"Mother Goose" What breed comes to mind

[zook]

I have always wondered what breed of goose is " Mother Goose" like the fairy tale. We would like to add a goose to our small farm and wonder what their requirements are to be happy and healthy. Like is a pond required or would a kidee pool work. Maving Muscovys around as well? Info would help as well as recommendations on breeds. Mama like to really suck up her birds. Btw we are in eastern Canada with milder winters where we live but windy alot if it matters.

 

[livininbrazil]

Hello Zook, what a super question! I don´t know where "mother goose" originated. If it´s really old, which I imagine it is, could be to do with the Roman geese, as they are a really old European breed. Also, if it is from Europe, which I reckon is quite likely, it could well be from the ancestors of the Pilgrim/Shetland/cottonpatch-type, they were commonly called "common geese", strangely enough, and date back a long way.
Canada weather isn´t much different to Europe, so they´ll be quite at home. Do you have some pasture?
Keeping them is pretty much like keeping muscovies, except that geese NEED plenty of grazing (ideally 90% of their diet) and are very much happier with a goose companion. A single goose is likely to be sad, and at times can become aggressive, especially a male.
Have fun

 

[livininbrazil]

p.s. the majority of goose breeds we have today are believed to be descended from the greylags. Do you get them where you are?

 

[zook]

I personally have not seen mention of Greylags in eastern Canada. I agree that likely the "Mother Goose" image would be European in nature. When you think able many fairy tales originate in Europe. Of the types of geese breeds there are few available here. Only saddleback geese mostly. Spring will bring more choices.

 

[livininbrazil]

Our of curiosity I did some research. I knew that "Mother Goose" was a character in pantomyme, but that was about it. I´ve now discovered that there´s actually a rhyme about "her"! I do remember seeing a drawing of an old lady on a goose, however, when I was little. So, Mother Goose was the old lady, dressed in traditional Welsh costume of the day (16/17th Century, I think), who, it would seem, wrote or told children´s stories or rhymes. So, the goose refers to a white gander that she was supposed to go riding around on.....

So maybe a couple of Emdens may be a good representation today?

OR, if the old lady who told the stories really was Welsh, the white gander could well have been an auto-sexing "breed", in those days referred to as "common", where the females are grey and the ganders white. In this case, a pair of Pilgrims would be a good representation today. Pilgrims are good farmyard geese, too, with quiet natures.

Oh, and apparently the odd greylags do get to N. America, but in general they don´t.... Geese are happy in pairs, not solitary.

 

[livininbrazil]

Hey Zook, have you decided what geese you want?

 

[zook]

We thought we'd like to find either/or/and Emblems or Pilgrims I think. Both sound interesting!

 

[Miss Lydia]

We thought we'd like to find either/or/and Emblems or Pilgrims I think. Both sound interesting!

On one of the pic's of Mother Goose on the back of the white goose, makes me think Embden.

 

[livininbrazil]

Well, you would, Lydia, being totally biased..I think Pilgrim, also being totally biased! Haha, with either one I think you´re pretty close, Zook. From what I read, though, making a comparison, could be that Pilgrims are a tad quieter by nature than the Emdens, which are bigger too. Or, thinking on size, maybe the gander of Mother Goose was an Emden...if I tried to fly off on one of my ganders I´d squash him!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Well, you would, Lydia, being totally biased..I think Pilgrim, also being totally biased! Haha, with either one I think you´re pretty close, Zook. From what I read, though, making a comparison, could be that Pilgrims are a tad quieter by nature than the Emdens, which are bigger too. Or, thinking on size, maybe the gander of Mother Goose was an Emden...if I tried to fly off on one of my ganders I´d squash him!

that I'd like to see. Well I will say my Embden is a big mouth. lol and I do love the Pilgrim breed.

I forgot to tell you I looked ya'll up on the world map, and I thought I lived down south.