13-10-93
Dear
Bill:
Thank
you for your letter.
This
is just a short note to pass along the following from George Carter:
Patrick
Kirch, University of California, Berkeley, knows about or has lots of
archaeological chicken bones from Polynesia back to the Lapita Culture of 1500
BC. The man studying them is David Steadman at the New York State Museum,
Albany, New York.
Bill,
I realize that, in case you want to contact these people, these addresses are
not the best but I think the post would make an effort to deliver a letter
from Australia. If you have a problem I will call the Museum and get a better
address.
Hang
in there. After ail, I am 79 and have just had a bout with cancer. But I am
one day back from Saudi where I am breeding same interesting chickens.
Fascinating or I wouldn’t go. It is a inhospitable place.
I
consider you my dependable friend in Australia.
Hoffmann,
Edmund, 1985. The mongrel: a superb goose. Bull. British Waterfowl Ass’n
Spring ‘85 p 52. Describes Canada x Common Goose hybrids
Hagadoorn,
the distinguished Dutchman who was among the first to apply the fledgling
science of genetics to practical animal breeding, wrote, "In America
and Canada hybrids between Canada ganders and the domestic goose command a
special price in some markets. The hybrids of which the female parent is the
China goose are very strong and quick maturing and are perfectly fertile.
From the hybrids a very variable population can be bred in which it would be
probably possible to find material for the making of novel breeds if such
were wanted."
His
statement aroused my curiosity. Here was a chance to get some new genes into
the domestic goose which although one of the first animals to have been
domesticated by man has failed to improve in recent years to meet modern
standards of efficiency in meat production.
Alas!
Dr Hagadoorn was wrong. The Canada x domestic goose cross is not fertile. It
produces a sterile hybrid like the progeny from a donkey x horse or, less
well known. The mule duck of Taiwan (called mulard
in France) from the cross of a Muscovy male and a common duck. Any domestic
goose can be used as the female parent; the hybrid does not require use of
the China goose.
Eben
Prime, Augusta, Maine and Lloyd Ramsey, Kensington, Prince Edward Island,
raise the Canada cross and attest that the hybrid is sterile. Gray, the
authority on bird hybrids reports no instance of a fertile hybrid from the
cross. This is not surprising when one takes into account that the Canada
goose is not a goose at all but a Brant, an Anserinae,
a subfamily of Anatidae. Our
domestic goose is Anser anser
(except for the China and African breeds which are Anser
Cygnoides, Swan Goose). The mongrel is from the cross of two genera not
closely related.
However,
when one door closes another opens. Even though the hybrid cannot reproduce
it has a great deal of merit in its own right. It makes a unique and
delicious meal. Commonly called the “mongrel” goose the hybrid has a
long tradition as a gourmet dish in New England, Southern Ontario, and
Prince Edward Island. But, with the advent of highly specialized commercial
farming after World War 2 production ceased. Lloyd Ramsey remembers when
trucks came up to Prince Edward Island every year to pick up mongrels from
small farmers destined for Boston and the Christmas dinner.
Besides
Mr. Ramsey, a Mr. Mc Fadden of Bloomfield, PEI, still raises mongrels so the
technique is not dead. Their trade comes by to get these delicacies before
Christmas just as in years gone by.
The
mongrel is larger than either parent and combines the better traits of each.
Its a meaty bird, especially in the breast. It has less fat than the
domestic goose and the fat is marbled through the meat rather than
concentrated under the skin. The hybrid grows rapidly and matures early. A
Canada goose lays only 8-12 eggs per year; a domestic goose depending on the
breed and strain will lay 30-50 eggs. In producing mongrels the better meat
quality of the Canada is combined with the better egg production of the
domestic goose. Fortunately the mongrel resembles the Canada enough to be
readily recognized as genuine. It would be difficult to counterfeit.
To
produce mongrel it is necessary to induce Canada ganders normally considered
to be monogamous to mate with domestic geese. Imprinting must begin early in
life. The ganders are raised with domestic females and never see their own
kind. Matings are made in the fall that the gander is 2 years old. About 50%
of the matings are successful at this age the remaining ganders should be
ready for mating when three years old. Of course some ganders never take a
mate but this occurs in the wild as well.
Infertile
eggs due to failure to mate are a major problem. Besides imprinting to break
down psychological barriers, quit familiar surroundings with plenty of room
for each pair are necessary. Interference among pairs must be avoided. A
small pool is thought to result in more successful copulations. When the
Canadas do mate the eggs are more often fertile than eggs from geese mated
to domestic ganders who mate more often but with less success.
A
good well adjusted gander is very valuable. Lose one and it may take years
to find another. Ramsey’s best gander would mate with three domestic geese
a season even after having been previously mated to a Canada goose.
Hatching
and rearing procedures are the same as for domestic goslings which is not to
say there are no problems. Ramsey uses broody Araucana chicken broodies for
hatching goose eggs. Each hen covers only three eggs. A Muscovy duck might
be better!
Here
is an interesting sidelight. Ramsey found that the goslings from the cross
of Canada ganders with Emden geese could be color sexed at time of hatch.
The female’s down is grey with some black in the neck and the male’s
down is light grey in color. Apparently the incompletely dominant
sexed-linked blue dilution gene of the Emden dilutes the grey pattern of the
Canada, Jerome, 1970.
Ramsey
himself still thinks there is a chance of obtaining fertile mongrels. He
says that they have not been given a fair test because, “people eat them
don’t keep them.” He thinks a mature female mongrel will lay a few eggs
but that the hybrid males is sterile. (But maybe the eggs would not hatch.)
In
the past the growing of mongrels was a small farm enterprise, a cottage
industry. But if we can learn from the success of the male duck in Taiwan
use of artificial could make feasible a unique and delicious dish for our
affluent society.
References
Gray,
A. P., 1958. Bird Hybrids, Commonwealth Bur. Animal Breeding and Genetics,
Edinburgh Tech. Comm 13
Hagadoorn,
A. L. and Geoffrey Sykes, 1953. Poultry Breeding. Crosby and Lockwood,
London
Jerome,
F. N., 1970. Inheritance of plumage color of domestic geese. Proceedings of
the World’s Poultry Congress, Madrid