Embden vs Pilgrim

[jspeese]

I like the autosexing feature of the Pilgrims, but in terms of productivity I'd have to give the Buffs a higher score. I got the Metzer Farms fancy goose special and had both breeds for comparison: one Pilgrim female and several Pilgrim ganders, and several Buffs of both sexes, tufted and non-tufted. The Pilgrims just didn't seem as hardy as the Buffs (one of the ganders died for no apparent reason). With another batch of Pilgrims I had from a different hatchery, I've had the same thing happen. An adult bird just dying for no apparent reason. The Buffs on the other hand produced more goslings than I could handle (a nice situation LOL!). If I ever get geese again (don't really have room for them where we now live), I'll definitely go with the Buff. They may not get quite as big as the Emdens but they are much better setters, and goose eggs are in my opinion very hard to hatch any other way but naturally. I would personally stay away from the Chinese. While they are pretty and supposedly good layers, they are also extremely aggressive to other birds. To the point of killing them.

 

[CindyinSD]

I incubated all but one of the Buff eggs that survived hatching. I suspect the broodies failure to successfully hatch their babies was my fault. I ought to have separated their nests. As it was, the hatching goslings they didn't trample before hatch, they did shortly afterward, save only one.

As for incubator hatching, it was really easy. I followed Holderread's instructions (in The Book of Geese). From what I'd heard from others, I expected to have a tough time, but that didn't turn out to be the case. Once the goslings were a week or so old, I started taking them out, several at a time. One of the adult females spotted them, came over, and haughtily claimed them from me. I presented the rest (outside--not in their shed) at about the time of their own mostly disastrous hatch and they adopted all.

They had six viable eggs in the nest, at various stages of growth. I put them in the incubator and hatched three, which they have refused to even tolerate as peasants, like they do the turkeys, chickens & ducks. But they too are thriving and I'm sure it'll all work out somehow.

 

[Lizmom]

You people have given me such valuable information. I wish I could change the title of this question to Embden, Pilgrims, or Buff. I'm going to seriously consider the Buff. When I read on Metzer the Pilgrims are endangered, I thought "why don't they just breed more of them." But it might be because they aren't that hardy. Buff will make a bigger Christmas goose, also. I prefer black/colors, which is probably the reason I didn't consider the buff seriously in the first place. The picture of them that Cindy put out shows them to be lovely in her pond.

 

[Lizmom]

MESSED UP MESSAGE! I "type" my messages speaking into Android. Lately they've started adding extra syllables. In my previous message, I said you people have giving me such valuable information. Android added the extra syllable to make it say "haven't". I'm so sorry I didn't catch that before posting it. I found a way to edit it, so it's correct now.

I never expected such great help. Thank you! I pretty well decided on Buff, thanks to your help.

 

[CindyinSD]

MESSED UP MESSAGE! I "type" my messages speaking into Android. Lately they've started adding extra syllables. In my previous message, I said you people have giving me such valuable information. Android added the extra syllable to make it say "haven't". I'm so sorry I didn't catch that before posting it. I found a way to edit it, so it's correct now.

I never expected such great help. Thank you! I pretty well decided on Buff, thanks to your help.

That happens literally all the time. We knew what you meant.

 

[jspeese]

I think you'll like your Buffs when you get them. Of all the goose breeds I've had over the years (by no means all), they were the best. If I ever got geese again, I'd get a pair or trio of Buffs, and maybe fill in the rest of the order with a nice breed of ducks, like Metzer lets you do. I've ordered from Metzer several times over the years and I think they are tops when it comes to waterfowl. In my experience you really only need a pair or maybe a trio of geese, unless you intend to get into geese in a big way. Where breeds like Buffs are so expensive, why pay a lot of extra money for fancy breed birds that are going to wind up in the freezer? And if you order ten or so straight run, by the laws of chance half are going to be ganders and if you have more than one gander, they fight, sometimes brutally. I've never been good at sexing geese. I know that ganders and geese behave very differently, honk differently, etc. but when you have a gaggle of them it's hard to separate out which ones are doing which.