Embden for Xmass

[TomGallopavo]

I have 5 embdens that have been free ranging happily on my farm since the end of June. We plan on eating one for Christmas dinner. The idea is to treat them like a chicken and cut the head off with an ax on our "sad day" stump. We will scald/pluck it and of course clean it up. I am interested in any and all advice from those more experienced with geese. They will be about 24 wks and look plump and delicious. Thank You!!!!

 

[mymilliefleur]

I have never butchered a goose, so I'm really not going to be of much help here. However, I have butchered Muscovy ducks (which are similar to geese) and we did it exactly how you are describing. We cut their heads off with a hatchet, and than hung them for a bit to bleed out. We were always told you could not scald water fowl, but it worked well for us. We heated up the scalding water to around 150F (if I remember correctly) and scalded for 5 minutes to make sure the water had penetrated all the feathers, and than ran it through the chicken plucker. They didn't pluck as well as a chicken does, but the remaining feathers were easily plucked by hand. The only feathers that were hard to pluck were the wing feathers, so you may want to keep a pair of pliers on hand when plucking. Hope this helps.

 

[Free Feather]

Not attempting to talk you down from it, just thought I would mention the fact that geese are seriously like people when it comes to their family, if they are all in one group. So if you take one out of the group, especially in front of them, and it does not come back, prepare for obvious mourning. I had four geese, thought I would give away two of them... I could not take it. Even though I really wanted to keep two of them, I ended up getting rid of them as a group because they were SCREAMING and pacing and acting like I was the devil. I could scarcely believe how distressed they all were, like watching a human family get broken up...chickens are nothing like geese in that regard. Just thought I would give you a heads up.

 

[mominoz]

If you use an ax, it must be very, very sharp. I did a duck first and it wasn't , took 3 blows, arrgh. Now I use a .22 pellet to the head to stun them first, then cut off head.Nicer way to go I think. Storeys guide to geese, suggest using the broomstick method, but I am older and it would be too hard. As far as 'family" . I have raised and sold them. Yes , they mourn for a bit, but a new girlfriend did the trick after I sold my first. I had one choke to death and the flock didn't seem to care . However , I have raised some and then separated and they do seem to know one another and greet. That said, as the books say, just kill out of sight of the others. I would stun the bird first, like Storeys Guide says (they use a stout stick and wack them on the head , much like I use a pellet gun to the head...knocking them unconsious first, then you could just cut jugular or head off to bleed out....Their necks are Very tough.

 

[TomGallopavo]

Wanted to report back that all went very well. Took the big boy and placed his head between two spikes, got him with one whack (sharpened the ax to a razor edge). Hung him nearby by his feet to bleed out. He took his fate with great dignity like they all do. The big blue eyes didn't help from my perspective. The plucking did suck but I should have my plucker built by next year. Thank you for the advice and BTW I noticed nothing out of the ordinary with the other geese though I was careful to keep them from seeing the sad day. Christmas dinner was great but honestly the soup was even better.