GOOSE BREEDING THREAD - for breeding, incubating, hatching and rearing.

[livininbrazil]

I have a hodge podge. Embdens, Embden/Chinese, Toulouse, and one tufted Roman/Sebbie mixed gander. I have to do some flock thinning, as I have siblings currently running together, so I have to do some sexing and lose most of the boys to avoid inbreeding. I had hopes to do some swapping, but then got a virus in the fall and didn't allow any birds to leave the property. So I'm afraid that I have to butcher rather than rehome.

Wow, I reckon the Roman/Sebbie must be a sweetie. Can you not find homes for them now that the virus is passed? And are you trying to keep any of them pure-bred, or just letting them mix´n´match?

 

[DaisyMeadow]

Our sebbie/tufted Roman is sweet. We call him "Knothead" as he is the only one from his hatch that we kept. We got the eggs from another farmer and sold all the other hatchlings. I've seen pics of his siblings, and they have curly feathers. He did not get a single curl.

We're not sure on the purebred vs. mix/match. We aren't breeding to show them, or give them five-word-long color descriptors or hold them up to a crazy standard. We just like having the birds, the eggs, and the occasional dinner (although I gotta say that the ducks and geese are so much harder to part with than the chickens). We currently have 16 geese/ganders, but I'm not sure on the gender split. One of our Toulouse thinks he/she is a welsh harlequin, but the rest stick together as a flock of geese.

Any thoughts on purebreds vs mutts?

 

[livininbrazil]

Our sebbie/tufted Roman is sweet. We call him "Knothead" as he is the only one from his hatch that we kept. We got the eggs from another farmer and sold all the other hatchlings. I've seen pics of his siblings, and they have curly feathers. He did not get a single curl.

We're not sure on the purebred vs. mix/match. We aren't breeding to show them, or give them five-word-long color descriptors or hold them up to a crazy standard. We just like having the birds, the eggs, and the occasional dinner (although I gotta say that the ducks and geese are so much harder to part with than the chickens). We currently have 16 geese/ganders, but I'm not sure on the gender split. One of our Toulouse thinks he/she is a welsh harlequin, but the rest stick together as a flock of geese.

Any thoughts on purebreds vs mutts?

I know what you mean about being harder to part with, I find it difficult to sell mine as I think no-one will look after them well enough!
Well, of course, there are purists about breeding. But it´s a bit like dogs. If you want it for a specific purpose, then you know what you´re going to get at the end of the day with pure-breds. But if you just want a dog (or goose) for looking at, eating, fun, then it´s up to you. I have 2 pedigree dogs and 4 mongrels, they´re all great. I have a trio of auto-sexing geese, so I know what I´m going to get, and a gander with 3 cross-breeds. Result is pretty little pied goslings. After all, what´s a breed? Just a concentration of characteristics that someone liked, so used only those birds and slowly developed a breed.

 

[psue]

If they are just for you and your not trying to show or get top dollar then mixed can be very pretty to look at and easy to keep. By the way... if they are going to freezer camp (dinner) then inter breeding one generation will not hurt as the babies wont be around to breed.

 

[seminolewind]

Does anyone find it necessary to trim a path on the female so the male can do his thing? How does one do that? I have Sebs.

 

[flockman]

2 more days till the shortest day of the year! Then the days start to lengthen.
9 hours 9 min and 7 seconds on dec 21.
Jan 31 it will be up to 10 hours 1 min 22 seconds. Getting close to breeding season!

 

[tillyita]

2 more days till the shortest day of the year! Then the days start to lengthen.
9 hours 9 min and 7 seconds on dec 21.
Jan 31 it will be up to 10 hours 1 min 22 seconds. Getting close to breeding season!

Nope - your back to front..... 2 days till the longest day of the year (although they are really all the same length)

 

[seminolewind]

Does anyone find it necessary to trim a path on the female so the male can do his thing? How does one do that? I have Sebs.

well?????

 

[seminolewind]

Quote: Truly funny! Took me a while....

 

[livininbrazil]

Nope - your back to front..... 2 days till the longest day of the year (although they are really all the same length)

I thought exactly the same thing, but here it doesn´t make a lot of difference, being in the tropecs...in the winter it gets light at 6.30am and gets dark at 6.00pm, and in the summer it gets light about 5.30am and it´s dark at about 8.00pm or just after. It took us a while to get used to dark evenings in the summer!