Geese

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Legs

usually riding on Zwift...
Location
Staffordshire
I've got two female Embden geese, but am thinking about expanding the flock by buying in some fertile eggs. Our girls are laying at the moment and one of them is looking like she'll go broody (on her dud eggs) any moment, so I'm tempted to buy some eggs on ebay or preloved* so that my sons can see the goslings growing up and diversify our stock. It's been a few years since we raised any goslings... We don't want them for meat or for sale, but it's nice to have them as lawnmowers, for the eggs in the springtime, and as pets.

We'll need a new hut (we currently sleep our two in a dog kennel) but that's not a big problem. We've got a quarter-acre paddock so there'll be plenty of grass, in the summer at least, and we've got some seedling trays which are great for watering the little ones.

The question is, what to get? We've only ever had Embdens before, but I'm quite taken with the idea of getting some Pilgrims. Has anyone had any experience of them? My only reservation is that, as a rather lighter bird, they might be prone to flying away! (Our Embdens went through a phase of needing to be retrieved from the neighbours' fields, but I suppose wing-clipping isn't that much of a problem).

I'm guessing that whatever eggs we get will be in stasis, so timing them going under the goose won't be absolutely critical. Ideally we'd like 2 more geese (a goose and a gander would be great), and Pilgrims are autosexing so choosing two to keep would be easy (provided they hatch and that we get a mix of sexes...) If we end up with spare geese, I'm sure we'd be able to sell or gift them on.

Anyone with experience, your advice is most welcome!

Thanks,

Tim


* IRL poultry markets are closed ATM with bird flu, but internet trade seems to be flourishing.
 

T4tomo

Guru
I know almost nothing about geese, but was intrigued so had a gander at your post:okay:
 
I've got two female Embden geese, but am thinking about expanding the flock by buying in some fertile eggs. Our girls are laying at the moment and one of them is looking like she'll go broody (on her dud eggs) any moment, so I'm tempted to buy some eggs on ebay or preloved* so that my sons can see the goslings growing up and diversify our stock. It's been a few years since we raised any goslings... We don't want them for meat or for sale, but it's nice to have them as lawnmowers, for the eggs in the springtime, and as pets.

We'll need a new hut (we currently sleep our two in a dog kennel) but that's not a big problem. We've got a quarter-acre paddock so there'll be plenty of grass, in the summer at least, and we've got some seedling trays which are great for watering the little ones.

The question is, what to get? We've only ever had Embdens before, but I'm quite taken with the idea of getting some Pilgrims. Has anyone had any experience of them? My only reservation is that, as a rather lighter bird, they might be prone to flying away! (Our Embdens went through a phase of needing to be retrieved from the neighbours' fields, but I suppose wing-clipping isn't that much of a problem).

I'm guessing that whatever eggs we get will be in stasis, so timing them going under the goose won't be absolutely critical. Ideally we'd like 2 more geese (a goose and a gander would be great), and Pilgrims are autosexing so choosing two to keep would be easy (provided they hatch and that we get a mix of sexes...) If we end up with spare geese, I'm sure we'd be able to sell or gift them on.

Anyone with experience, your advice is most welcome!

Thanks,

Tim


* IRL poultry markets are closed ATM with bird flu, but internet trade seems to be flourishing.

The only comment I would make, after years of keeping ducks (but not geese) of different breeds, is that the Embden is a large and heavy breed and almost twice the weight of the Pilgrim, which is classed as 'light' and is really quite small as geese go.
I can see problems arising, especially with an inexperienced mother who is large and possibly clumsy, on hatching, and also possibly later on, as a Pilgrim gander might find some difficulty in mating with Embden ladies, depending on their relative sizes.
I think I'd be going for something a bit more similar in size - the West of England goose is the other autosexing breed and is quite a bit bigger than the Pilgrim. That said, I've had big hefty birds raise the daintiest of chicks with complete success and little bantams trample all over chubby Muscovy ducklings so who can tell what will happen?
 
OP
OP
Legs

Legs

usually riding on Zwift...
Location
Staffordshire
Thanks for the advice @KnittyNorah - I had looked at WoE but have struggled to find any availability because they're not commonly bred.

I'm not sure I'm too worried about the Pilgrim gander struggling to mate with the Embden geese because we'll probably not be wanting further cross-bred goslings. (I'm mentally picturing a little stepladder to assist the act, though!). There's not a huge difference between a 9-10kg goose and a 7-8kg pilgrim gander... I'm not sure whether the Pilgrim goslings would be much smaller than the Embden goslings that an Embden goose would normally raise? Hopefully the young'uns would imprint on the 'mum' and be harmoniously integrated in the flock...
 
Thanks for the advice @KnittyNorah - I had looked at WoE but have struggled to find any availability because they're not commonly bred.

I'm not sure I'm too worried about the Pilgrim gander struggling to mate with the Embden geese because we'll probably not be wanting further cross-bred goslings. (I'm mentally picturing a little stepladder to assist the act, though!). There's not a huge difference between a 9-10kg goose and a 7-8kg pilgrim gander... I'm not sure whether the Pilgrim goslings would be much smaller than the Embden goslings that an Embden goose would normally raise? Hopefully the young'uns would imprint on the 'mum' and be harmoniously integrated in the flock...

Oh they'd imprint on you if you were the first thing they saw when hatching, they'll imprint all right, don't worry about that! Ducks don't imprint anything like as strongly as geese, but even so they imprint on a broody hen mother, a human being if hatched in an incubator, a cat if said cat likes to sleep beside the incubator ... that really was the funniest thing, half a dozen ducklings trying to follow the cat around the conservatory, and standing cheeping forlornly when said cat leapt up and out through 'her' window exit.
I really don't know about the relative sizes of the newly-hatched goslings, but really my main concern would be the 'unknown quantity' that a first-time mother presents. Fertile eggs aren't cheap!
 
OP
OP
Legs

Legs

usually riding on Zwift...
Location
Staffordshire
Oh they'd imprint on you if you were the first thing they saw when hatching, they'll imprint all right, don't worry about that!
My wife's family raised Aylesburys when she was young (my MIL was a primary school teacher and they hatched eggs in an incubator for a project, AAUI), and Daffy imprinted onto my sister-in-law ^_^.
 
OP
OP
Legs

Legs

usually riding on Zwift...
Location
Staffordshire
what is an autosexing breed - I daren't google that from my work PC.

It's a breed where you can tell the difference between the male and female! It's usually different feather colour, but sometimes different beaks or eye colour. Most breeds you can't tell the difference, especially when young, apart from by 'vent-sexing' which is, so I'm told, quite tricky.

Don't google vent-sexing at work!
 

T4tomo

Guru
It's a breed where you can tell the difference between the male and female! It's usually different feather colour, but sometimes different beaks or eye colour. Most breeds you can't tell the difference, especially when young, apart from by 'vent-sexing' which is, so I'm told, quite tricky.

Don't google vent-sexing at work!

Ah, I'm used to farm mammals - much easier to tell what's what!
 

oldwheels

Legendary Member
Location
Isle of Mull
I know nothing about geese but Hiram Walker distillers kept a flock around their remote warehouses to ward off any human intruders. Better than guard dogs apparently.
 
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