Here we go again - I'm hatching more goslings!! - Page 339

Marty, geese are seasonal layers. Climate will have an effect on them laying as well age and light. You NEVER add artificial light trying to force laying in geese. They have a natural clock and you just don't want to screw with it. Some breeds lay more than others even though they are all seasonal. That is why we start getting African eggs in December here and right into May, they lay a large number of eggs each season.

Goose eggs make great omelets and quiche too (which is what many of the African eggs here end up as) so keep that in mind for collecting and cooking.

Happy to have 3 or 4 keepers for breeding next year out of the total hatched and growing out this year. 

You havent shared pictures in a long time, how is everyone growing out? Now is when you can really see what they are going to look like and how they measure up. How did the girls do at fair?

As to the when do they start laying discussion: I think some of the timing is decided by where you live/your climate. My Poms started laying the end of November last year, but Kawonu's Poms didn't start till a couple months later. I am in SE Louisiana and he is in the Carolinas. I have spoken to a breeder in Iowa and his don't begin until late February to mid-March most years. So, I think your climate also plays a role in the timing.

This will be my second season with the Pomeranians and first with my pair of Toulouse. Last year, my original goose laid 51 eggs spanning 4 months. I was very pleased since I had read that they laid as few as 30 eggs per season.

Speaking of "the season" we are a bit more than half-way there for those of us in the deep south. Just four more months till the first of our girls start laying!

It looks like I will have 3 solid breeding pairs for this season out of the 14 Poms: My original pair, Caboosh (mine) and Wonky (from Kawonu), and Tucker (mine) and Derby (Kawonu).

I may have another two females from Kawonu's goslings that I can pair with Church and Shaazam my two remaining ganders; the girls beginning to really show their adult feathers and look to be well marked with a defined single lobes. Should that work out I will have 5 pairs to work with this year.

The second female hatched from my pair, Donut, has  too much buff so will be put in the pet flock. I am going to try to breed her with a gander out of Kawonu's birds that doesn't have enough buff and see what I get. If nothing else, I can keep these goslings to cross with the toulouse for possible meat birds. I am still not sure we could ever kill and eat one of our geese though: They are just too sweet. So, if we can't bring ourselves to eat any of them, I will just sell those as farm geese locally.

I plan on hatching out at least 4 or 6 goslings from each of the breeders I keep prior to selling any eggs, except from my original pair: I am going to sell her eggs from the start once fertility is confirmed and only keep the strays that fall between orders.

Guess it is about time to start building the new goose barn before breeding season starts!

great picture Iain, cant wait for our buffs to get alittle more age on them to start showing bulk.

Love Nutmeg and Barley pic Iain!

Wow, they are huge!  I'm always so surprised how big everyone is getting. 

I got more food today, and here (good, bad, or ugly) is how I'm currently mixing up duck and goose food (except the laying ducks, they just get hen layer mix and some scratch grains)

 Mazuri maint. (wow, the bag looked so huge, those balls take up lots of space)  4 parts

 bag wheat 1 part

 bag of black oil sunflower seeds 1/2 part

 bag of hen scratch 1 part

I'm just not really planning to feed only Mazuri, but the geese and junior ducklings (not laying yet) do really like it.  The sebs are actually just getting the Mazuri right now, but everyone else gets the mix, theres just so many of them.  I'm checking on per/skid prices, to see if that'll make it a bit more affordable.  It was only 40.05 per bag  with tax for the two bags I got in today, after special ordering and waiting a week.

copy in other threads....

Heres some pics of my sebbies, toulouses w/little sebbie, and some khaki campbells hanging with them still.

These are the ones from the hatch around May 8, except the sebbie. She is a June baby.

Marty, your buff dewlaps are about the same as Iains yes? Cant remember when you hatched yours now. Looks like a few of them had fun playing in mud recently with the dirty feet lol.