Buff Geese

[iajewel]

I have read that there are only about 500 American Buff geese in the US, they are on the ARBC list etc etc.. yet every hatchery around seems to carry them in great numbers. Im a bit confused on why they are rare? I have some, I love them, just wondering how they can be so rare when they are everywhere and just an order or phone call away.

 

[larkflying]

I have wondered the same thing : ) I think they are talking about established breeding flocks, not a few geese kept as pets, but I'm not sure. My husband and I wondered the same thing, so I'm glad you asked the question!

 

[iajewel]

I also have rare breed rabbits, and when we do those head counts we count pets, breeders, every one is counted to the best of our ability. My thought is when you have hatcheries, ( large breeding groups set up for mass production) then you can take a better count. They have records of how many they winter, how many they sell (hatch) etc and my thought is with the number of hatcheries selling Buffs, that there are in the thousands of them, even as winter numbers. Im going to write the Concervatory and ask them how they come to the conclusions they do.
I have questioned them in the past and their responce is normally that they don't count breeding groups that are "production" so if Embden are mixed with the Buff, they would not count them, however Emben was a breed base of the Buff.. so? Who knows.. Im going to write and ask as they have many breed that are shelled out by the thousands every year by hatcheries listed as critical.

 

[Oregon Blues]

I always assume that the commercial hatcheries are not breeding birds that meet the SOP. Often times their birds don't look purebred. So I doubt that they have much value in the preservation of a pure breed.

That might possibly be the reason the hatchery Buffs don't get counted.

 

[ChristineR]

I know this is an old thread, but I was looking for an active Buff American thread and couldn't find one.

Where is a good source for these geese (not a hatchery)? Holderread only has Blue and Lavender.

 

[Faith SL]

I don't know of an independent breeder of Buffs in the U.S., but from what I heard Metzer Farms bought out most of the American Buff stock geese from Holderread's Waterfowl when they were thinning out their goose breeds. With Metzer's added Buffs from Holderread's, I am thinking about ordering a pair of goslings from Metzer next spring.

Poultry09 has an ad for two beautiful American Buff geese in the buy sell trade section on BYC if you can find a way to drive to Oregon to get them.

Also there are sometimes ads for Buff geese on Craigslist, you might check there once in a while if interested.


Good luck!

Faith



Edit:

Just from quickly browsing around, it looks like Silver Spring Waterfowl on BYC might have American Buff geese as well: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/628893/pics-of-buff-americans-please/10

 

[ChristineR]

I don't know of an independent breeder of Buffs in the U.S., but from what I heard Metzer Farms bought out most of the American Buff stock geese from Holderread's Waterfowl when they were thinning out their goose breeds. With Metzer's added Buffs from Holderread's, I am thinking about ordering a pair of goslings from Metzer next spring.

Poultry09 has an ad for two beautiful American Buff geese in the buy sell trade section on BYC if you can find a way to drive to Oregon to get them.

Also there are sometimes ads for Buff geese on Craigslist, you might check there once in a while if interested.

Good luck!

Faith

Edit:

Just from quickly browsing around, it looks like Silver Spring Waterfowl on BYC might have American Buff geese as well: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/628893/pics-of-buff-americans-please/10

Thanks. I'm still in the research phase right now. I was just looking for some good breeders to gather info, see their pics, etc.

 

[Oregon Blues]

As far as I know, Metzer has kept his Buffs from Holderread separated and he has been building up a flock of top quality Buff geese. He hasn't had any of them for sale. I'm going to guess that when he has enough they will go on sale as exhibition potential Buff Americans. He does not appear to be mixing them together with his existing flock so I suspect that the Holderread geese won't be going out mixed in with the other buffs.

Metzer is reputable and does a lot for the waterfowl community. He's very open that his birds are not represented as show quality, so if he says he has bred the Holderread flock separately and is selling Holderread bloodlines goslings, I would believe him.

Note: I have not checked hos website for a long time. There might be an update on the buff geese in his blog.

 

[Faith SL]

I did not know that the Holderread's Buff stock were kept separate from the other breeder Buff geese at Metzer Farms, thank you Oregon Blues for the information. I have not previously read John Metzer's blogs and only heard about his purchase of American Buff breeding stock from Holderread's by word-of-mouth from other poultry fanciers. I wonder when Metzer Farms will begin having pure Holderread Buff Goslings available!

It was mentioned in the blog that some of the Holderread stock might be crossed with some of Metzer's original stock partially to help prevent inbreeding, so one of these hatching seasons the American Buff goslings from Metzer will probably have some blood from the Holderread lines in them.

Here is the related blog article in case anyone else is interested: http://metzerfarms.blogspot.com/2011/03/our-purchase-of-holderread-buff-and.html

Speaking of American Buffs and show quality waterfowl, does anyone know of an American Buff goose show standard illustration or photos of show-quality Buff geese? I have seen descriptions for the show standard of American Buffs, but have never seen an actual picture reference before.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Purchase the SOP (2010 is the current edition) it gives color images as well as full description and faults