Commercial hatcheries and fanciers can differ.

I read with interest "Endangered Domestic Waterfowl," in the Jan/Feb issue. I agree with very little. I'm sure commercial hatcheries were the only ones consulted. As past secretary of International Waterfowl Breeders Assoc., I have been quite involved in waterfowl. I haven't been very involved the past three years or so, but I'm sure not that much has changed.

Commercial hatcheries hatch what will sell. This is their purpose, to make a living. The Pekin duck and Embden goose are meat birds that grow off fast and large. The life span of the Pekin duck is very short. When I raised these ducks I didn't keep them longer than three years, as after that they began to break down. I generally changed my breeders every year. Other ducks I kept breeders for around four years or longer. The life span on most domestic ducks is 15 years. The life span on geese ranges from 25 to documented evidence in England of Toulouse geese laying fertile eggs at over 100 years of age. The Toulouse referred to are not the type that are generally sold in commercial hatcheries, as the real Toulouse will weigh 50 pounds or more and may not start laying until three years old. There are some of these geese in the U.S., but they won't be found in commercial hatcheries as they lay a minimum amount of eggs.

The Chinese goose and Runner ducks are common in the U.S. The Runner duck comes in several colors. Five or more color variations are recognized by the American Poultry Assoc. Other colors aren't in the APA Standard yet. (The APA as well as the APPA have info ads in COUNTRYSIDE under Classified Advertising. The APA is the oldest livestock organization in the U.S.) The Runner duck is a commercial bird, different than other ducks as they run in flocks standing straight up, stirring up bugs. A good quality Runner will be shaped like a wine bottle, with bill straight out from the head in an upward position. The Runner is an excellent laying duck, laying almost year round.

Breeds are correct, but numbers disputed

The listed three breeds native to U.S. are correct, but I dispute the numbers. Both the American Buff and Pilgrim geese are medium geese. The Pilgrim can easily be sexed when hatched, as the ganders are white and the hens are gray. To a commercial hatchery these birds are probably sold sexed. When I raised Pilgrims (on a small scale), I had the problem of a heavy hatch of ganders early in the season and later heavy hatches of hens. I found this to be true of all birds I hatched. I limited the amount of Pilgrims I hatched to the market which wasn't that great compared to other geese I raised. I do specify I was a very small breeder.

I had a pair of American Buff and I didn't like the personality. I helped others several times with their Buffs at shows and I was goose-bit more by the Buffs than any other geese I handled. I never found the demand for these geese to be great, and only saw small amounts--if any--at shows. These are good laying geese, so I think that lack of numbers is more lack of demand than availability.

The Pomeranian goose is mentioned, and I'm sure there aren't a large number of these in the U.S. These can be raised in large quantities, as they are medium geese, but again I never saw a large demand for them, and saw very few at shows I attended around the U.S. These geese do have distinctive markings and unless one has excellent stock, many of these geese won't have the proper markings and probably shouldn't be used as breeders.

Concerning the Cayuga duck. It is the only American bred domestic duck--named after Lake Cayuga in New York. Another duck in question of origin is the Black East Indie, a beautiful Bantam duck. The last I heard from those that have researched this duck is they can find no origin except in the U.S., so it is thought by some that it probably is also an American duck. The colorings of the Indie are the same as the Cayuga. I would suppose that Dave and Millie Holderread in Oregon hatch well over 1,000 of the beautiful Cayuga ducks a year. Holderreads ship all over the U.S. and several other countries, and raise some of the finest waterfowl available. They have a large selection of both ducks and geese. For info: Holderread Waterfowl Farm 86 Preservation Center, PO Box 492, Corvallis, OR 97339; ph. [phone]. Closed Sundays.

Some goose breeds that I consider less than endangered but not heavily raised would be the Sabastopol, Tufted Roman and the Giant Gray Dewlap Toulouse.

There are several good breeders of the Toulouse in Minnesota, Kansas, New York and Pennsylvania, and some other areas. Expect to pay around $50 per gosling for the Toulouse.

In the duck area, I suspect the Crested white and black ducks to be in very short supply. The true Aylesbury isn't raised in quantity. Magpies are probably in low quantity, that is good Magpies. The Magpie is a breed with distinctive markings and even using the best stock, some percentage will not be marked correctly. A duck I saw very few of when I was exhibiting was the Blue Swedish. A wonderful disposition, medium duck. This duck should have a white bib--markings that don't come with every duck. Swedish are offered in commercial hatcheries, but I haven't seen any from these hatcheries that are well-marked.

