New Minis! (new note on flying)

[rainplace]

that's not a mini pilgrim gander, he's a mini oregon and yes, I will breed him to the mini oregon female. It works out good because they seem to be bonding up pretty well. She was out in the back part of the property and he was in closer so they hadn't really met till I put them together to bring them home. He's fatter than what he's suppose to be. He should slim down on my property I'm guessing.
edit: all three of my minis are oregon mini geese

 

[noahsgeese]

I still love them!

 

[protodon]

What are these mini geese? Are they some cross of cackler geese and domestic geese?

 

[rainplace]

Quote:
I'm unable to answer that. The only thing I know is that Dave has been working on them for a decade or more.

 

[rainplace]

Quote:
Here's a recent email between Dave Holderread, founder of Holderread Waterfowl Farm & Preservation Center and me:


4. I'm getting a lot of questions about the geese (people love them!) and I don't have a lot to tell them other than you all have been developing them for quite some time. I'm guessing they are out of your mini pilgrim program, but for some reason didn't cut the mustard there. Is there anymore info you can give me on them that I can share with other people that isn't on your website? I'm also hoping to share any info on my website as well. http://www.mcgwaterfowl.com/

"The Mini Geese are the smallest domestic geese that we know of in North America. When not overly fat, they range in size from 4 to 10 pounds. They are excellent foragers, and most of them are excellent natural parents, capable of hatching and raising their own babies. Despite the fact that they are small, they tend to be heavily muscled and fine boned. When caught, they feel surprisingly solid.
Over the years, we have kept an eye open for exceptionally small geese, and have bred them together to produce our Mini Geese line. At one point, some friends, who primarily raise a wide variety of wild species, had a small domestic gander mate with a Pacific White-Fronted female which had lost its mate. The resulting offspring were attractive and quite small, and we incorporated some of them into our mini breeding program as well.
We are currently breeding them in three auto-sexing varieties and five non-auto-sexing varieties. In the auto-sexing varieties all the males are primarily white and the females colored: Gray (Pilgrim-color), Belted (Gray with a white belt), and Gray Saddleback. The five non-auto-sexing colors are White, Splashed, Gray, Belted, and Saddleback.
Our primary selection emphasis is on hardiness, size and conformation. Color and markings are secondary. Genetically, the Belted is the saddleback pattern, but with more color than the classic saddleback configuration. The different colors can be mated together and will produce a variety of colors in their offspring."

 

[rainplace]

I thought I'd post a picture of the pacific white-fronted goose - it's a beauty!

 

[protodon]

Quote:
Here's a recent email between Holderread and me:


4. I'm getting a lot of questions about the geese (people love them!) and I don't have a lot to tell them other than you all have been developing them for quite some time. I'm guessing they are out of your mini pilgrim program, but for some reason didn't cut the mustard there. Is there anymore info you can give me on them that I can share with other people that isn't on your website? I'm also hoping to share any info on my website as well. http://www.mcgwaterfowl.com/

The Mini Geese are the smallest domestic geese that we know of in North America. When not overly fat, they range in size from 4 to 10 pounds. They are excellent foragers, and most of them are excellent natural parents, capable of hatching and raising their own babies. Despite the fact that they are small, they tend to be heavily muscled and fine boned. When caught, they feel surprisingly solid.
Over the years, we have kept an eye open for exceptionally small geese, and have bred them together to produce our Mini Geese line. At one point, some friends, who primarily raise a wide variety of wild species, had a small domestic gander mate with a Pacific White-Fronted female which had lost its mate. The resulting offspring were attractive and quite small, and we incorporated some of them into our mini breeding program as well.
We are currently breeding them in three auto-sexing varieties and five non-auto-sexing varieties. In the auto-sexing varieties all the males are primarily white and the females colored: Gray (Pilgrim-color), Belted (Gray with a white belt), and Gray Saddleback. The five non-auto-sexing colors are White, Splashed, Gray, Belted, and Saddleback.
Our primary selection emphasis is on hardiness, size and conformation. Color and markings are secondary. Genetically, the Belted is the saddleback pattern, but with more color than the classic saddleback configuration. The different colors can be mated together and will produce a variety of colors in their offspring.

Interesting and informative. Thank you! Of course now i want some, so I'm not so thankful for that haha

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
No the Pilgrims are not the only auto-sexing breed the Shetland Geese that Dave used to sell were also auto-sexing and much smaller than the Pilgrims. There are also several known Land-race breeds like the Cotton Patch geese scattered around in pockets of the country. It is debated if the land-race birds are actually a breed or a group of breeds.

Can they fly! if well muscled and fine boned like you describe they should be good flyers if kept in condition and their weight down. The only draw back I see is those very short legs which is going to make getting enough ground speed for take off a problem (it was a problem with Romans) If you happen to get a picture of one with the wings spread I would love to see one. They look like the geese I have been searching for for the last ten years.

 

[rainplace]

Quote:
No the Pilgrims are not the only auto-sexing breed the Shetland Geese that Dave used to sell were also auto-sexing and much smaller than the Pilgrims. There are also several known Land-race breeds like the Cotton Patch geese scattered around in pockets of the country. It is debated if the land-race birds are actually a breed or a group of breeds.

Can they fly! if well muscled and fine boned like you describe they should be good flyers if kept in condition and their weight down. The only draw back I see is those very short legs which is going to make getting enough ground speed for take off a problem (it was a problem with Romans) If you happen to get a picture of one with the wings spread I would love to see one. They look like the geese I have been searching for for the last ten years.

Here's a picture of the gander stretching.

Dave says they don't fly much, but can. I had to move quickly through the yard day before yesterday and startled them enough that they flew down into the lower yard. I admit I wasn't paying much attention as I was trying to chase my cat away from the two ducklings, however they all got air and landed gracefully. It's the only time I've seen them take to the air. The gander is about a pound or so overweight, but is slowly losing it.

They are not very loud, though the females can put out a honk if they want. The male sorta squeaks, when he tries to make a racket he almost sounds like a hawk. I'm not sure if this true of all the males, but it's an interesting sound mixed into the yard that I enjoy.

They are getting along with the other geese and the ducks even with the overcrowding I have going on in the duck house during the long nights right now.

I bought two of the smallest he had available.

Here's another picture of the gander:

 

[chickygirl2]

Do you know if they reproduce easily?