My Embden Is Flying

[wildpeas]

My geese are 6 months old now. Greta is still very slim and trim whereas Marina is nice and fat.


Greta on the right.

They spend the day in the backyard unless I am outside doing chores and then they range around. The backyard fence is 5 feet tall. Greta has on occasion taken to flying from the deck, over the fence, and into the duck yard. It's quite a distance, say 100 feet or so. Yesterday when she was out roaming she flew over the paddock fence (5 feet high) and almost into the gelding. Needless to say he was really freaked out. She was high enough and looked like she could have flown all the way over the neighbor's fence if the horse hadn't been in her way. That would have been a complete disaster since their dog would have undoubtably eaten her before we could get over there.

I bought Embdens specifically for the 'they dont fly' part. I realize as a hatchery bird she may not be purebred but please tell me she will stop flying soon. I will clip her wings if necessary for her safety but I would rather not as her wings are very lovely with the grey.

 

[Grassman 52]

Very Beautiful Geese - I have 6 Embdens and 5 Toulouse and they are 5months old - they all run up and down the pasture and get air bone (approx 3 - 4 ft) for short distances. I have read that after 1year old they will be to heavy for flight, so I would trim their wings for safety until they get older and heaver.

 

[1MrsMagoo]

Ah, aren't they precious: What pretty geese!

I have a pair of hatchery production Toulouse that are 6 months old and fairly large; Much bigger than my Pomeranian geese. At this point, both the male and the female Toulouse are able to fly. The female flies as well as you have described for your Embden, but the male only gets a couple feet off the ground for short distances. I was really surprised the first time the Toulouse flew over a 5' tall fence and landed in the pond. Some of my Pomeranians could fly when the were smaller, but the best they can do now is a few inches off the ground.

Maybe once your Embdens put some weight on (will fill out with age) that will reduce their capacity for flight. I noticed with my Poms, that they really fill out around 8-10 months of age, so hopefully, yours are getting close to a growth spurt that will ground them.

In the meantime, I completely agree with Grassman about clipping their wings. If you have a hostile dog just over the fence I think it would probably be the best thing you could do for the safety of the geese and your sanity.

Good luck!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I would deff clip her wing, Our new Toulouse goose can fly and with the river down below our house I clipped her one wing, now her and My Embden who is too heavy to fly play take off on the driveway.

 

[wildpeas]

Silly Question Alert:
Will the wing feathers that I clip off grow back?

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

yes, they grow back with every molt

 

[Going Bhonkers]

Wildpeas, your geese are too cute! I would be worried about them flying over the fence as well. My 2 geese (Chinese) fly as well, the gander going much higher than my goose, and has cleared at least 5 feet on a couple of occasions. They only do it when I let them out of their coop in the mornings or when its time to go back in. My property is in the shape of a rectangle, and he's flown within the "long" side, but never close to our fence. Because they only do it on occasion, I'm not too worried about their flying, and I like that they can fly, in case they need to escape a day time predator.
The fact that your geese can make it into your neighbor's yard is a concern, though. Do you know which feathers to cut? I would be worried about cutting the wrong ones

. And I guess you have the option of cutting one or both wings, like Miss Lydia mentioned.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Wildpeas, your geese are too cute! I would be worried about them flying over the fence as well. My 2 geese (Chinese) fly as well, the gander going much higher than my goose, and has cleared at least 5 feet on a couple of occasions. They only do it when I let them out of their coop in the mornings or when its time to go back in. My property is in the shape of a rectangle, and he's flown within the "long" side, but never close to our fence. Because they only do it on occasion, I'm not too worried about their flying, and I like that they can fly, in case they need to escape a day time predator.
The fact that your geese can make it into your neighbor's yard is a concern, though. Do you know which feathers to cut? I would be worried about cutting the wrong ones

. And I guess you have the option of cutting one or both wings, like Miss Lydia mentioned.

You only cut one wing to keep them off balance, Metzers website has a diagram but if you google you'll find other links too. "

Best one I think http://metzerfarms.blogspot.com/2011/03/clipping-duck-and-goose-wings-to.html
Heres one that Celtic shared in the duck thread. applies for geese too.
These are the best images I have found for showing details of trimming wings.

 

[wildpeas]

Thank you for the diagrams Miss Lydia!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thank you for the diagrams Miss Lydia!

Your welcome!