sara | January 18, 2011
The age of maturity of male birds will differ between species of birds. The maturity refers to the age at which the males reach sexual maturity and will start breeding with their female partners.
Quail = about 60 days old.
Hen = about 6-8 months old.
Partridges = male grey partridges mature from about 10-12 months old.
Pheasants [...]
sara | January 13, 2011
The age of maturity of female birds will differ between species of birds. The maturity refers to the age at which the females reach sexual maturity and will start laying eggs and breeding with their male partners.
Quail = about 50 days old (I have observed that female Japanese quail will start to lay eggs from [...]
sara | January 11, 2011
Here is a rough guide to the male to female ratio for keeping different varieties of poultry together.
Quail = 1 male to every 3-4 females.
Hen = 1 males to every 6-10 females. (The Domestic Fowl Trust normally recommend 1 male to 6 females for breeding chickens.)
Partridges = 1 male to 1 female.
Pheasants = 1 male [...]
sara | August 31, 2010
Here at farmingfriends we are a fan of Katie Thear’s books on keeping poultry and home incubation.
Katie Thear, who sadly died earlier this year, wrote 22 non fiction books about smallholding and keeping poultry and livestock. Katie wrote from first hand experience and her books are packed with tips and advice for the smallholder and [...]
sara | April 14, 2010
One of my farmingfriends forum members, Mama lives in France and has embden geese. Mama has kindly sent in some photos of her geese so we can see what embden geese look like as another one of our members, Michael was not sure if his geese are embden.
Here are Mama’s embden geese.
Mama is currently waiting [...]
sara | March 19, 2010
I have been asked about sexing toulouse geese. I don’t have geese myself so I have had to do some research to try to find the answer. I have read that geese are hard to sex.
Characteristics and features to look out for to help identify the difference between male and female toulouse geese.
Look at [...]
sara | March 11, 2010
I have been kindly sent some photos of an embden goose nest.
“My goose( Grace) has made a beautiful nest and has continued to lay. Would anyone like a pic of the nest? I have taken eggs from Sally my other goose to fill Grace’s nest, hoping to turn Grace broody. There are 9 in the [...]
sara | November 30, 2008
Embden geese are a heavy breed of goose.
They are large birds with orange beaks.
They have pure white feathers.
Embden geese are a good meat breed.
They grow rapidly and mature early.
Egg production averages 35-40 eggs per bird.
Embden geese are good egg setters.
They produce white eggs.
Embden geese are good foragers.
The white feathers are in demand for producing duvets [...]
sara | November 25, 2008
There are different breeds of geese for egg and meat production.
The most popular breeds of geese for meat production include:
Toulouse,
Embden
African
Useful books for a new goose owner are Starting With Geese by Katie Thear and Ducks & Geese At Home by Michael Roberts.
If you keep geese or are thinking of keeping geese then join the free [...]
sara | October 9, 2008
An article written by James Gulliver of Gulliver Geese on how buying goslings early in the season can save you money. Gulliver Geese are the largest producer of day old goslings in the UK and have goslings for sale from April through to August.
As Christmas looms on the horizon the last thing on goose producers [...]
