[dangolding]

We've currently got 3 geese - 2 have paired up and 1 is left on his own.

I'm assuming that it's a male and female that have paired (if not, they've been acting very dodgy on the pond!!!) and that it's a second male who's been left on his own.

Problem is, I can't tell the difference between what I think are the 2 males and the female.

Obviously the geese can figure it out but I can't see anything - no different sizes, colours or markings

I know the guy down market sexes ducks by holding them upside down and listen to the sound of their quack (women are noisier!!!!!), but there must be another way

Ideas anyone?

[babe]

i know boy aylesbury ducks have a curled up tail , and the girlies dont. but dont know about gooses...sorry

[naturesparadise]

i dont know if this will help you out
http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/Y4359E/y4359e07.htm

[dangolding]

i dont know if this will help you out
http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/Y4359E/y4359e07.htm

Thanks for the link - unfortunately, my geese are nearly a year old and they are Toulous geese.

Oh well, I'll just have to hope that they know what they're doing!!!  



As it happens, the female is the one on the left - it's a bit like those "spot the difference" pictures  

[Vember]

http://www.acornhollowbantams.com/sexing_geese.htm

Don't know if that'll be of any help to you? Crumb goes flat when I walk up to her but thats 'cause she thinks I'm the gander!!!!!  The other thing she does is throw things over her back like practicing nest building!!

[naturesparadise]

i just found this bit of info from another forum

I read somewhere not too long ago that the best method of sexing is to look for the male penis, but check for a genital eminence too. You might have a male whose penis will not evert, but you will never find a female w/o the genital eminence.I was using an up-ended barrel as my work space. I would take the geese by the feet, put them breast down, tail up on the barrel and let the head hang over the edge. I would then bend the tail down until it was horizontal, at right angles to the bird's back. Once in this position the bird would generally not kick or fight. I was then free to use both hands. Only once or twice did I have to grab the feet again and reposition a bird.

It is really a simple process after you've done a few. You can almost tell immediately when you begin to spread the vent. The goose's vent will be flat and when you press underneath it from the sides if opens slightly and remains flat, and inside you will see the genital eminence. When you start to spread a gander's vent you get what resembles a little mountain, and if you continue to press getly under that mountain his penis will make its appearance. You do not have to make him put it all out. All you need to see is the tip to identify a male.

[Foxy]

Please more pics of your Toulouse geese! have fallen in love with them after seeing some recently at a show. They are beautiful    

[Wildeone]

i just found this bit of info from another forum

I read somewhere not too long ago that the best method of sexing is to look for the male penis, but check for a genital eminence too. You might have a male whose penis will not evert, but you will never find a female w/o the genital eminence.I was using an up-ended barrel as my work space. I would take the geese by the feet, put them breast down, tail up on the barrel and let the head hang over the edge. I would then bend the tail down until it was horizontal, at right angles to the bird's back. Once in this position the bird would generally not kick or fight. I was then free to use both hands. Only once or twice did I have to grab the feet again and reposition a bird.

It is really a simple process after you've done a few. You can almost tell immediately when you begin to spread the vent. The goose's vent will be flat and when you press underneath it from the sides if opens slightly and remains flat, and inside you will see the genital eminence. When you start to spread a gander's vent you get what resembles a little mountain, and if you continue to press getly under that mountain his penis will make its appearance. You do not have to make him put it all out. All you need to see is the tip to identify a male.

:shock:  Poor geese  :shock:

 

[Bodger]

Geese are notoriously tricky to sex and a many a so called expert has been caught out by a bird selected as a gander laying eggs.

Apart from having a rough and tumble with them and inspecting their never regions  :shock: I go by the size of the birds within the group and by the fact that if you get them in a huddle , its more than likely that it will be the ganders on the outside of the group with their necks out hissing at you.
Where its a real beggar to know whats going on, is where you have say five females and at the end of the day you havent got a male at all. You tend not to know the truth of the situation until the end of the the season and by then, its too late of course.