Silver Geese?

[AuroraSprings]

So I have a pair of American Geese from unknown breeder. I was told when I bought them that the male was blue and female was lavender. They appeared to be those colors, so I thought nothing of it. This year I order several American blues & lavenders from Holderread's. The male is blue and the females lavender. All seemed normal until the baby girls molted into their adult feathers. They are, no question, a different color than my adult female. My only conclusion is that the original female wasn't lavender. The babies look like very, very light (also a dusty) Buff, but I assume that's the lavender coloration (it's Dave's birds so I trust his coloring over mine). The adult female is a deeper "greyer" color. If she was a ducks I've have to say she's silver. Does silver occur in geese? It's not dove grey or slate grey, it's a blue/grey. But not just blue. Any help is appreciated. When bred to the blue male it gave me half blue/half "new color".

Thanks!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
I was just at your farm via your website and also your BYC page. Beautiful animals all of them, it would probably help if you could post pics of these geese you are refering to. I am looking at pilgrims and americans for my next geese. but leaning towards pilgrims.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Kristy,

It would interesting to see the girls side by side to compair. Hoping Pete will chime in also from across the pond on coloring and genetics.

Shellie

 

[Oregon Blues]

I don't think geese come in silver. Different lines are going to be slightly different colors.

I have two Blues from Holderread and the sun really fades their color and makes them look gray. If you turn the feathers up, what is underneath and protected from light is blue. Their offspring this year were really seriously blue, but their color changes as the feathers age and are exposed to a lot of sunlight.

This is silver in waterfowl. Is your goose this color? This duck was cocoa brown as a duckling.

 

[pete55]

How very interesting

Some may say that Silver may also be known as Lavander. However it really depends if there's some Buff in your new birds from DH as they may be even Creams. It can be quite a confusing picture although your first mating tends to confirm that your original birds were Blue and Lavander. By that I mean one is heterozygous for Blue ( a single Blue gene) and the other homozygous for Blue (a pair of blue genes). As the blue gene exerts incomplete dominance a bird with two blue genes should appear paler.

It would be great if you could post some pictures for comparison

Pete

 

[kimberly35042]

My birds are also from HWF. The first moult left them looking more buff and white than lavender ice, but as they matured (hatched in May), they developed more and more light grey feathers. They look identical to the one in the picture on your website. Mine were the Assorted bonus, I got 2 blues, 2 lavender ice and an embden. I'll try to post a more recent pic tonight.

Oh Pete, CONGRATULATIONS on your beautiful new sebbie trio!!

 

[AuroraSprings]

OKay, I went and took photos. If it shows up properly, then it'll be easier than trying to explain it. Here goes:

HWF 2011 goose on left, Breeder 2010 goose on right

HWF-left, Breeder-right, Breeder gander in foreground

HWF goose in foreground, Breeder in background, Anconas running amuck

HWF Gander on far left, HWF Goose in middle, Breeder goose on far right

HWF Gander in foreground, directly behind him (back facing camera) is Breeder goose, far left is Breeder gander, on right and far background are the two HWF geese

HWF geese in foreground, Breeder goose in background, HWF gander leaving photo far right

HWF Geese w/ Cotton Patch in background

Old photo of Breeder goose during molt. You can see the light grey/silver of the new feathers very well.

Thoughts and suggestions are welcomed!

 

[kimberly35042]

Here's pics of my HWF blues and lavenders. Mine were an assortment but I'm guessing that's what they are. They look identical to your blue and light grey geese.

This is Violet

Violet celebrating

The 3 americans and their embden shipping pal:

And Henry the seb with his smooth booty friend:

 

[aineheartsyou]

your Holderread geese have angel wing? I purchased a TSQ pair from Holderreads and I got a Lavender Ice gander and a Blue goose. My gander developed angel wing, I tried really hard to correct it but it didnt work

 

[kimberly35042]

no angel wing here (that I know of?) The seb is curly all over. He's not HWF, just the other 5. They weren't really penned and had a lot of grass and exercise so I guess I got lucky with my first geese