Appearance: This is the tallest goose with a massive and long body,
long swan neck, with the double lobes not touching the ground. The
colour of the plumage is completely white (some grey feathers are
admitted in young ones / first year often under the wing ); Bright
orange bill with flesh coloured bean ; and legs; clear blue eyes, (
if crossed for the Toulouse/Embden meat birds eye colour will alter
so check).The normally reach over a metre in height.
Meat Production: The true Embden Goose suffers
like the Aylesbury in that most of the public think all white
geese are Embden's whereas few of them are actually pure bred
stock. The height of this breed will normally be the giveaway as
they are considerably taller than their cross bred cousins.
Names.The Embden Goose breed is also known as the Bremen and
although a German name most historical sources place this as a
northern Dutch breed that also migrated throughout Europe to Italy
where it was imported from to cross with our native white breeds.
Also known as L'oie d'Emden in France/Belgium
Country Of Origin;........ Although a German name most historical
sources place this as a northern Dutch breed that also migrated
throughout Europe to Italy from where it was imported from to cross
with our native white breeds.
Egg Colour ..................... eggs white / egg weight 170g
Breed Defects. . . . .plumage other than white; Uneven lobes;
Keel;
Incubation: . . . . . .28 -34 days.
Breed Hints....****.The tallest breed if the bird is short and dumpy
it is NOT an Embden
Weights; Gander, 26 pound mature Goose, 20 pounds mature gander 11
to 12 kg / goose of 10 to 11 kg;
Breed History; . . . The Emden Goose is a
breed of domestic goose. The origins of this breed are thought
to be from the North Sea region, in the Netherlands and Germany.
The author Lewis Wright was of the opinion that they
originated from the town of Emden in Lower Saxony, Germany,
although Edward Brown in his 1906 Races of Domestic Poultry
believed that the breed was created by crossing the German White
with the English White and then, by a process of careful
selections, creating the goose as it is today.
In America often referred to a Bremen Geese . This makes it
obvious why also the address in Emden :- "Ten Hills Farm,
near Boston, Mass., Dec. 12th, 1850. J. J. KERR, M. D. :. .
.Dear Sir, My father Col. Samuel Jaques has had intimation
from his friend, Dr. Eben Wight, of Boston, that you were
about to publish a work on the subject of Domestic Fowls,
Birds, &c., and that you would be pleased to receive from
my father some information relative to his Bremen Geese a name
they have received in consequence of their having come from
that place originally. I have my father's notes to guide me in
making the following statements, as well as his approbation
that you should be furnished with them. In the winter of 1820,
a gentleman, a stranger, made a brief call at my father's
house; and, in course of conversation, casually mentioned,
that, during his travels in the interior of Germany, he had
noticed a pure white breed of Geese, of unusual size, whose
weight, he supposed, would not fall much short of twenty-five
pounds each, providing they were well fed and managed. At that
period, a friend of my father's the late Eben Rollins, Esq.,
of Boston kept a correspondence with the house of Dallias
& Co., in Bremen, and at his request, Mr. Rollins ordered,
through that firm, and on my father's account, two danders and
four Geese, of the breed mentioned by the stranger gentleman.
The Geese arrived to order in Boston, in the month of October,
1821; and I append a copy of "Directions relative to the Geese
from Bremen," given to the captain of the ship in which they
arrived. I hold the original in my possession ; and transcribe
it verb,
et lit. : "Emden, 17 th August, 1821. "The captain who is to
take over these six Geese will find the cages a little large;
however, it is necessary that their lodgings be sufficient
wide, if they shall arrive sound in America. Two Geese which
were sent to Bremen last year in a small box, died on their
arrival there; being water-birds, they want a much more
careful management than Fowls; they ought to have constantly
fresh water in abundance; a quantity of good sand and muscle
scells, (shells,) serving for their digestion, must be put
into their feed-box ; there ought to be always sand and straw
below in their cage for litter; also above the cage, as the
birds perish otherwise by insects. The Geese must be feeded ;
they used to pick the straw from above down to the feet. The
Geese must be feeded with good clean oats,
and sometimes with cabbage leaves/' Ever since my father
imported the Bremen Geese, he has kept them pure, and
bred them so to a feather no single instance having occurred
in which the slightest deterioration of character could be
observed. Invariably the produce has been of the purest white
the bill, legs, and feet, of a beautiful yellow. No solitary
mark or spot has crept out on the plumage of any one specimen,
to shame the true distinction they deserve of being a pure
breed : like, with them, always has produced like.The original
stock has never been out of my father's possession ; nor has
he ever crossed it with any other kind, since H was imported
in 1821. I find, by reference to my father's notes, that, in
1826, and in order to mark his property indelibly, he took one
of his favourite imported Geese, and, with the instrument used
for cutting gun-waddings, made a hole through the web of the
left foot. This was done on the 26th June : and now, in 1850,
the same Goose, with the perforation in her foot, is running
about his poultry-yard, in as fine health and vigour as any of
her progeny. She has never failed to lay from twelve to
sixteen Eggs every year, for the last twenty-seven years, and
has always been an excellent breeder and nurse, as has all of
the stock and offspring connected with her. I had the
curiosity to weigh one of her brood of 1849, when nine months
old exactly, and his weight, in feather, sent up 22 Ibs. in
the opposite scale. This hugeous Anser has been preferred to
breed from, the coming season.
From Burnhams book 1877 "The name Embden is that of a
town in Holland, where they first came from—but Col. Jaques
was never inclined to multiply names, unnecessarily ; and as
he got his original stock of these monster white birds from
Bremen direct, he called them Bremen Geese."
Standards in 1866 from Saunders hardly altered "Bremem' or
Embden Geese have blossom-white plumage; bills, flesh color ;
legs and feet, orange. These birds
attain great weights, averaging from 45 to 50 lbs. per pair,
and are valuable on account of the superior quality and color
of the down, but to look well they must have access to a pond.
The quiet domestic character of the Bremen geese causes them
to lay on flesh rapidly,. . . ."
Wright also says from 1870's editions onwards :-"
It is impossible to state when Embden geese were first
imported into England. In the beginning of the last century a
great deal of poultry was reared in Nesserland, close to
Embden, and as there was a brisk trade in fowls between
England and Embden, it is probablethat geese were also
imported. Mowbray remarks, 'At present (1815) Embden geese are
in the highest esteem,' but respecting their table qualities
he adds, ' I am unable to say, having yet had no experience in
this variety.' From this latter remark it might be inferred
that this variety was a somewhat new addition to English
geese. English writers about fifty years ago say these geese
had been imported ' some time ago' from Embden in Hanover, and
also from Holland, and at the time they wrote birds were still
being largely imported. They state that Embdens differed in no
way from our white geese in England ' except from their great
size and uniform clear white plumage.'