Geese vs Muscovy Ducks

[Spifflove]

So I sent my wife to the feed store, and she comes back with 3 Chinese Geese!!!

Which begs the question: Is it better to have geese or Muscovies? Discuss.

 

[petjem]

Well you got the geese already so what's to discuss?

 

[Spifflove]

Which one should end up on the Christmas table?

 

[Spifflove]

Help! Save us!!!

 

[petjem]

Which one should end up on the Christmas table?

None of them.

Well at least not my field to say.

Give them some room to move, poor creatures.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

geese are grazers and if allowed to free range will help keep the grass trimmed. They also are not known as the Christmas goose for nothing.

 

[Grassman 52]

Why not have and raise both - I am and just love them.
I think both have their strong points - Geese get a lot of their feed from grass and moscovys just love to eat all of your bugs ( both still need complete feed of course) - and both are very good to on your table. How can you go wrong

 

[Spifflove]

That was the feed store pen we rescued them from. My wife sent the picture via text message.

They now graze, but only off the pond water so far, not the grass.

So other points:

Geese: Meat class
Muscovy: Meat class

Eggs: Comparable.

 

[Spifflove]

I dont know...Rational vs emotional

Why not have and raise both - I am and just love them.
I think both have their strong points - Geese get a lot of their feed from grass and moscovys just love to eat all of your bugs ( both still need complete feed of course) - and both are very good to on your table. How can you go wrong

 

[jdywntr]

Well, I have both though I haven't had geese for all that long. If I HAD to choose, I'd pick muscovy. Lay more and I want lots of ducklings to grow out. But if you have the room and want to just keep the geese or breed them why not both.

It looks like the knob on one of the geese is much larger than the others. Did the feed store tell you the sexes? It may be a trio, that would be nice to keep to breed.

Edited to add:

I realized I didn't give the + and -.
Geese are MESSY and much more gross than muscovy. I never knew something could poop SO much overnight.
Geese (at least mine) are LOUD. This is a + when they are alerting but not when its 6 am and I'm letting them out.
Geese graze alot, though I'm having coyote issues right now so no real free ranging for the time being.
Muscovy graze a bit but eat tons of bugs.
Muscovy will lay more eggs so therefore will produce more offspring.
Both are seasonal layers though I have a muscovy sitting on a nest right now.
Muscovy is DELICIOUS, I haven't had goose yet but hadn't had muscovy meat before raising them.
All I can think of for now.
I am having to quickly decide if I'm processing a goose for Thanksgiving or not.

I'm not 100% on the sex of mine and I'd hate to process a female. I'm trying to talk the hubby into letting me buy a grown turkey for Thanksgiving to process but for now its a no go.