are metzer’s super africans good?

[froggyphore]

i’ve searched on here and google but can’t find any reviews. i know they’re “hatchery quality” and i don’t plan to show them, i just want large, healthy, good-natured geese that roughly fit the breed standard. does anyone here have super africans from them? would you say they fit that description? tyia

 

[Goosebaby]

I can’t help you with the Africans but my French Toulouse, Buff, and Classic Roman came from Metzer and all were healthy on arrival and are generally true to breed. The French toulouse have some mixed breed traits, given where the originate from that isn’t surprising though.

 

[JRies]

They have been working on improving there flock. Depending on where you live i would look for a breeder though. I got 6 buff dewlap African from Johnsons waterfowl (MN) this year they link back to the Holderread geese and there prices are reasonable but they only ship to certain states. I did get 4 browns direct from the Holderread's also. Im in Colorado and will be hatching this year but not shipping. Check the Livestock Conservatory breeders list but avoid most of the hatchery. Hatching season is a few months away so I suggest some homework will benefit. What stare are you in I can see if I can give some suggestions.

 

[froggyphore]

They have been working on improving there flock. Depending on where you live i would look for a breeder though. I got 6 buff dewlap African from Johnsons waterfowl (MN) this year they link back to the Holderread geese and there prices are reasonable but they only ship to certain states. I did get 4 browns direct from the Holderread's also. Im in Colorado and will be hatching this year but not shipping. Check the Livestock Conservatory breeders list but avoid most of the hatchery. Hatching season is a few months away so I suggest some homework will benefit. What stare are you in I can see if I can give some suggestions.

yeah, a breeder was my first choice, but i live in a weird dead zone in terms of animal breeders, there aren’t even many chicken breeders in my state and surrounding. i’ll probably look in to farther breeders to drive to in the future, but this year i just want the best geese i can find without having to drive 16 hours lol. thanks for the recommendation

 

[Schell1226]

@JRies I was wondering how your Buff's from JW's are doing? I ordered "Super Africans" this year from Stromberg's and I'm unsure if I want to keep my order and possibly receive whatever type of goslings they send me. Another thing that I'm feeling iffy about is they didn't have any hatch dates/availability posted when I placed my order back in January, which leads me to believe they may not be able to even fulfill the order. So, I'm now wondering if I should cancel that order and order some from JW. But, I noticed JW's only have Buffs available. I was leaning more towards Browns, if I could find some. I'm looking specifically for Dewlap African's that are larger in size and whatnot. To be completely honest, my biggest fear is paying for Dewlap African's and ending up with the standard African's that most hatcheries are selling. I just don't want the place I initally ordered from to send me whatever type of goose just to say they fulfilled the order and end up finding out its not a Dewlap African later on down the line, and then I'm stuck with something that's quite less than the standard Super African breed. I was given a breeders name near my location (Michigan) and she said she would contact me when hers started laying, but I was hoping to secure some before then so I'm not left scrambling to find some at the last minute, or potentially not able to find some at all. Do you have any suggestions on where I could check, or anyone in my state that I could contact?

 

[JRies]

I did pm uou cut thought I would repost it here also
all good questions and I think you are were I was 2 years ago. Spent allot of time reading and contacting. The Houlderreads. were allot of help. There seni retired right now. Dave Houlderread is the one that wrote many of the books. And instrumental in the breeding of the buffs in the US. Johnsons got all of there original birds from them and I love them have 6 whites coming from them this year. have 5 buffs from last year. Waited and got 4 browns from the Houlderreads.
So supper Africans mostly come from Metzers in California and all the hatchery work with them for waterfowl so do there Production Africans there different birds. Iv heard good things. I would let them send them. and see what you get so easy to rehome if your not happy after you see them develop. Im not sure where you live but if its east or mid US there are allot of breeders and there is is a facebook group with some great breeders also. look up exhibition african breeders on facebook. Just post looking for and let them contact you since selling birds is not allowed.
Out of the 6 buffs I got from Johnsons last year (ordered 3 pair) I got 2 girls and 4 boys really not there fault. Prominent Boys are easy to sex but non Prominent Boys look like girls till they grow up. Same thing happened with the Houlderread geese were shipped as 3 girls and one boy. Silly geese got 2 and 2 which it what I really wanted.