Toulouse Geese Thread

[Going Bhonkers]

Here's a new pic of my production toulouse, Chicory, with my favorite grey dewlap gander, Tank. Hard to believe Chicory turned 6 months old this week and Tank will be 5 months old next week. Time flies.

Oh, okay, now I can see the difference between a production & a dewlap toulouse! Thanks for posting this picture

 

[Marty1876]

Miss Lydia, glad to see your two have buddied up now! Cute cute cute, like salt and pepper!

 

[Reyvaughn]

I put my geese in with the ducks on Sunday. I was worried the ducks would hurt them because my 2 drakes have been picking on each other lately (one is slated for the freezer). I'm concerned about the ducks now! Christmas Dinner (now renamed Holiday) has taken the upper hand and is really being aggressive with them. Looks like I have another reason to get rid of him.

Celtic Oaks, thanks for the DNA sexing info. I'm just going to try vent sexing them. All I need to know is if Beau is a boy or not. I am quite sure he and Holiday are, but before I send Holiday to the processor, I will check to make sure I have one of each gender. I know the other is goose by the voice. There is no way a boy has that deep of a voice - from what I have read/heard from other breeders.

 

[pete55]

I've been fooled so often with behaviour, size, pitch of voice and got a few wrong with vent sexing! In a valuable breeding progamme its so easy to DNA sex with just a few feathers and accurate results back in a week

 

[aoxa]

I've been fooled so often with behaviour, size, pitch of voice and got a few wrong with vent sexing!  In a valuable breeding progamme its so easy to DNA sex with just a few feathers and accurate results back in a week

My girls were sexed by colour, and one has a much deeper voice than the other. I didn't know geese were sexable this way. How much does DNA testing cost? Not that I need to do it now. My two are a for sure thing.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

DNA runs 20-25 per sample normally. We had 1 lab this year stop accepting goose samples, they were my favorite too for when they give a price break.

 

[aoxa]

DNA runs 20-25 per sample normally. We had 1 lab this year stop accepting goose samples, they were my favorite too for when they give a price break.

That's not too bad

Do you do this with all your geese/goslings, or just ones that you are unsure about after vent sexing?

If you hatch out a lot of geese, this could become quite pricey.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

You cant submit feathers from goslings since they are covered in down only at first. I vent at hatch and leg band pink and blue. Everyone gets a permanent wing band and we record the gender with the number. Some are harder to tell on than others so they get green. Recheck after some growth if they are still here. If still unsure DNA testing, like this fall I am doing all of the dewlaps since some were vent sexed as ganders and when I checked them on arrival (they werent marked) I got all girls. So DNA to be sure.

 

[aoxa]

You cant submit feathers from goslings since they are covered in down only at first. I vent at hatch and leg band pink and blue. Everyone gets a permanent wing band and we record the gender with the number. Some are harder to tell on than others so they get green. Recheck after some growth if they are still here. If still unsure DNA testing, like this fall I am doing all of the dewlaps since some were vent sexed as ganders and when I checked them on arrival (they werent marked) I got all girls. So DNA to be sure.

When do you stop calling them goslings? What age do they graduate to goose or gander?

That was what I was thinking. DNA test the iffy ones. I mean, have you ever had a girl vent sexed and appear to be male?

 

[pete55]

Hi. Similar here as not all are feather sexed and some are quite obvious. However some of the Dewlaps this year had a Buff mother so I wanted to be certain which were the males (which carry Buff from their mother). Very pleased as there was 4 males and 1 female. You can sex from the early small feathers on their back and take 3-5. Pop them in a a small bag provided with the sexing kit from the Lab and mail them off. We usually get the results in a week.

We've never had them decline the geese and this year sent some feathers from a baby Macaw in the same batch.