Green Pygmy Goose

The Green Pygmy Goose is significantly larger than the African or Indian Pygmy Geese but like these species requires some protection from severe weather and ideally requires indoor accommodation during the winter but this requirement does not mean that they are a species that is more suited to a tropical house; although this might be ideal if the quality of the air and water could be controlled. In keeping with the African Pygmy Geese the Greens appear to be remarkably sensible and if provided with access to some sort of indoor set up that can provide frost free conditions during the winter they will invariably enter of their own accord and even during the summer they will tend to use the shelter at night. Only shut them inside if their outdoor pond actually freezes over!

Feeding is relatively simple and they enjoy a good quality Foreign Finch mix and will also take some wheat. Getting them to take any quantity of pellets is not easy but should be encouraged, they will take some floating pellets, relish a supply of greens, some meal worms and if it were possible to provide water Lilly leaves and seeds this would probably be appreciated and may be very beneficial. Maintaining in captivity is not straight forward, they appear prone to getting wet feathers on their backs and wing feathers and clearly this can lead to heat loss and subsequent hypothermia.

Green Pygmy geese are delicate and breed extremely rarely in captivity. They may be best maintained fully-flighted in an aviary. A raised nest box should be provided. The normal laying period is May to September.

Ducklings apparently feed by straining small particles from the water. Feeding may be stimulated by rapidly moving fingers in a dish of water containing fine feed; this may be required for three weeks or more. Duckweed may also be useful to encourage feeding, but may itself be too large for young downies to eat. Supplemental tube feeding has been useful in downies during the initial rearing period.

Green Pygmy geese are cold-sensitive birds, requiring protection in prolonged cold spells.

A large open pond of natural water is important for breeding, although they may be maintained (not bred) in small aviaries. Good access to sunlight is recommended (minimal shade in enclosure). A log coming from the water is appreciated for roosting, so that the birds do not need to come onto land.

Breeding may be best if the birds are kept as a colony; males are aggressive to one another and fighting occurs but injury is rare. Wooden nest boxes, 30x30x48cm, with a 9cm diameter hole 12cm from the top of the box, placed over water on poles should be provided, with a ramp giving access to the box and nesting material (sawdust and fine shell grit) provided inside. Sitting females are very sensitive to disturbance and readily desert the nest; fostering under closely related species (e.g. Cotton pygmy-goose (Nettapus coromandelianus)) has been prefered for this reason.

The ideal relative humidity for incubating most waterfowl eggs is 55% (ground nesters) and 40% (cavity nesters). The temperature is usually 37.4°C. Set ventilation as recommended by the incubator manufacturer. Eggs must be turned, either automatically or by hand, a minimum of 4 times a day. As the duckling develops there is a loss of water from the egg and the air sac gets bigger. In normal development of an egg with a 23-24 days incubation, the air sac occupies about a third of it three days earlier. Cleanliness is vital and ideally eggs should be moved to a separate hatcher at this point, where the humidity should be increased to 65% and even higher once they have pipped internally.