Goose breeding pen set uP 2022

Each year since sorting my Pilgrim goose flock into separate breeding groups, I’ve changed my set up to address the previous year’s shortcomings and the new challenges at Lilac Hill. Lilac Hill is located in central PA in USDA hardiness zone 6b. In the cold months I focus on protecting the animals from sleet coupled with wind. Some years we can have snow on the ground for months and other years we barely get any.
We use mobile poultry pasture pens, built with some modifications to accommodate geese rather than a dedicated building for breeding. Our Pilgrims seem to thrive on the pasture set up with protection from the wind and shelter from precipitation. I use a snowblower to remove excess snow and straw for bedding to keep the geese comfortable. The pens and goose yards are set up in a fenced field and after the breeding season, the bedding is set aside for composting and the area seeded to a pasture mix.

Here’s some of the thoughts I had when I set up the breeding pens in the North Field this year:

  • The goose breeding area needs to be situated away from other livestock and regular human traffic from winter until late spring so the geese in breeding season aren’t disturbed and forced to behave defensively. The North Field greens up later than the Barn Field so I can delay rotating the sheep through in spring.

  • The water hydrant near the geese has to be reliable and the driveway hydrant hasn’t frozen since I adjusted it, yet.

  • Last year was the first year all the breeding groups were next to each other. I found that after the initial period of disruption caused by sorting and separating the Pilgrims into breeding groups, the geese settled quickly when they could see eachother rather than only being able to call across the farm to eachother. The field fence and gate between last year’s pens complicated chores, especially snow removal so this year the breeding pens are next to each other in one field.

  • Like last year, the access gates open out so after snow removal, I can get into the goose yards.

  • To improve on last year’s convoluted set up, the path from the yard gates to the pen doors is a straight shot to simplify snow removal.

  • This year we set the pens on sheets of roofing metal to prevent attacks by digging predators. Each night I lock the Pilgrims in their own pens and release them in the morning. I also added an electric fence around the pens.

  • To give the Pilgrims more yard space and to make refilling easier for me , the feeders are set up outside the yards and along the fence line. The Pilgrims have no trouble popping their heads through the 4” square fence openings.

  • As in previous years, I use deeper feed bowls for water and troughs for swimming. I dump the water every night and invert the troughs and bowls so they don’t freeze to the ground.

  • The North Field where the geese are located is within sight of my bedroom and on moonlight nights, the flock can be “chatty”. I like hearing the flock but neighbors and housemates might not so adjusting location when possible might be a good idea.

Not sure what issues I am not addressing, but I am sure that this breeding season will teach me plenty.

November, beginning of the goose & duck flocks’ year

I culled the Saxonies and Pilgrims. In the fall, I am culling birds that won’t join the breeding flocks.

Our duck and goose breeds are listed in the American Poultry Association’s Standard of Perfection, so we have lists of physical attributes that they should conform to.

Saxony ducks and Pilgrim geese are also listed on the Livestock Conservancy’s conservation priority list. The Conservancy’s descriptions of each breed focus not only on physical characteristics, but on the goals of their original breeders , especially with an eye towards usefulness.

For both the ducks and geese I am looking for good sized birds that have done well in our farm setting under our management practices. I compare weights, body width between legs, wide heads and for the geese, stout necks.

Next I check for correct feather coloring. Pilgrims have sex-linked coloration, so removing birds with off coloring is important. Because I’ll be creating multiple breeding lines, I want some light and dark Saxony ducks/drakes .

In an effort to keep some genetic diversity, I try to keep my breeding groups stable which works especially well with the long lived geese.

Taking orders For Pilgrim Goslings

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Lilac Hill is taking orders for Pilgrim goslings. Available for pick up on our central PA farm. If you would like to get on our list or would like to discuss adding Pilgrim geese to your property, please contact me.

Because Pilgrims are an auto-sexing breed, I can offer unrelated goslings for your breeding flock.

  • $22 gander gosling

  • $33 goose gosling

Later in the season, I will be offering grown adult breeding stock. Prices will depend on the quality of the geese.

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Keepng track of poultry

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Lilac HIll Farm raises Pilgrim geese, Dominique chickens and Saxony ducks. At this point, we have three well established breeding lines of Pilgrims -11 geese, 3 ganders and 4 extra ganders; a beginner flock of Dominiques - 6 roosters and 12 hens; and a new flock of Saxony ducks - 2 drakes and 4 hens.

Almost all of our birds are hatched in an incubator so I can toe punch and zip tie the hatchlings easily.

Zip ties are affordable, available in many colors and with their high visibility, I can evaluate birds as I move through daily chores. As young birds grow, they need new bands regularly, so I handle potential breeding stock often when I replace zip ties. Every time I handle a bird, I evaluate for size and conformation.

By the time a bird reaches adulthood, they will have at least two zip ties on each leg. I zip tie both legs in case one tie is lost.

  • One zip tie signals the year of hatch: YELLOW = 2020; WHITE = 2021; PINK=2022

  • BLUE, RED, ORANGE or GREEN zip ties indicate breeding group. Each of these breeding groups also has a coordinating toe punch.

