Pros: Gentle, intelligent, beautiful, good grazers, fast growers, talkative, nonaggressive, clean, quiet
Cons: I am now attached to them
The only experience on the same side of the fence as domestic geese I had before I got my four Embden goslings was being chased by a pair of African geese. I loved to hate geese, and thought they were all cantankerous and mean. I thought it would be easy to get some meat geese without getting attached.
Embdens proved everything I ever believed about geese wrong. I had four hatchery production goslings, a male and three females.
They spent their days eating grass (this comprising most of their diet) and following me and family members around, striking intelligent conversations. They did not like to be touched, and wouldn’t touch us either, though they did stay very close. They liked picking up and stealing objects. They were never loud. They were young so I don’t know if this has to do with it, but while they liked to talk, they were quiet. They kept their feathers very clean and beautiful and looked very peaceful when they slept. Hopefully they taste as good as they behaved. I will definitely get more geese next year, hopefully permanent additions.
Pros: Friendly to other geese, friendly to people, gentle and non-aggressive, lays fairly well, I think?
Cons: May get a little... TOO friendly.
We bought a embden gander quite a while back at an auction because our bleeding hearts couldn't stand to see him go to be eaten.
He meshed very well with our established flock, until he took too much of a shining to our main gander. He wanted to be with our gander ALL THE TIME and I believe that our main goose got kinda angry at him trying to steal away her mate.
In any case, we bought him an embden goose and things calmed down. The two ladies actually got along rather well, if I remember, and we even found the two of them squished into the same nesting box together!
(We eventually gave them away and settlledon simply keeping our violent toulouse geese
So all-in-all, good goose, kinda skittish, but very gentle and affectionate.
Pros: Quick, hefty growth. Relatively calm and gentle. Not as noisy or aggressive as Chinese geese. Good grazer.
Cons: Cannot think of any I encountered.
These guys grow quickly, have pretty white plumage and gorgeous blue eyes. They are a perfect choice for eating, or just for your free-ranging enjoyment. I grew up with Chinese geese, and these are miles apart in temperament, in my opinion. The Chinese were very loud and noisy, prone to aggression and just not a breed to be handled much. This one, when raised gently, remains calm and happy to see you. They are great grazers and are still a watch dog, though not quite as loud. Now any goose can get pinchy in breeding season, but these are lovely outside that. Can't wait to have them again.
You got to love your Embdens !! I have 4 here as well along with the Chinese, Pilgrim, Toulouse and the rest of the crew. Very friendly birds. Clyde, my oldest at 20 years old is the rooster fight referee here and being Embden, the biggest sook of them all He gets everything he wants...lol Steve
Hello the John I am hoping you can help me out with some information about the egg lying process - when they start laying their eggs ( fertile ones) do they lay the egg and continue to sit on it until they have laid all they are going to in the clutch! And then stay sitting on them all till they hatch - so if they only lay an egg a day when do you know when the time for hatching is up - I only have girls at the moment and they lay and then leave that egg until they are ready to lay another is this what they do when there is a male around as I plan to add a male to the flock after Christmas and would like to know what to expect and can I still collect eggs to cook with and leave some to hatch ??????? Sorry for all the questions but I can not find any clear answers for my questions
I had a friend who needed to get rid of a pair of geese and a pair of ducks I took them in ( in the begining I never wanted geese I heard they were mean) I did have 5 other ducks. I am glad we took them they dont like to be held like my chickens do but they greet me everytime I go out to the pen In the summer and spring we free range them even thou they can walk where ever they want they tend to stay close to the coop in the straw areas but we have very cold and stormy days lately,
John, I didn't get a notification on your questions. I gather some of my goose eggs, but mark some to leave with the goose hens too. I use a marker or pencil to recognize and mark what eggs I left. Geese take at least 28 days to hatch, I leave the eggs a full 5 days longer. The reason some goose hens sit a while, leave and go back is the outside temperatures. They are preventing the eggs to not get too cold, making them non-viable. They don't realize the eggs are not fertile. Please PM me if you need help.
We have numerous children's play pools for our ducks and they are very happy with that arrangement. They're happy if they can splash and bathe.(especially in hot weather)