my fear of geese b/c this girl is so sweet and friendly and loves to be pet.

After reading more on the internet, I am thinking she's actually a Chinese goose since she's so slender. And she isn't skinny like I first thought, she's just right. And she probably would have been ok at the park, but probably not as happy as she will be back living with people since she obviously imprinted on a person and wants to be with people. And winters probably would have been too hard for her at the park. We do get snow here, and the lake at the park freezes over. I need to get a bigger baby pool for her and my ducklings and goslings, though she seems pretty happy with the little one I have now. As soon as I let her out of the coop, she went right over and got in to bathe and drink. She did sound an alarm that there was a crow flying over at the same time my roosters did. Pretty neat. Only they stopped right away and she honked and looked up for quite a while. lol. Good to know she's watching out for the babies already. She's way too big to have to worry about a hawk, but I have 8 ducklings that would be an easy meal. She ran over to the barn with them. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it seemed like a protective motion to me.

 

[lovesgliders]

She is lovely, and sounds like she's already worked her way into your heart. Thank you for rescuing her! I'm thinking there is a special place in hell for people who dump human-imprinted ducks and geese at a park or pond when they grow up.

 

[mama24]

Um, I just learned some very important things about Lucy, and geese in general today.

1. Lucy definitely thinks people are the right kind of geese.
2. Lucy definitely knows I am female.
3. Lucy is definitely a boy.

ROFL! I'm sure you know where this is going. Anyway, Lucy is very sweet and friendly and climbed right into my lap after it quit raining long enough for me to go sit outside and throw some stale bread to him and the other birds. As he climbed up, I was thinking, oh poor Lucy! You've missed people so much! Someone obviously loved you! Then he started biting my hand and trying to mate with my arm. Not so nice and snuggly anymore. They bite HARD! Poor geese ladies! Now I think I understand why someone decided to get rid of him. I need to find him a girlfriend! The 2 goslings I got were straight run. I hope at least 1 is a girl. I was told one was a Chinese goose, so hopefully that one will be a girl! Or maybe it won't matter? I know the wild Canadian geese that feed in my yard have one that is obviously mixed with domestic, so I assume breed probably doesn't matter for happy mate pairing. The question is will Lucy be interested in a girl goose or is he only interested in human women?