  • I add a PURPLE zip tie at any time in the year to note a bird that has exemplary vigor, size, conformation or behavior. Purple banded birds get extra attention when I am choosing breeding stock.

  • Since my foundation Pilgrims were acquired over the course of a few years they have only breeding group zip ties.

  • Because we raise multiple hatches of goslings, goslings have their breeding group tie and a unique colored tie to indicate which hatch they belong so I don’t unfairly compare a first hatched gosling to one hatched two months later. Eventually geese that join the breeding flock wear only their hatch year and group tags.

  • Chicks, ducklings and goslings don’t get banded with their “year” band until they near adulthood since they are distinguishable from the adults in the flocks.

Because I breed with a goal of improving the utility of these heritage birds, observing and comparing the breeding groups as part of their whole flock is easier out in the field when I can see the colored zip ties.

Pilgrim goose Breeding Season 2020 is complete.

Breeding season officially ended in the middle of May for our three trios and one pair of Pilgrims. I marked the breeding groups and put all the geese together in a large field.

For marking I used colorful zip ties, one on each leg: blue-North Field, red-orchard, orange-terraces and green-garden. No matter where I place the breeding groups next breeding season, they will be identified by those names. The zip ties are rather small so I will keep an eye on them, and exchange them as needed with larger ones.

Because they have been separated since last December for breeding, the geese have been reestablishing the flock’s social order. Two ganders have been battling out for top position in the flock. I placed all the geese in a large field so there is space for the squabbling, space for the loser to move away from the flock and space for the rest of the flock to avoid the strong wings and bills of the fighting ganders. This arrangement is opposite of what I do when moving rams back together after breeding season. When joining rams, I put them in a very small paddock, one small enough to prevent a running start to the “ramming” that rams engage in when they reestablish the social order of the flock.

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Pilgrims 2020: Breeding our own

Pilgrim gander protecting his geese as we move closer to breeding season.

Pilgrim gander protecting his geese as we move closer to breeding season.

 
North Field Pilgrim goose and gander, situated near the driveway, announce every visitor.

North Field Pilgrim goose and gander, situated near the driveway, announce every visitor.

The characteristics that I admire in Pilgrim geese make them an ideal bird to keep and breed on a small farm homestead.

Is it necessary to breed my own birds? No, but with the impact of avian disease on the hatchery industry, limiting the transportation of birds and the destruction of flocks, I have concerns about the availability, cost and quality of birds.

I’ve shifted from a mindset and practice of flock matings for my geese to one of managing the breeding flock more carefully. I want to improve my flock and avoid inbreeding depression. According to A Conservation Breeding Handbook by D. Phillip Sponenberg and Carolyn J. Christman , inbreeding depression results in “the decline in reproductive fitness and in the vigor of the young produced.” Pilgrim geese are listed a “threatened” on the Livestock Conservancy’s website.

  • Threatened: Fewer than 1,000 breeding birds in the United States, with seven or fewer primary breeding flocks, and estimated global population less than 5,000.

My goal is to raise hardy “farm” stock, not show birds, that meet the American Poultry Association’s description in the Standard of Perfection.

Because the birds I have to use as breeders have similar appearances, my group assignments were somewhat random. The younger birds were matched with more experienced partners, the most experienced trio has the paddock closest to the driveway and the trio with the youngest gander shares the Barn Field with the sheep flock and more interaction with me. A gander with an extra grey mark on his head, although not to the standard, is well shaped, so he has been kept to see if his offspring display his shape but not his “freckle”.

The plan is to mark and maintain these breeding groups as long as they are productive. My goal is to select the best offspring to build my flock and to sell as breeding stock.

To increase genetic diversity in the flock, I hope to buy some breeding birds that are from carefully managed breeding lines. Until I find such geese, I will work with the geese and ganders already at Lilac Hill.

Why Geese?

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Why geese?

What value can geese add to a small homestead or farm?

  • Geese are quick growing and can produce a large bird for the table.
  • Geese are vegetarians and love grass and clover.
  • Carcass quality is improved with some additional feed according to Dave Holderread, but geese can be raise will little additional feed.
  • Geese produce more than meat for the table. Their livers are the primary ingredient in foie gras, down can fill a pillow or provide insulation for winter mittens, quills are valued by historic reenactors, and goosefat, with its high smoke point, makes beautiful oven fried potatoes.
  • Geese are excellent guardians. When traveling along a bike path I once saw a goose in a freshly bedded pen next to the door of a rural homestead. As we rode by the dooryard, the goose "honked" our presence--a perfect alarm.
  • With their large feet, flocking behavior and vegetarian diet, geese are an excellent livestock choice for small places that want to start and benefit from small-scale mob grazing.

2016 is not the first time we have tried raising geese. With some changes in management, I hoped to overcome some of the challenges I faced when raising these affable barn yard creatures in the past..

 

Grit

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Birds do not have teeth or rumens to break down grain or greens for digestion.

A gizzard is an organ found in the digestive tract of some animals, including birds, made of thick muscular walls. With the help of previously swallowed stones, the gizzard grinds food.

 

This year I added Gran-i-grit to all our birds' diets to make sure they can utilize all the nutritional value from their grains and pasture.

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