Breed advice?

[flockman]

On Metzers website buffs are alittle bigger, lay more eggs and are more fertile. Truly I think if you like the look of buffs better go with them. If you prefer the look of pilgrims, go with them. The main difference is color and that pilgrims are auto-sexing. It came down to buffs and pilgrims for me as well. I ended up with buffs because the color was different from white or grey. Good luck!

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

I had a toulouse, he was fantastic. His mate is, I think a mix, but I luv her. she lays quite a few eggs, but w/ no mate she cant hatch them. I'm thinking of getting embdens or buffs. I just read really good things about the buffs .

 

[livininbrazil]

On Metzers website buffs are alittle bigger, lay more eggs and are more fertile. Truly I think if you like the look of buffs better go with them. If you prefer the look of pilgrims, go with them. The main difference is color and that pilgrims are auto-sexing. It came down to buffs and pilgrims for me as well. I ended up with buffs because the color was different from white or grey. Good luck!

I didn´t realise that buffs are so much bigger than pilgrims..buffs are heavy breed, (pilgrims are light), so they should be a good bit larger.

 

[flockman]

I didn´t realise that buffs are so much bigger than pilgrims..buffs are heavy breed, (pilgrims are light), so they should be a good bit larger.

Buffs are a medium sized breed. They are on average a couple pounds bigger. They are not as big as Embdens or dewlap Toulouse or dewlap African. They are a good sized goose. The buff feathers make for a clean carcass if you are planning to butcher some.

 

[livininbrazil]

Buffs are a medium sized breed. They are on average a couple pounds bigger. They are not as big as Embdens or dewlap Toulouse or dewlap African. They are a good sized goose. The buff feathers make for a clean carcass if you are planning to butcher some.

Oh, ok. I just read in my goose book that American Buffs are heavy breed, up to 28lb, toulouse and emden a little bit heavier, whereas pilgrims are from 14 to 18lb. Or do you have Brecon Buffs? They´re medium.

 

[BlueMoon-N-Farm]

Ok, so far with what I have been reading the Buff's are going to be my choice.
The reason being,
1. color. Every single one of my chickens are black, white, blue or splash...Kinda colorless...So a buff would help bring some color
2. Noise. So far I have read that buffs are not known as alarm geese, but Pilgrims are being referred frequently to by people who own them as alarm geese. So, I am assuming that the Pilgrims might be a little bit more reactive then the buff. *I do understand that no mater what geese will be geese*
3. Size. The bigger the bird, the less of a chance it has of lifting off the ground. yes I realize that the pilgrims also wont go over the fence, but this is very important to our neighbors, so when it comes down to size the bigger the better.
4. Fertility. Its not that important to us, but should my husband choose to get a gander and hatch out some babys, at least he has the option.
Then last.
5. Plucking. This will probably never be an issue or needed since the geese will be his pets, but at least the option is also there should he hatch them out and want to nom on someone.

And that is why I am going to go with two Buff Geese

 

[livininbrazil]

Have fun with your buffs. Well analysed, (just 2 things, mine got 100% fertility this year, and they´re extremely quiet. But then mine aren´t from a hatchery, maybe they´re different.). But you did your homework and now you know what you want. Enjoy them.

 

[BlueMoon-N-Farm]

Have fun with your buffs. Well analysed, (just 2 things, mine got 100% fertility this year, and they´re extremely quiet. But then mine aren´t from a hatchery, maybe they´re different.). But you did your homework and now you know what you want. Enjoy them.

I dont know where to start besides a hatchery? Is there a breeder list somewhere that you might know about?
And thats a good point, they might all be hatchery geese not necessarily those from breeders. Good food for thought.

 

[livininbrazil]

I dont know where to start besides a hatchery? Is there a breeder list somewhere that you might know about?
And thats a good point, they might all be hatchery geese not necessarily those from breeders. Good food for thought.

I can´t help you on that one, but I expect flockman and others can.

 

[flockman]

Breeders are hard to find sometimes. You can do searches online for some. Metzers did buy Holderreads American Buff breeders. They are pretty good for a hatchery. I will try and look for some breeders. I have never sold eggs to anyone and my females are only going to be yearlings this spring. My gander is from Metzers and he is a nice quality bird. My girls are from Ideal because I wanted only females to replace my goose that I lost unexpectedly. I had thought I might find a breeder but didn't find one before I became attatched to Mary and Martha.

Mary and Martha are smaller than Natasha had been but she was huge for a female.

Hatchery birds will serve your purpose fine. My females are not very loud or noisy. Boris the gander is more so but not as loud as my friend's Embdens.