Getting more geese (I think) and looking for suggestions

[NOVAHorses]

Okay I'm driving myself CRAZY over what geese to get and I could really use some suggestions - I have a mated pair of Pilgrim geese and I've decided that this is the breed for me. I have about 10 acres, a pond and plenty of run-ins, barns, and buildings for the geese to get into. They will be sharing a field with horses. I originally planned to just let my two geese breed, raise their own young, and slowly grow my flock that way, but then I got to thinking about them breeding, their offspring breeding, etc., etc. until I have an inbred flock and I really don't want to do that so now I'm thinking about adding more geese, but I'm really lost as to how I want to do it. I considered hatching eggs, but I've never been to handy with an incubator and I don't have a lot of passion for it (although I have considered getting some hatching eggs and sneaking them into my goose's nest) so from there I looked at day-old chicks and adults. I couldn't really find any local adults and shipping was expensive which got me down to day old goslings. Now I'm all over the place with how many to order, when to order them, and where to order them from. I still want to let my goose hatch out some of her babies and I'm hoping that her babies will choose to breed with the new goslings and then nobody has to be inbred, but I know that isn't a guarantee. I'm not really looking to pen them into seperate breeding pairs, I would rather let them remain free and enjoy themselves, but maybe it is something I should consider. I've looked at both extremes for goslings (the cheapest I could find and the best quality I could find) and I'm not sure which way to go. I guess my geese are pets first (I'm not going to really freak out if something happens to one, but I do enjoy them) and then eggs and possibly meat and maybe even some down would be a nice contribution on their part. I do think the idea of breeding some really nice birds and showing them is neat, but whether I would actually ever get around to it is questionable. Basically I'm not sure how to safely grow my flock without ending up with a bunch of inbred mutants - Any suggestions, advice, etc. would be appreciated.

P.S. - I've gotten SO many helpful answers so far, thank you all, because I don't know what I'd do without all fo the stuff I've learned here

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
Me again, I think you are way too concerned about inbreeding. Get another pair if you are or even another goose (female) and start reading up on breeding. Many of the flocks are in fact in bred. the cottonpatch goose was rediscoverer from small farms with small flocks that had not seen any "new blood" in generations. The pekin duck started out in europe with only a few breeding pairs that had survived a long sea voyage from China. Have you ever noticed that many chicken breeds have location names? That is because the breeds were were inbred in one area to meet local needs. I suppose I could go on about this for another hour or so BUT this isn't a short term thing You have lots of time before inbreeding will show up, do your research and start planning now.~gd