Sebastopol egg laying maturitity

[happyhenpecked]

I've been looking for a mating pair of Sebastopol for while and found a 2 year old pair for sale... are these geese past peak egg laying? Or would it be possible to hatch a few to start a breeding pool?

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

You won't get eggs until next year as geese are seasonal layer. You also won't want to keep most of the hatchlings because breeding brother to sister isn't advised. Allowing the pair you found to breed would depend on their quality and if they would produce quality goslings. Even top quality breeders won't produce all top quality goslings, you may get 1 or 2 goslings that are worth breeding in the future.

 

[happyhenpecked]

Would it be better advise to find eggs from a quality breeder and start from scratch?

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

You will still be running the risk of having pet quality geese. Plus if you have no hatching experience it would be throwing your money away. Geese are not a simple hatch at all, and you would be waiting until 2013 for eggs.

 

[Baybrio]

Two year old geese are NOT too old to produce quality healthy offspring. Geese can live for 20 years.

I don't think the age of the pair you are looking at should deter you.

 

[pips&peeps]

The ones in Rochester are very much pet quality, but I see nothing wrong with them if that is what your wife wants. They are bit overpriced for the quality though.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

No one said their age was an issue. I stated you don't want to breed them and then keep the off spring to breed together as brother/sister pairs aren't a good breeding set up. I also stated not knowing the quality of the pair, I can't reccomend buying them, and also even the best quality pairs still have pet quality off spring.

Never said don't buy the pair, but warned to not breed the off spring together, and don't expect all top quality off spring even if the parents are.

 

[Baybrio]

No one said their age was an issue. I stated you don't want to breed them and then keep the off spring to breed together as brother/sister pairs aren't a good breeding set up. I also stated not knowing the quality of the pair, I can't reccomend buying them, and also even the best quality pairs still have pet quality off spring.
Never said don't buy the pair, but warned to not breed the off spring together, and don't expect all top quality off spring even if the parents are.

Geeze, I was just responding to the OP who asked "I've been looking for a mating pair of Sebastopol for while and found a 2 year old pair for sale... are these geese past peak egg laying?"

Now I remember why I don't post on these forums. I was just trying to help and now I've offended someone and feel like I've been attacked.