Geese

[KatyTheChickenLady]

lol, well in our house since someone has to get butchered, the meanies are at the front of the line. Don't need a degree to figure that one out

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

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2nd on the list are those who are irritating.

 

[ultasol]

You can do them older than 14-17 weeks, but 14-17 weeks is your first available window, and after that, if you have to grain feed your birds (if they aren't out on pasture) you are looking at diminishing returns in regards to weight gain per lb of food in. Since mine are pastured during the summer with minimal supplementation I wait until they are older. You do want to do them before their first breeding season, when hormones can make the meat tougher.

I butchered one for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas. I gave them a good life.

 

[dancingbear]

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That's quite a dilemma, if they take 2 years to reach fertility, and meanwhile he's a PITA. Is there any way you can maybe make him a nice roomy pen, away from the chickens? Maybe a movable tractor? I know exactly what you mean with a hard to find breed of anything, you don't want to let go of one until you've at least been able to get offspring from them.

Is he attacking the chickens, or trying to mate them and squashing them? I knew somebody who had a big Tom turkey who squashed some chickens, trying to mate them. Sometimes these birds aren't too bright.

As far as butchering age, it's probably already past when he'd be tender, but I found with turkeys, that long slow roasting solved that problem. They were delicious. I've only even cooked one goose in my life, it was a store-bought one, years ago, so I don't know if the same would hold true. I'd expect it would, if they tend to have a lot of fat. Maybe somebody over in the recipe section could answer that for you.

If all else fails, the crock pot or the pressure cooker will tenderize anything. You could have goose tacos and pot pie. Or grind it up and have goose burger.