Pilgrim geese are critically rare, yet easy to care for and perfect for the small farm!
Pilgrims are known for a more docile temperament than other breeds of geese, are mid-sized, and are one of the few breeds of geese that are sex-linked; it is possible to tell their gender by their color.
We raise only the most practical, easy care breeds of livestock, which include Pilgrim geese.
We are raising Pilgrim Geese both for our own purposes, as well as providing breeding stock for sale. With 2 trios of breeding stock, we will have unrelated goslings available this spring!
The medium size, beautiful coloring, ease of determining their gender, nice temperament, value as sentinels, excellent meat and soft down for pillows make Pilgrims indispensable for small farms, and for farmers interested in only the most practical breeds.
Geese are vegetarians and will happily graze the grass in your pastures, orchard or yard. They love dandelions and will eat them down to the root with great relish. Combined with the fact that their manure makes for a lush lawn or pasture; geese are the perfect environmentally friendly, chemical-free "weed and feed." Our geese enjoy cleaning up windfall apples in our orchard, and always receive our organic apple peelings and cores when I make pies. We feed them certified organic grains when/if pasture becomes sparse.
Pilgrims are easy to deal with at butchering time. We have raised 4 breeds of geese over the years, and have settled on Pilgrim geese as our breed of choice.
It is easy to pull the feathers from the breast before harvesting the valuable down. After the feathers are removed, the down is very easy to harvest. I put the down straight from the bird into a pillowcase, fold the pillowcase over twice at the end, hand stitch it closed and then run it through the washing machine several times. After a trip through the dryer, a new organic pillow is born!
The meat of a goose is tender and juicy and far superior to turkey in our opinion. Geese are easy keepers, so raising them for meat is not a daunting task. As long as you have the grass for them to eat, a water bucket for them to drink from and some grit or small gravel, you are all set! A pond is appreciated by geese, but is not necessary. Ours use a 12" high livestock water tank to bathe in.
Geese are very good parents, so you don't need to do anything when they hatch out their goslings. They take excellent care of their offspring and will likely shoo you and anything else away during nesting season and when they are raising their young. Geese have excellent vision, and at all times of the year are always alert and will sound the alarm at any intrusion.
Pilgrim geese are listed as critically endangered by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC).
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