Raising Geese | Collecting Goose Down | A Value Added Product | American Buff Geese
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- čas přidán 11. 09. 2024
- Raising Geese | Collecting Goose Down | A Value Added Product
In today's video we are processing a couple of our American Buff Geese, and one of the products we collect first is the down and feathers. This is not something most people even think about collecting but goose down is an extremely excellent insulating fiber and if your raising geese it is well worth collecting when you do process them. So come along as we go through collecting goose down!
Thanks so much for watching!
Steph and Chris
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Episode 447
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I just found you guys, and I am LOVING this goose series. I can't wait to get to more of your videos.
Glad you are enjoying it, and thanks for joining along with us!
Most people have to pay for an education like the one received from your channel. That is interesting the way the feathers are contoured. Look forward to seeing more videos. Colon surgery still on for Monday. Gonna binge watch your older videos. God bless you and your family ❤
My thoughts exactly!
We wish you all the best for Monday! and our thoughts will be with you! surgery is never fun but if its necessary better to have it over and done with! And we also hope that you will be off to a speedy recovery afterword's! We are glad you enjoy our channel and all the stuff we make videos on lol. Collecting the down from the geese is an interesting part of processing them, its a bit tedious but if your going to cook them whole you have to do it anyways so its not much extra time to keep it!
Wow this is so cool! Now I want to have geese also! If I ever end up having my own farm, I will have so many animals because of you lollll ❤❤
Geese are great at least in our opinion but they do require a fair bit of space to do well compared to other poultry. They really are the "cow" of the poultry world in a way as they are very easy to feed and keep if you have that space (probably why they never caught on as a commercial bird). But if you have that space they can certainly produce a lot of valuable products for you. Its still all time but if your going to use it than it's worth it! (this is where the "economics" don't really matter as much if you see value in the end product!)
That is so nice! If I would have geese, I would do that for sure!
It is so soft! We can't wait to actually make a full pillow out of it! we processed the three birds and have a pretty big bag of down now! Geese are great but they do take a lot more space than what other poultry need but if you have that space its worth it!
Great video but I am having some trouble training my bird to stay as still as yours. Any suggestions?
Thank you for this. I want to save down, but it gets nasty after scalding. Dry plucking is a pain, but if you want the down, that seems to be the way
We do dry pluck them all. If we are not leaving it as a whole bird, then I only really do the nice parts to save the down. But it is surprising how much you get on one bird.
Would it help to dip them in hot water like with chickens or would that just make skin tearing more likely?
Thanks for such an informative video! At what age is it best to process geese?
13-14 weeks can work well as, typically, they have gone through their first molt into adult feathers (it's harder to pluck them when they have many pin feathers). But you can do older to (we found sometimes doing small batches was better since geese take longer to process than other birds if your plucking them). If you have pasture and space they can be economical to raise to a larger size (i.e. little inputs) but it all depends on your situation there.
We have our scald pots and 23.5” chicken plucker at the ready. Are the geese able to be plucked the same way if we were not preparing to save the down?
I see that y’all answered my question as I watched further. Thanks!
Great video, what do you use to wash the down , how how do you dry it
Thank you
Thank you so much for watching and a great question. I am actually working on a video to show the process. But I stitch shut a good pillow case and then wash it on delicate with some dawn dish soap in the washing machine. It it is summer then I just dry it outside fluffing it often. If it is winter I dry it in the dryer on the airdry cycle.
What breeds would you recommend that taste the best? I also would want to keep them breeding to keep stock of meat, eggs and down and guarding my chickens.
We haven't raised that many goose breeds, but Pilgrim and American Buff are both very similar in taste, etc. I suspect most of the European breeds to be very similar. I don't have any experience with Chinese or African geese (from the swan goose), but I have read they are leaner sometimes.