How to distinguish a gander from a goose by external signs at different ages

Goose is a massive poultry, which is often found not only on specialized farms, but also in the backyards of rural residents or even summer residents. It is beneficial to keep them, because weight is gained quickly, and the meat is distinguished by taste and characteristics. But for breeding poultry, you need to know how to quickly distinguish a gander from a goose, because this is important for the competent formation of a flock.

Goals of gender determination

Distinguishing a male from a female may be required in the following situations:

1. Geese are bred for meat. It is advantageous to leave ganders, because they are initially larger in size and, as a result of fattening, a carcass of a larger mass can be obtained.In addition, ganders are distinguished by strong immunity, therefore, they get sick less often and are less susceptible to infections. However, males are aggressive and can fight in mass keeping.
2. The bird is kept for the sake of obtaining eggs. In this case, the population should be based on females, but they should have a sufficient number of males to ensure normal fertilization of the eggs. Four geese are left for one gander.
3. Gese are kept to raise chicks for sale. The previous point will be important here, and the need to know the sex of the goslings, because the buyer will want to know which bird he is purchasing. Geese are peaceful, calm, complaisant, and males show opposite character traits. Breeding requires keeping more geese than males.

Ganders don't look too different from geese, especially in some breeds, so beginner poultry farmers will need to learn the exact ways to recognize the sex of poultry.

What a male looks like

Ganders are larger and more massive than females, they have a voluminous body, a long and strong neck. In behavior they are more active and even aggressive. Males are often brighter and more saturated in color, but their plumage pattern is the same as that of geese. Geese do not have such noticeable, radical differences, like drakes and ducks. But you can try to find out the gender by the shade of down. There is an opinion that it is yellowish in ganders, and grayish in ganders.

Appearance of the female

Gese are 10-15 percent smaller than males and weigh 1-3 kilograms less. They have a more graceful rounded body, a short and thin neck, and a small head. Geese are docile and less aggressive than ganders, but, if necessary, can severely punish the enemy.

They are excellent mothers, have the instinct to incubate and nurse offspring. In some breeds of geese, females have a beak color that differs from the shade and shape of the male.

How to tell a gander from a goose

There are several ways to find out the sex of geese - adults and chicks. Each of them has the right to life, allows you to find out with a certain accuracy whether the gander is in front of a person or is it a goose.

Scientific method

This method is based on the differences in the structure of the genital organs of males and females. Complicating the situation is the fact that in birds, and in geese in particular, the reproductive organs are hidden and located in the cloaca. More accurate data can be obtained from adult geese with mature sex traits, if it was not possible to do this for other traits. In a gander, the penis looks like a small curl ranging in size from 3 to 7 centimeters. You can see it if you turn the bird on its back, fix it, carefully open the cloaca and examine it.In a goose, the genitals look like a rounded bulge.

When examining, you need to take into account that the bird will not like this procedure. She will not only resist, but can also cause significant damage to a person and herself. Therefore, you need to hold the geese firmly, but carefully, best of all together.

In goslings at a young age, the differences are already noticeable, but you need to consider that in a daily caterpillar, the genital organ is only 4 millimeters long. However, even in this case, the differences are still noticeable.

Gosling activity

From the first days of life, the belonging of goslings to a certain sex can also be determined by their behavior, of course, with some degree of probability. Male chicks behave more actively and belligerently, scream louder and more often, can compete with their fellows for food or the best place in the house. They stretch their necks and turn their heads, while geese can be recognized by their more delicate demeanor, calmness.Gooses are less noisy, they give a voice only when they are hungry or something strongly annoys them.

But such differences do not work for all geese. For example, Linda chicks behave equally calmly and peacefully, regardless of belonging to a particular gender. You need to use other methods with them.

Sizes of goslings

You can recognize a gander by size even in young animals, and not only in adults. Males, even in infancy, are initially larger than females and behave differently. Ganders hold their heads high, stretch their necks, behave importantly, sedately, but easily move from calm to aggression.

Geese are initially smaller, they have not only a smaller body, but also a shorter neck. They usually walk with their heads down and are less aggressive and less active.

Gender differences are pronounced in birds of breeds in which ganders in adulthood are larger in size than geese, for example, in gray Kholmogory. But this is not an accurate indicator, because males who are lagging behind in development can be the same size as females.

Fright goslings

Evolution has led to the fact that the behavior of males and females has noticeable differences. With a clear or hidden threat or an unexpected situation, a sharp sound, the males look for the source of the threat and take the appropriate position, while the females try to hide and cover their offspring.

Geese behave the same way. If they are frightened, then even monthly chicks will show characteristic signs of sex. The ganders will crane their necks and scan the area for the source of the noise, while the geese will duck and try to hide from potential danger. This method makes it possible to distinguish the sex of birds, but it cannot be abused, since fear negatively affects the nervous system and the general well-being of the chicks.

Bungee

This technique gives a chance to determine what sex the gosling is, even at an early age. But it requires from a person confident and calm actions, accuracy and respect, as you can accidentally harm the birds.

With this method, the chick is taken by the paws, turned and lifted up. Then it must be sharply lowered down. At this moment, the vestibular apparatus is activated in geese, which is responsible for the sense of balance. The gander, when moving down, will try to stretch its neck and bend it in the direction of the tail, and the goose will react sluggishly, only shaking its head.

By finding out how the behavior of ganders and goose differs when turning over and moving, you can find out whether the boy is in front of us or the girl. But this method, like others, does not give a 100% guarantee of determining the sex of geese.

You can use all the ways in everyday life to find out the sex differences in poultry, but the scientific method turns out to be reliable and accurate.It gives a clear picture, whether the gander or goose is a chick or an adult, but the difficulty lies in the fact that the bird will resist and “clamp” the cloaca. If the test fails the first time, do not persistently repeat it, causing pain and discomfort to the goose. It is better to wait a day or two and let the birds calm down, then the test will give an accurate result.

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