Commercial hatcheries

A few commercial hatcheries are raising fair to good waterfowl quality. Metzer in California and Ridgway in Ohio. (Ed. note: See COUNTRYSIDE Classifieds for these and other hatchery addresses.) Metzer sells only waterfowl and gets a lot of breeding stock from Holderread. I understand Pilgrim Goose Farm in Ohio is doing a nice job.

Years ago, Crow River Goose Farm in Minnesota had some of the finest geese raised in quantity--an organic farm that also raised cattle. In the past I talked to June On several occasions. When her husband died, this was more than she could keep up with at its past scale, and June was getting up in age. She sold several thousand breeder geese and some of the cattle. Crow River raised large quantities of many breeds of geese each year. Their Toulouse and Embdens were outstanding. In the fall they operated a processing operation where any geese that weren't sold as goslings and didn't make the cut as breeders were processed for Christmas goose and sold in that part of the country--many going to the Chicago area. I was at a Minnesota show in 1996 and June was still raising quite a few geese and still doing some processing, as I understood it.

Check your sources

If you're ordering ducks or geese for the homestead operation, I would suggest that you bypass the commercial hatcheries for most breeds. Most commercial hatcheries do not sell pure bred African geese, but mix the African with the Brown Chinese to get heavier egg production. I don't consider this a good mix as so much of the offspring seem to be the worst of each breed. A true African goose is a joy. When I raised these my hens never had much knob. The ganders' knobs would be rather flat and lean toward the front of the head rather than look like big marbles on top of the head. This goose is rather quiet, has a dewlap, and is a mixed goose. The Chinese shouldn't weigh more than 14 pounds when grown. There was a time I disliked Chinese, until I got some of good quality, and they have now become my favorite goose. These geese will eat far more grass and weeds than the heavier geese. With their long necks and light body weight, they are excellent weeders without smashing the plants, which is what they were bred for.

In the '50s, I believe these geese were brought from Missouri at about six weeks old to be used in the cotton fields for weeds, grass and bugs. In the fall, semi trucks picked them up and took them back to Missouri to be fed out and processed for Christmas dinners. There is very little documentation on this program, but the pesticides ended it.

For the homestead, a well-bred waterfowl will attract much attention and demand for the offspring, which will surprise you, and you will also receive more money for them than general run stock. It costs no more to feed a good quality bird than a cull, meaning a little more income for the homestead. Most waterfowl from commercial hatcheries is productive but not of good quality. I used to feel sorry for some of the youngsters that would spend their time getting a bird ready for a show and no matter how well cared for, it couldn't place for quality. If strictly for meat production, the Pekin from the hatchery is fine. Duck eggs are wonderful for cooking and the Campbell is tops in egg production. Holderreads strive for heavy egg production as well as quality in their birds.

Feeding waterfowl

Feeding of these birds is so important. Waterfowl need a diet low in protein and high in niacin. Many areas don't have waterfowl feed available, including this area. When I was raising quite a bit of waterfowl I would use 12% hog grower crumbles and alfalfa--not the pellets if possible, but the regular hay. They did quite well on this. Too much protein is one of the causes of "Angle wing." If you see a waterfowl wing starting to go the wrong way, tape it up for a few days with masking tape. Be careful to fold the last joint against the middle joint of the wing and be careful that when you tape the wing it is in the normal position. The angle wing will probably correct itself.

When new wing feathers are growing just before the blood veins sprout feathers, the wing is very heavy and sometimes the tendons can't hold the wing as it should be. This is more of a problem in the heavy breeds than the lighter ones.

Oats are so important to poultry. This is fiber and they need oats full choice year round, especially during molting time. Some feed stores are knowledgeable beyond what's on the feed sack, but many know only what the salesman tells them and in many cases this isn't good advice, so be aware.

Information on the International Waterfowl Breeders Assoc. (IWBA), is available from Julie Madden, 2550 So. 38th St., Lincoln, NE 68506; ph. [phone].

FRANCES GRIEVE PO Box 154061 WACO, TX 76715