How many geese per gander

I have 11 geese for next year, 10 embdens and 1 chinese oops! As far as my sexing is concerned, I have 5 embden pairs. The chinese 'should' be a female, but I'll have to wait and see. If it's not a girl it will be finding a new home JFreeman Songster 7 Years. My feed store has no clue what I am talking about when I ask for an "All-Flock" feed. They insist layer pellets or crumble is just as good, but I'm skeptical since they had no clue niacin was something to give ducklings. They will not order the feed.

My geese are only 3. They eat from the same bowls. Jun 13, 14 0 21 Hobart. When do the american buff start laying mine are almost 6 months. Oct 3, , , 1, Mountains of Western N. Click to expand Post reply. Insert quotes…. Similar threads C. Please tell me not all my geese are ganders. CherP Sep 15, Geese 2. Replies 10 Views Sep 16, CherP. Introducing new goslings. Replies 2 Views Cheeks Jun 23, Geese. Replies 5 Views 1K. Jul 18, Faizan Ali.

Heterozygous buff in my Gander? The Prairie May 15, Geese. Replies 4 Views May 15, The Prairie. Gander issues. Angelique Oct 10, Geese. Geese can be kept for breeding until they are 10 years of age, but ganders should be culled when they reach 6 years of age.

The length of time breeders are kept depends on their performance. It may be necessary to replace birds after only four breeding seasons. The number of geese to one gander varies; generally the more geese per gander the better, provided fertility and hatchability are not affected. Geese prefer to mate on water. Whilst it is not essential to provide geese with swimming facilities, fertility in the heavy breeds is at its best if water deep enough to swim in is provided. Swimming water is only necessary in the breeding season.

It improves the condition of geese generally and helps to keep them clean, which in turn helps to keep eggs clean. Geese should be mated at least 1 month before the breeding season starts. Geese are selective in choosing their mates and, once successful matings have been established, will remain together for life. If the birds are allowed to select their mates, it is best to put more than the required number in a pen until the selections have been made.

In the event of having to change mates, run the separated birds as far from each other as possible to prevent the birds fretting. Geese are occasionally difficult to mate. Sometimes a gander will not mate with one or two of the females, which means fertility and hatchability will be lowered. If the gander shows equal attention to all his mates then he is probably mating with them all. To test if the matings are successful, remove females from the gander one at a time to test his reaction.

If he is contented and not concerned, then chances are he is not mating with that particular goose. If, however, the gander appears agitated then he is probably mating with her. Where it is desired to force-mate geese , remove the gander from his females and add the new females to the ones he is already mating with, to enable all females to first accept each other. After a few days, reintroduce the gander to his mates. Where flock matings are practised, ganders may fight, but no serious damage will occur provided they are evenly matched.

The grass, bugs and soil provided necessary protein, minerals and vitamins. These birds did not grow as rapidly as they would have on a well- balanced commercial feed; however, the feed cost was relatively low. If you wish to try this way of feeding your geese, an evening feeding of a little mash or three weeks of cracked corn and starter mash mixed together in equal parts will make the shift to the pasture and corn diet easier. Geese will eat a lot of grass, and are sometimes used to weed crops like strawberries, asparagus and sugar beets, as well as orchards, because they will eat most weeds.

When strawberries start to ripen, however, geese should be moved out of the patch so they will not eat or ruin the ripe berries. Older geese may damage the crop by walking on the plants. Drinking water should also be available to keep the young geese cool.

The birds will do a better job of weeding if they are hungry - a very light evening feeding of grain whole corn is sufficient. Young females approximately one year old will lay eggs. They will produce better the second and third year.

Numbers of eggs will vary widely per female—from 10 to 60 eggs per season. In the northern part of the United States a flock will start to lay eggs in late March and stop in June.

The females will begin producing eggs in about 30 days after lighting them. For your small breeder flock, a pelleted chicken breeder or layer mash will be adequate, if the birds have access to the outside. The ganders males will be much more active and better breeders after the first year of age.

Geese can be very selective of mates. Many large flocks use one gander to three to five females. You may run into fertility problems with a flock of two ganders and five to ten geese. It may be necessary to have several ganders available so that each female can select one that suits her. How do you kill and dress a goose? Tie the legs firmly together and hang the bird over a rafter in the garage or over a tree limb.

With the feet up in the air and the head down at waist level or higher you must cut the jugular veins. There is a jugular vein down each side of the neck. It is common for the bird to flop its wings, so you may want to confine its body in a burlap bag. It would be well to add some detergent to the water in order for the hot water to more easily penetrate the oil on the feathers.

It may help to ruffle the feathers with a stick hold on to the feet with one hand and stir the feathers with a stick in the other hand. Removing the feathers can be difficult for the inexperienced. Success will come with time and practice.

Hang the bird up again, grab feathers, and start pulling! Don't grab too many feathers at one time or the skin may tear. There are a lot of down feathers—and there may be some pin feathers. It might be smart to dip the bird a second time after some of the outer feathers have been removed. With perseverance you will get the bird picked. It is helpful to know how to determine the sex of geese, and you can do this using a technique called "vent sexing.

When lifting geese, grab them by the neck it is strong and you will not choke them with one hand and lift their body with the other hand. Lay the bird on its back with the head held between your legs. The vent or cloaca will be pointing away from you. You must extend the tail of the bird out over the edge of the table. Bend the tail head down over the table edge and apply pressure on the sides of the vent and side towards you.