Why African Geese. My Story
When I first started building my retirement home it was to Improve Chocolate Runner Ducks. When I first moved here I noticed hawks flying over continuously so decided to get some geese. Called a hatchery and they recommended Africans so put in the order and had them in a few weeks. That fall I did my first hatching and fell in love with the process. I quickly realized that what I was hatching was a production highbred goose not the true heritage breed. After lots of Studying and Learning I sought out to find the True Africans. After all if I was going to enjoy bringing these little ones into the world it should be to improve and share.
It was not an easy quest to find these geese but after several months of searching, I was blessed twice. I had contacted the Holderreads and they had given me a list of people who might have babies (I really wanted goslings so I could grow with them). The Johnsons were on their list for buff colored Africans and I quickly put my order in with them for the next spring. Then one day I got a exciting email from the Holderreads. They may have a few day olds available in a few weeks so I jumped to the chance to get some of their magnificent browns.
By the end of April there were 10 precious Africans in my living room playing with my baby runners. One week later I was able to add 3 more browns that I had hatched from eggs that came from Florida. So now 13. As they grew I fell in love with the gentile interactive nature of these giants which was overwhelming to me. It was so different from the productions I had raised the year before. That spring I was also able to find good homes for all but 2 of my productions, (MaMa and Precious).
Come that fall I had decided that the 3 from Florida just weren’t the quality I was looking for so off to a new home they went. That fall the geese were a flock of 12.
The next spring the Africans were laying but not good enough eggs to hatch till late spring when my 2 browns had tweaked and I was blessed with 3 beautiful Buff girls, and 2 brown Boys, Precious had pared up with my spare Buff boy and there were lots of nice quality backyard geese and yes good thanksgiving meals. That Summer Precious and BK her boyfriend found a forever home. MaMa my other production got her name that year, previously she was named Daisy Duck by my Grandson.
MaMa had raised all my original Africans as a foster mom so you will see her in some of my pictures. The next season she raised them all. Giving her 5-6 day olds every time they hatch. In total she raised 32 goslings. This year she found her forever home with a lonely production Gander. So never get me wrong the Production are a nice medium weight goose that is breed for heavy egg production with good mothering skills, also one of the most available geese in the US. It’s my wish that the hatcheries would let the consumer know they are a production goose not a Heavyweight True breed Dewlap African Heritage goose.
Moving on to the spring of 2023. I had worked with NPIP for a year to improve my credentials to be AI clean so I could ship to all States except Alaska and Hawaii. I didn’t want to sell or ship hatching eggs. I wanted to ship day olds. So I tested the waters and learned allot. The biggest lesson was learning to time my hatches, By the time I got it tweaked I was at the end of hatching season. I did a limited amount of shipments towards the end.
I was able to test out the difference of priority shipping verses express in day olds. My post office had never shipped day olds so we were working together at learning. I also contacted Metzer Farms and they were really helpful in suggestions and reasons. It didn’t seem to matter for travel time and the birds did seem to go into limbo for a 24 hour period no matter which way I shipped. My postmaster said he found out that while there in Fed-ex hands they have to put them in a 24 hour hold. It was Meltzer’s that explained it to me. Fedex ships medical supplies that have to travel with dry ice and the fumes would kill live shipments. So they hold birds back to keep them on safe flights.
A huge thank you to those that worked with me to get their babies and help me though my first year shipping.
2023 I hatched 63 babies and kept 8 browns and buffs and 2 white splits and one white. Shipped 7 shipments, the rest were pick up and a few paired for our fall poultry Auction.
Note: about the whites, I did introduce 6 whites to my flock 2 years ago and to date have hatched a few. Only kept one of the original and one of her sons as breeders. I hatched out some split eggs from the east coast and have 2 spits to pair them with next year. My whites need allot of improvement and it may take another generation to see that.
2024 spring hatch will be here before we know it. I finally feel I will be prepared to ship with confidence instead of curiosity. I have made many notes about when to set the eggs for the right shipping dates. I will have 10 girls for laying that are 2 years plus. Last year I only had 4 girls that were 2 years plus.