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    No eggs and no ducks

    Geese don't lay year round like ducks and chickens.
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    Is it safe to feed gosling cut grass?

    Geese primarily eat grass. As long as the pieces aren't too long, I would give them grass in any form. They'll eat it right up. I start giving my goslings ripped up grass (about as long as a finger digit) and sand starting day 2 or 3. I have raised about 60 geese this way, no issues. Ducks...
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    Need drake butchering advice & tips

    I have used a variety of methods. I have stainless steel kill cones. Cut the arteries on either side of the neck, right where it attaches to the head. Ducks are tougher than chickens, they take longer to die this way. Like, a lot longer. Cutting off the head is also effective, but it...
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    Need drake butchering advice & tips

    For ducks, people typically process them in between molts to minimize pin feathers. For some breeds this is 7-9 weeks depending on conditions. I dry plucked most of mine with an imported machine. It takes about 10 minutes per bird, then I wax. Getting the wax temperature right is difficult...
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    Processed some chickens today

    I'm terrible at estimating bird live weight while they're growing, lol. I had one dress out 8.2lbs from this batch, most were over 6.5 lbs. Two were around 5lbs and looked tiny to me. I think the next batch I'm going to do right at 8 weeks, even if they don't 'look ready' because they'll...
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    Processed some chickens today

    Yeah, the assembly line approach in that video really sped things up for me. The day before I did about 4 in the same time using a more traditional method (killed in groups of 2, scalded and plucked in 2, then cleaned each bird individually). IMO, the key to the assembly line method is to know...
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    Processed some chickens today

    Yeah, I think that would work fine for just home processing, but I don't think the poultry inspector will go for that. Anything that ends up in the cooler would be contaminated with bacteria. My thinking right now is get some quart tupperware containers and stack them, and then use a small bag...
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    Processed some chickens today

    Did 10 cornish cross this morning by myself. Took about 2.5 hours from kill to chill tank total, not including setup time. 30 minutes for kill, scald, pluck, 2 hours to clean. I gotta work on my cleaning skills, for sure. I only have 2 kill cones, so that added some time to the first...
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    Goslings making daily mess with water.

    I've raised a few batches of goslings now. Once they are a little taller, I put the waterer (just a simple chick waterer from tractor supply) on a landscaping stone. This way they can drink from it, but can't climb on it and play in the water. During the 1st week or 2, I put the water...
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    In your opinion…best sustainable meat breed

    Muscovy ducks are my answer. They have a great quality meat, very beef like. The eat more than chickens, but they are more calorie dense. They raise their own young. They're big enough to not be bothered by hawks (at least in my area). They're practically silent. They'll lay more eggs than...
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    Quail versus Chicken

    Broomstick method is very effective. I recommend plucking chickens, the skin is the best part. If you scald them correctly, you can pluck a full bird in just a few minutes by hand.
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    Goose Meat

    I've lost a couple freshly planted trees to the geese this year. For the most part, they haven't messed with them, but this year they decided to chew up the bark on a few nursery whips I planted in the fall. They chewed them up in the dead of winter, and they don't seem to mess with them now...
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    Goose Meat

    I also raise geese for meat. I have a new orchard I started 3 years ago, and the geese free range there and elsewhere in on my property. My wife cannot eat beef as it makes her sick, so we eat a lot of duck and geese. As far as crispy skin, I find most recipes online are just straight up...
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    Canada goose with a possibly broken joint

    You are most likely violating the law. You should release the bird and let nature take its course.
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    Weak shelled eggs

    I would try reducing her feed. Geese should eat mostly grass anyway, and if they're overweight they can have fertility problems. Otherwise, I think it's genetics. Embden were bred to grow fast and be eaten.
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    Raising goslings

    I have raised 3 batches of geese so far. First batch I gave them the 22% waterfowl feed for 2 weeks, then put them on flock raiser for 2 more weeks, then they went on 18% broiler feed and grass. I started giving them a little grass each day after about 1 week of age and added a little can of...
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    Muscovie question

    Every once in a while, I see a smaller egg than the others from my Muscovies. I don't know if it's just one bird, or they all take turns laying a small egg. I can say, the Muscovies don't seem to lay eggs much larger than chicken eggs, they're about the size of extra large chicken eggs IMO...
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    Ducks won’t sleep in their house

    Ducks aren't chickens. You could leave them outdoors uncovered year round in that climate. Predators won't need to see them, they'll smell and hear them just fine. IMO, the best way to keep out predators is to run a small electric wire around the bottom of the coop, maybe about 4" off the...
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    Goose or Gander?

    If you got it last year and don't have any goose eggs, it's a gander. Geese start laying at 6-8 months at most.
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    Most affordable place to buy broiler chicks

    Metzers sells Cornish cross chicks if that's what you're looking for: https://www.metzerfarms.com/cornish-cross-chickens.html They're not the cheapest unless you order > 50 birds, but there are plenty available.
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