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I weighed my geese on September 1, 2005 - exactly 14 weeks after their arrival here. They seem
to be living up to (or would that be living down to?) their advertised size. It's hard to get a goose to stand on a
bathroom scale out in the yard with all their buddies looking on. But as best I could tell, they are all about 10 lbs
now. The Holderreads' catalog advertised them as maturing at 7 - 10 lbs. I spoke to Dave Holderread before I ordered
them to verify that weight since most sites on the internet describe them as much heavier birds. He said all
his parent stock was weighed when he first aquired them and that was the range of their weights. I am not sure if they
have reached their full size yet, but they do seem to be getting fat, so I assume they must be almost done growing.
As for height, they are within an inch of the height of my show quality runners. If they are excited,
they stand a bit taller. And if relaxed, just a bit shorter. I can still hold them in one hand if I lift them
slowly (something I do only inches off the ground since they could injure their legs if they were to panic and fall).
Their small size is critical to life at my house as my bird yards are connected by many small passageways. So I couldn't
be happier with the way they are turning out.
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Below are pictures of my show quality runners and my Shetland geese at 14 weeks old. All were purchased
from Holderreads' Waterfowl Farm.
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| L - R: Dolly - female goose; Gilligan - runner duck drake; and George - male goose |
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| A relaxed Dolly, a female goose, facing Gilligan, a runner drake. |
Martha, a female goose is front and center of a group of worried birds (see the black dog on the other side of the fence).
The runner at far left is Gilligan, a drake. All the rest are hens.
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| A very relaxed trio of geese ambling past 3 very alert runners - the first two are drakes. |
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