Sebastopol Geese

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Gardening and lifestyle expert P. Allen Smith tells us about one of the many special breeds of animals he keeps at the Garden Home. This video is from season 11 of his public television series, P. Allen Smith's Garden Home, • Now, I want to show you this really unique breed of geese. And I'm just gonna kind of ease down here so they'll calm down. These are Sebastopol's, and what's interesting about them is that they carry a gene for a curly feather. So their beautiful white feathers actually curl and cascade off their backs. They're considered a small to medium-sized domestic goose, and they originally come from the area around the Adriatic Sea. • We keep a small breeding population of them here because there really aren't a lot of them around. So while they're not on the critical list, they are considered on the watch list, meaning that there aren't huge populations of them, but they're not as in a critical state as some breeds of water fowl and domestic poultry. Now, in this pen, what I do is I lock them up at night so predators will not attack them, their young, or take their eggs. • We have a-frame shaped nesting boxes that they get in and they lay large white eggs. We take these eggs and we set them in the incubator to hatch the goslings, and it takes about 30-33 days to hatch one of these geese. Now, the way I have designed this pen is that they have this shelter where we can keep them in at night, but during the day, it opens up to where they have access to water, which is important for the fertility of the eggs. We need about 14 to 18 inches of water for the pairs to mate in, and it really increases the fertility of the eggs. And it also allows them to play. They're water fowl. They love to get in the water and swim and talk to one another. I like having geese around because they're a very social form of poultry. They talk to each other all the time and they're great watchdogs. If someone comes up that they haven't seen before, they'll certainly let you know it by honking and squawking. • Want more Allen? • Twitter: / pallensmith • Facebook: / pallensmith • Pinterest: / pallen_smith • Instagram: / pallensmith • Allen's Official Website: http://www.pallensmith.com • Allen's Plants: http://www.pallensflowers.com

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