Cheviot
New member
Hi,
Whilst having a look on the domestic waterfowl club website, on the african goose page, it gives some breeding tips, some of which are:
"Always look for massive features (even in their first year they should have large, coarse heads and thick necks) and carriage 30 to 40 degrees."
"Select the fastest growing goslings for future breeding."
"Breed Tip Some individuals don't get the dewlap until over 18 months old, whilst others might develop one at 6 months. The dewlap runs down from the bill into the neck. The knob should be oriented slightly forward. Paunch should not touch the ground."
"Avoid young geese that have already developed a pronounced dewlap. Africans do not grow the dewlap as fast as Toulouse and it will not fully develop until aged about three years."
It's this last statement that I don't really understand, it dosen't give any clue as to why it is undesirable, and I am slightly concerned as all of my four African goslings are developing dewlaps and they are only about 8 weeks old.
Does anyone know the reasoning behind that last statement or am I worrying over nothing, I only plan to keep 2 of the goslings, one of each sex, and then hopefully buy another young breeding pair to put with them.
regards
Sue
Whilst having a look on the domestic waterfowl club website, on the african goose page, it gives some breeding tips, some of which are:
"Always look for massive features (even in their first year they should have large, coarse heads and thick necks) and carriage 30 to 40 degrees."
"Select the fastest growing goslings for future breeding."
"Breed Tip Some individuals don't get the dewlap until over 18 months old, whilst others might develop one at 6 months. The dewlap runs down from the bill into the neck. The knob should be oriented slightly forward. Paunch should not touch the ground."
"Avoid young geese that have already developed a pronounced dewlap. Africans do not grow the dewlap as fast as Toulouse and it will not fully develop until aged about three years."
It's this last statement that I don't really understand, it dosen't give any clue as to why it is undesirable, and I am slightly concerned as all of my four African goslings are developing dewlaps and they are only about 8 weeks old.
Does anyone know the reasoning behind that last statement or am I worrying over nothing, I only plan to keep 2 of the goslings, one of each sex, and then hopefully buy another young breeding pair to put with them.
regards
Sue
I will now have to wait and see how things develop. I already have the waterfowl standards book, but that just relates to how the adult birds should look, are there any books that descibe how different breeds of goslings should develop, I hope so, otherwise I'll be posting silly questions on here every other week. :roll: