Choosing my first geese

[BirdBrain]

We ordered the fancy assorted geese from Holderreads this year and have loved them. I vent sexed mine and ended up accurately sexing 6 females and 2 males. We did handle them quite a bit, gently, and never fed them from our hands. We kept three of them--an embden pair and a lovely blue American goose named Tubby. Tubby is mild mannered and sweet as can be. She is everyones favorite. Buster, our gander, is really a big baby and is also good natured. Baby, the other Embden is more standoffish, but never aggressive. Breeding season is coming, so we'll see how that changes things.

If you get 8-10 fancy assorted geese, you will have something to choose from. The rest can be put in the freezer or sold. At $14 each, you can't beat the price or the quality. Personality seems to be individual. You will get a variety in every breed. That's why I suggested you get a variety and see what appeals to you.

 

[DB_Tex]

That is an excellent suggestion bird brain, and what I will most likely end up doing!

 

[Oregon Blues]

I only know how I handle my geese and my geese are all well behaved and polite. I have not experimented to see how the raising changes behavior if the methods are changed.

My geese are not permitted to touch humans. I never deviate from my path and geese must move out of my way. The geese are never fed out of hands. The geese must stand back when I fill the feeders and toss out their treats.

My geese are sociable. They set up a greeting racket when they see me. They follow me around while I work and chatter to me. They would come when they are called except they are never more than a couple of feet away from me. If I talk to them, they tip their heads and listen carefully.

My ganders were adults when I got them and they thought that if they charged at me aggressively when I brought food in, I would drop the food and run. We had a discussion about that and now they are very polite about food. Geese are actually timid and so they can be bullies if you allow them to be bullies. Because they are timid, it is easy to let them know that bullying is not accepted.

My ganders have attacked a human exactly one time. My adult son caught my goose and one of the ganders ran to her rescue. I threw him onto the ground and let him know that the flock boss (me) was the one who decided whether or not the goose needed rescue. That was the end of that; no more problems.

I hear of problems with aggressive geese and they are always hand raised geese that have been raised as pets. Which makes met think that raising geese like they are something other than geese really confuses them and can cause behavior issues. But I haven't tried it myself to see how the geese will behave.

 

[DB_Tex]

So asserting dominance over geese is really similar to dogs? I can handle that. How much hands on should I give goslings? just keep the brooder box clean and throw food and water at it and call it good? We handled our ducklings every day to make it easier to catch and inspect them as adults. How and when is it appropriate to be affectionate with the bird? Or permit it to bond to and be affectionate to the person?

 

[extraordinaryfowl]

Quote:
I handle my geese a lot when they are little - they are much more awkward then a chicken to hold. I carry them outside and in everyday to graze after they are old enough to be out from under their heat lamp. Some people say that if you raise geese too sociably (for lack of better word) they will essentially think they are humans and they will try and assert their dominance by attacking you. I've never had any breeds other then Cotton Patch, and even with all the handling I do they have never once even approached me menacingly. I don't know about any other breed though.

 

[RHRanch]

Quote:
Well it probably works if your gander isn't really aggressive like my Tufted Roman was. With my Tufted Roman, getting physical/trying to impose "dominance" only made his aggression worse. He really hurt a lot of us, including me. I raised my Cotton Patches the same way as the T Romans and they have never been agressive.

 

[DB_Tex]

Does anyone have any special affections and raves for Pom saddleback, American Geese and Shetland OR Buffs, Pilgrims and Sebastopols? These are the varieties that are different between Metzer and Holderread and I suppose the deciders over which "fancy goose package" I order.

 

[Oregon Blues]

All the breeds you list are wonderful breeds.

I enjoy my Pomeranian. Pomeranians are a little bit different, having evolved from the Eastern Graylag and everyone else evolved from the Western Graylag. Necks are shorter and thicker, bodies are thicker. Utility is one of my breeding criteria and I want a good goose for the table. Poms do that for me.

My Pomeranian goose is very dignified. My Americans, who are nice big geese, can be clowns. Both breeds are pleasant natured when they are properly trained.

Pomeranians I have seen from hatcheries are extremely poor quality. Holderread raises an excellent Pomeranian and an excellent American of any of the three colors. Oh wait, he sold all his Buff Americans to Metzer, so Holderread has excellent blue or lavender Americans.

Buff Americans, Sebastopols, and Shetlands all have the reputation of being nice natured. I don't know anything about Pilgrims except that they are auto-sexing, which is a nice feature.

Metzer has Holderread's Buff Americans but as far as I know, they are holding on to all of them to build a breeding flock. So by next spring they might be selling exhibition Buffs, or they might not.

Holderread sold all of his Sebatopols and that is one breed I recommend that you shop carefully because the show geese are gorgeous and the hatchery birds, not so much.

If you want good Pomeranians from Holderread, you'd better order now. I got on the waiting list last spring and he sells out of Pomeranians early every year.

 

[DB_Tex]

Well, as has been suggested, I will be ordering a "fancy goose package" from one or the other. The costs for the actual birds are close enough. Like Oregon Blues, my goals are for decent table birds as well and Holderread seems to be focusing more so on the smaller scale geese.

As an aside question, is it wise to have ducklings shipped with goslings? Being able to piggyback a small duck order in a goose box would be a nice bonus.

Pros for the metzer package: greater potential for larger breeds in my "mystery box", ability to order sexed pairs, less expensive shipping (by zone I'm closer to Metzer and thus, birdies cost less to ship to me), if I can ship ducks in the same box I can get some of the replacement birds I was owed from this year at the same time and finally I can probably use the "breed availability" calendar to make an educated guess as to what my "random pairs" are likely to be. Metzer Farms to me has always proven to be an easy trip for little peeps as long as the post office cooperates.

Pros for the Holderread package: Best quality birds, more exotic birds, and a chance to get in a really HQ duckling order shipped at the same time. (I could stand more welshies and a couple cayugas)


Edit: VITALLY Important question! How do you raise and train your geese Oregon Blues?

 

[BirdBrain]

Dusky,
I think you are wrong about assuming the you will get smaller geese from Holderreads. I ordered 6 of the fancy goose package. What he sent me were 2 giant Embdens, 2 Buff Africans, 3 Americans and 1 Tufted Roman. Yes, you counted right. That was 4 of the largest breeds, 3 medium and 1 small for a total of 8 birds. When ordering I had asked which ones I was likely to get. I was told that I was unlikely to get any Pomeranian, Shetlands or Chinese as they sell out of those.

I ordered 10 Welsh Harlequins at the same time. They came in the same box but in a separate compartment.

When I got into Ducks and Geese I decided it was easier to pay a bit more upfront than to breed out bad traits. You will never feel sorry for going with Holderreads. Metzers would be my choice if Holderreads was not around, but while he is still in business he will always be my choice.

Don't know if you noticed, but I live in Alaska. I was worried about the distance they had to travel. I shouldn't have worried a bit. They did fine.