How to determine the sex of a goose and a goose?

Between the formation of masonry and the birth of goslings, 27-28 days pass. In the first few days after birth, young shoots are fed equally. Then they need to be transferred to an individual menu, depending on the gender. This is necessary to ensure that the productivity of the herd is at a high level. But in small goslings it is difficult to determine the sex, especially if you have not encountered this bird before. Our article will describe several ways to determine the sex of a chick and an adult.

Why is it important to know the gender of geese?

As already mentioned, the composition of the diet of geese according to their sex is very important for productivity. After all, different types of feed contribute either to weight gain or good egg production.

By correctly forming a herd, you can get:

  • good egg production if there are more geese than geese;
  • a lot of meat if you form a herd mainly of males;
  • correct offspring, provided that the best individuals for breeding are selected;
  • successful implementation of the young, then the business will be profitable.

Did you know? When the female and the nest are in danger, the goose becomes fearless. In this impulse, he can easily cripple even a person.

How to distinguish a goose from a goose at an early age?

The most accurate way to determine the sex of birds is by the first sexual characteristics. Only they become most pronounced when the chicks reach the age of one month. To determine the sex at an earlier age, various methods are used, based on scientific and folk approaches to business.

scientific methods

We propose to consider the existing scientific methods for finding differences between a female and a male by gender:

  1. Japanese (probe). Requires experience and skill. In addition, the approach implies the presence of a probe (“chick-tester”), which is inserted into the bird’s cloaca. Allows you to determine the sex with an accuracy of 98%, and the speed of sexing is about 500 goals / hour. Unfortunately, the technique has disadvantages: low productivity and a high probability of spreading infections..
  2. Autosexing (genetic). It implies the breeding of breeds of domestic geese with a special set of marking genes, which will make it possible to distinguish between male and female by the color of the fluff.
  3. Federsexing (genetic). Allows you to distinguish a female from a male by the plumage of the wings, or rather, by its number.
  4. acoustic method. Based on differences in the timbre of the voice of females and males. Day-old young animals are held upside down by their paws and forced to scream into a microphone. An analyzer is connected to the microphone, which processes the received sound signal using the program. The result is given in the form of a light signal. If the voice was given by the female, then the lamp connected to the analyzer lights up blue, if the male – red. The green light of the lamp indicates that the gender could not be determined. The accuracy of this technique is 85-95%.

goose and goose
The described methods are more often applicable in industrial poultry farms, as they require certain equipment and skills to work with it. In small private farms and farmsteads, folk methods are usually applicable.

Did you know? All geese have an identical skeletal structure, body shape, webbed feet and an elongated neck. Therefore, the division into breeds occurs visually and by weighing.

Folk ways

The basis of the folk methodology for determining sex is the characteristic differences in behavior, in voice, in appearance, in reaction to stimuli between a goose and a goose.

Fright

This method is based on the nature of the conditioned response to danger. Your task is to scare the herd in any way and follow the behavior of each of its members.
frightened goose
Sensing danger, males instinctively stretch their necks to find its source. Females, on the other hand, cling to the ground, trying to hide from the source of anxiety.

Activity and habits

Even newly born chicks differ in their behavior. It is in the blood of geese to be leaders and protectors, so they try to hold on proudly and stretch their necks. In addition, they are very noisy and active, they always rush to the food source first. Geese rarely make noise, do not come into conflict and try not to stand out. They can scream only when they feel severe hunger or pain, fear.

Tarzanka

A fairly common method, also based on the difference in behavior in extreme situations. They take the gosling by the paws (you can tie them with a rope) and turn them upside down.
Goose
Young geese, as more active individuals, in this position will try to free themselves in every way: they will stretch up, try to reach their paws with their beak. Geese, on the other hand, will meekly hang upside down or move slightly, randomly.

Differences in adults

Geese reach puberty by seven months of life, geese – a month or two later. During this period, the primary sexual characteristics are already well expressed, and characteristic differences in appearance can also be observed. Therefore, it is easier to determine the sex in adults than in young animals.

According to primary sex characteristics

The primary sexual characteristic in a bird is the presence/absence of a process in the cloaca.

In order to find it, you need to do the following:

  1. Sit on a chair holding a bird.
  2. Lay her on her knees, with her back up, while holding her head under her left hand. The elbows of both hands press the wings tightly to the body of the bird.
  3. Pull the tail back with your left hand, and open the cloaca with your right. If you can see a pink or grayish process 5-7 centimeters long in it, then you are holding a goose. If not, goose. From the first time it is not always possible to complete the procedure, as the birds can compress the cloaca. Then you need to release the animal and try again after a while.

Video: recognizing a gander from a goose by a cloaca

Important! Geese birds are strong, so you need to hold them tightly, and even better, do it together with someone so that you can lay the bird on a table or other flat surface.

According to secondary sex characteristics

By secondary sexual characteristics, it is quite difficult to determine the sex, since you need to know the features of the appearance and the nature of the behavior of representatives of different breeds. But there are still some features that unite females and males of all breeds, and allow experienced poultry farmers to quite accurately determine the gender of each individual.

Gait

If you watch how your flock walks, you will notice that some birds walk imposingly, stretching their necks higher and looking around with a proud look from above. Others obediently follow them, bowing their necks, as if bowing.
herd of geese
The first type of birds are males. Most often they go at the head of the pack, leading submissive females.

Sounds

Geese, as befits males, have a hoarse, low, rough voice. They serve it quite often and generally like to make some noise. In females, the voice is high, sonorous and can be heard infrequently.

Color

The color of geese weakly expresses sexual dimorphism. Geese and geese rarely differ in color in a way that is conspicuous. But, if you look closely, you can see that the down in males has a yellowish tint, while in females it is grayish. Some breeds have more expressive differences in feather color.

dimensions

Like most animals, male geese are larger than females.
Gander and goose

A well-fed goose can weigh up to nine kilograms. A female of the same build – six to seven kilograms. On average, the weight of a male differs from a female by 20-25 percent.

Head shape

Geese have a large, massive head, a wide frontal part. Their profile is intimidating. The head of the female is neat, small, with graceful features.

Important! They also have beaks. In males, in the course of evolution, it became larger and coarser. Its color is discreet, dirty. Maybe even black.

How many geese and geese should be in a flock?

The need to regulate the number of males and females in the pack depends on what goals you are pursuing. If you plan to get a large number of eggs and breed a bird, then there should be more females than males. Their approximate ratio is one to three. Moreover, the male should be the largest and healthiest. If you keep the bird for the purpose of obtaining meat, then the flock should be formed from the majority of males, as they gain weight better and grow larger than females.
Geese
Thus, determining the sex of geese is extremely important. All the described methods have their pros and cons. Therefore, which one to choose depends only on your skills and knowledge.

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Anna Evans

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