Goose lovers – please help!!

[psue]

Hello everyone, old friends and new.

I may have to think on the Celtic/Iain fencing for springtime, if the ground will let me stick anything into it.

I know, same problem here.... would be easier if the ground was rocks

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Hey Marty, I would split up those worth breeding in January for you and your location. Then there is no worries about cross breeding at all. We split everyone up here in December and expect first eggs from the Sebbies in January. Remember not all geese should be bred, or paired together because of quality or faults you don't want passed onto the off spring.

We have culled a large number of goslings again this year, and brought in a tone of outside bloodlines again too. Only three whites made the final cut, and very few of the colored Sebbies. Been on the hunt for additional bloodlines to add next year all of July and August.


When dealing with hard ground T posts are best, but for portable panels rebar driven in with a hammer works well. Then you can zip tie the panels to the rebar post.

This next year we will have more permanent fencing than we did this year. We have a stand alone house that houses three trios in it. Each stall will have its own yard it opens into. Two to the front and one to the rear to allow space between yards in the front so no Gamder battles through the fence.

It has taken three years of trial and error for what works here with the birds, but this next year should be the smoothest breeding season yet for set up and daily care. We officially split the ducks into seperate flocks today kicking off the next breeding season for us here. Summer is winding down enough we will start to gear the incubators up here soon.

 

[LightningTFarm]

Celtic - the other day in a post you were talking about the bedding for the geese. You said you used a layer of horse stall pellets, covered with a layer of pine shavings. I was at TSC today and looked to see what they have. They have pellets made of ground corn cobs, pellets made from sawdust, and then Sweet something-or-other that neutralizes ammonia. Which of these is the one you meant?

Thanks!

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

We use a brand our feed store carries, it is similar to Equine Fresh brand that most TSC locations carry. just enough to fill the floor in a single layer, then large flake bedding over it as padding for the super heavy dewlaps. The Sebbies get pine flakes. When brooding just pellets in all stalls as they soak up more moisture and fluff easily.

Hope that helps. Sweet PDZ gets tossed in our goat stalls, works like a charm.

 

[psue]

We have Sqishy and his mate Dora.. not the best quality but these are for the table. Squishy is a very nice looking gander and we are already checking into better mates for him... as this is their first year and Embdens are big geese, I dont think we'll have many babies.
We are also not looking for (but would love) babies from the dewlaps.
Fred and Halloween are not pure and their babies will be sold as such since there is a market here for "farm" geese. The babies will still dress out nicely even though they aren't as big as Embdens.

 

[LightningTFarm]

We use a brand our feed store carries, it is similar to Equine Fresh brand that most TSC locations carry. just enough to fill the floor in a single layer, then large flake bedding over it as padding for the super heavy dewlaps. The Sebbies get pine flakes. When brooding just pellets in all stalls as they soak up more moisture and fluff easily.
Hope that helps. Sweet PDZ gets tossed in our goat stalls, works like a charm.

Thanks! I spent a fortune today on stuff for my goose house and fencing. It will be the Cadillac of goose houses when I get done!!

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

LoL Lightening, we have small fortunes put into housing around here as well as fencing.

Sue, I get the mixed breeds for meat production. I was referring to judging the Sebbies on if they are breedable. Faults like flat heads should be avoided in them.

Those wishing to breed any purebred bird should buy the SOP from the AMA. Otherwise you are breeding blindly and not improving the breed, but rather backyard puppy mill style breeding.

 

[Marty1876]

I've been checking out online breeding and show info, in hopes of getting similar info.

Celtic, you know of course, in the end I'm gonna show you lots of pics on the sebbies, and solicit your advice, right?

Hi Ianin, Hi Psue, hi Lightening and everyone else.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Since the SOP is copy right protected you need to buy it for reference. Otherwise you are going off of info you "hope" is correct. It's ok to reference a lot of subjects online, breeding to standard isn't one of them.

2010 (current edition) is $59 available here: http://www.amerpoultryassn.com/APA_ShoppingMall3.htm

Color photo plates as well as general faults and breed spacific too. I retread it monthly as I look over juveniles for selection.

Marty feel free to share pictures, I can't judge everything from a picture though. Everyone should have set goals for their flocks. Without the SOP you can't make informed decisions. When dealing with purebred breeds as well as endangered you need to be mindful to not just breeding everything to make a buck, or say you have a breeding pair or trio of a certain breed.

After seeing the high number of crap flocks that people used this year to pump out Sebastopol eggs for a buck, I am a stickler when asked that others don't fall into oh I have Sebbies so I too can breed them hole. Otherwise the breed isn't worth squat if no care is taken to breed to type. Of course not every bird will be of high quality, but attention to how they are paired is critical.

We are currently on the hunt for another high end grey for use with our pastel shades here. It will be a hunt for an adult or juvenile showing good quality though.


Same will go for the Dewlaps, a critical eye will be used, and not a one of the juveniles will be judge until 2014 and 2015 for final cuts. Prior to that they will be sorted and tagged to watch development.

We use an excel spread sheet for each year, wing bands (permanent) and leg bands (usually snap lock or zip ties (temp) for marking, sorting, and tracking. That way if a 2 year old ends up being slow to feather after molt we can pair properly for the next breeding season. This also helps with the colors and breeding of splits to pull color back out.

 

[psue]

I have my

BOOK Celtic.... and not only do I read it, even though at this time I dont have enough birds to sort through. Jerry even looked up something in it last night

I ordered it right after we talked about it last time. It stays right here by my computer.
Ive been thinking about ID bands. Are the wing bands hard to do? and are they perment?