Question about telling goose gender

[Beaglegal]

After 3 years of goose ownership I finally had a successful hatch. My Roman tufted mom and Buff dad. I got 7 goslings that are currently 7 weeks old and almost the size of mom. I want to keep a female or 2 and eat the others, but I am worried that I won’t be able to tell the gender by the time comes to butcher. Open to advice

 

[Berd Man]

After 3 years of goose ownership I finally had a successful hatch. My Roman tufted mom and Buff dad. I got 7 goslings that are currently 7 weeks old and almost the size of mom. I want to keep a female or 2 and eat the others, but I am worried that I won’t be able to tell the gender by the time comes to butcher. Open to advice

Sometimes you can visually tell males from females before spring breeding time. It’s easier with the knob bill varieties. I raise some Buff and Embden which are similar to your geese and I have a harder time visually telling them apart till later on.

If you want to be sure I’d just catch them and vent sex. It’s not hard to do, there’s a guy on YouTube from Australia who has a pretty decent video on how he does it. Having less than 10 geese to sex it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes. I recommend keeping some poultry leg bands handy so you can tell who’s who later on.

Here’s that video! Get your gloves on and wear clothes you don’t mind getting poo poo on.

 

[Beaglegal]

Sometimes you can visually tell males from females before spring breeding time. It’s easier with the knob bill varieties. I raise some Buff and Embden which are similar to your geese and I have a harder time visually telling them apart till later on.

If you want to be sure I’d just catch them and vent sex. It’s not hard to do, there’s a guy on YouTube from Australia who has a pretty decent video on how he does it. Having less than 10 geese to sex it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes. I recommend keeping some poultry leg bands handy so you can tell who’s who later on.

Here’s that video! Get your gloves on and wear clothes you don’t mind getting poo poo on.

Is there an age that is better to check? I read somewhere that it was hard to tell from vent sexing at this stage but obviously I’m no expert. Pic for fun

 

[Berd Man]

Beautiful geese! Love the colors. So the buff was the father and the white tufted goose in front is mom?

 

[Berd Man]

Is there an age that is better to check?

I think the age they are now is around when I do it. They’re still handleable and not too small that you feel like you’re hurting them

 

[Beaglegal]

Beautiful geese! Love the colors. So the buff was the father and the Roman tufted goose, what color was she?

She’s the white one up front. I think it’s fascinating that the tufts poofier on the babies that have them

 

[Berd Man]

The way they are patterned is really cool

 

[Beaglegal]

The way they are patterned is really cool

Thanks

 

[Berd Man]

There’s a goose color calculator you can use and see the inheritance for colors.

http://kippenjungle.nl/kruisingFlex...,C;RP;Silver;Buff;Cream;&ID=ganscalculator4IE

 

[Berd Man]

It takes some time to get used to but if you select the alternative drop down menu and then change the very last bubble at the bottom to buff in the male column you can then put the female in as dimorphic, pied, and blue to get the column to indicate white. When you hit calculate you can see the likely results of your crosses and with buffs the male throws the color to the female goslings and the males are regular. I don’t know the genes your birds have but if you do, then it may help you figure out what’s going on.