American Buff Geese

S

steeple ducks

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The article & the geese photos are very very appealing.The article describing their character & quirks so closely sums up the geese that I know. I need a warning finger very occasionally & get the apologetic look exactly, or a twinkle in the eye "only joking".
I took a gander to a lady in Cornwall who has a pair of Pilgrims with a tuft and a female offspring also with a tuft. The Cockerel series book shows Pilgrims with tufts & I have been told they were Victoria Roberts birds when they owned the Domestic Fowl Trust.
 
Hi there,

I'm very interested in American Tufted Buff Geese - I've had lots of contact with the people in Holland who imported the first Tufted American Buff into Europe - which is how I got the article. There will be more articles following on Jan 7th and 21st. I'm also investigating the origins of these geese and trying to see whether I can import hatching eggs from the chap who has the original breeding stock.

Now my biggest problem is finding some other people to start with this breed... I cannot keep enough Geese here to ensure there isn't inbreeding - for example, if I start with an unrelated pair from Holland, and birds I hatch would be related which is not good for the survival of the breed in the UK... Ideally, if I can find 3 or 4 people who will also start with them, we could sell unrelated birds. If the American hatching eggs worked out, there would be other blood lines too.

These would be the first in the UK I believe - I haven't found anyone with the Tufted American Buff... There are thought to be less than 1000 in the World, most are in the US, a handfull in Europe.

Tim
 
Regarding generating interest & breeders of these geese, my thought on seeing the article was why on earth aren't they more popular & once they get known they'll get so much interest other rarer breeds will become overlooked. The buffs have become so popular now, these could easily become more so.

I've pm'd you.
 
They do certainly sound very good,I'd love some but do not have the room.
Would it be worthwhile getting in touch with the Domestic Fowl trust at honeybourne Tim.They breed and rear rare breeds so maybe having some of these geese would interest them?
 
Yes Lydia, I think initially it would be good to get 4 or 5 people interested, people who are really into Waterfowl and would look at introducing the breed to the UK but in a controlled / sensible way. They should really only be bred in the second year so that the eggs are the right size and we should aim to only sell unrelated pairs to people.

For example, if there were 4 people, all with a new pair of related geese each, we could arrange to meet at a show once a year and swap ganders - then sell the now unrelated pairs which ensures good survival of the breed.

Andrea who keeps them in Holland said she sometimes has to cross to an American Buff if there is white in the flight feathers to get the Buff back in (remember they are still a relatively new breed) and sometimes you have to cross a big tuft with a little to get the right size tufts.

As you can see - you'd need to keep 15 or 20 Geese to do this and keep them in different areas and I can only really manage 3 or 4 Geese plus offspring for the summer months which is why I think having them spread out amongst people would be better. It would also be better for the breed - having them all in one place is risky if a Fox got in or something.

Hope this makes sense... It may never work but I'm going to investigate all options..
 
i'm hoping you do find enough people interested,they sound like a lovely breed to keep.
Also,your idea makes perfect sense to me,much better to have 3 or 4 people who are interested in breeding them and raising the young.
Also,to have pockets of them around the country is sensible.
 
just thought i'd post some of my thoughts ,

would you realy need to import ? surely a good buff X with a tufted and so on would produce the same sort of buff crested birds ? yes the colour would take several generations , and so would size but it would be much cheaper !!

or the importing route you would only need 1 pair , if that ,
Crested = Cr/cr
non crested cr/cr
so crested X non crested would produce Cr/cr and cr/cr , so a buff x tufted buff would produce all buff birds and some with crests , also would improve the 'type'

and for someone interested in importing , dave holderread has some fine geese and i beleive he is selling off the buffs
read more
http://holderreadfarm.com/
Ben :)
 
Hi Ben,

From what I have read, the tufted American Buff was created by the late Mrs. Ruth Books. She crossed American Buff and tufted Roman. Unfortunately, she didn't document any of her findings before she died. Since her death, John Metzer has continued developping them with for example selction for tuft size and pin or red-coloured feet and the wrong size bills.

My guess is it would take a lifetime to get to the same place and I imagine I would need to keep a large number of 'breeders'.

I imported some ducks this year from Germany and I think getting a pair or trio of geese back from Holland wouldn't be too difficult if I combine it with a trip to one of the shows next year. Yes, it will cost though but I think would be worthwhile.

Getting hatching eggs from the US would be a first for me and I don't know yet how expensive that will be. It would be fingers and toes crossed that they don't get scrambled on the journey here!

I read Dave Holderead's stock page and found it quite sad that he is selling them off after having had these breeds for 30 years or so. .. I bet they are cracking birds.
 
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