In the 1950's when my parents had a farm, we / they had greylag geese rather
like those Tina showed us photos of.
They would have progressively become inbred - but that did not dimininsh their
eating qualities for Xmas and Easter; my mother used to sell them to the
neighbours and of course we had some as well.
What was very interesting was that at some point they discovered what their
wings were for; other than beating off intruders etc. They could FLY. And fly
they did, like formations of fighter bombers. Imagine them flying over this
landscape (this slide and the next one to the right)
http://zone-10.com/tope2/main.php?g2_itemId=3196
What to do?
They showed every indication that anytime soon they would decamp to goodness
knows where and we wouldn't see them again.
The answer was to introduce another variety line.
My father bought a gander of another breed in which all the quill feathers had
the quill naturally split (the feathers looked for all the world like curly
ribbons), and thereafter the flying days of our flock were over.
Pity. They were magnificant in the air.
Brian
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