Sebastopol Geese Facts

Origin and name

The breed takes its name from the region around the Black Sea and Sebastopol, and reached Western Europe in the nineteenth century. It has been kept for ornament and for its feathers far more than for meat, which is a large part of why numbers stayed small: nobody was breeding them at commercial scale.

That heritage status is why prices sit where they do. You are not buying into a production breed, you are buying into a small population maintained by hobbyists and small breeders. The FAQ covers cost directly.

The feathers

The defining trait is feathering: long, soft, spiralling feathers trailing from the back and wings, sometimes reaching the ground. They come in curly breasted and smooth breasted forms, covered on the smooth breasted page. The APA standard calls for the smooth breasted type in white.

The trade-off is practical. Curled feathers do not shed water the way flat ones do, so these birds need dry shelter more than most waterfowl, and they cannot fly at all because the flight feathers cannot generate lift. That last point makes them unusually easy to contain.

Size and temperament

A medium-weight breed, smaller than a Toulouse or an Embden and larger than a bantam goose. Ganders run heavier than geese, though not so reliably that you can sex a bird by size, which the sexing guide explains.

Temperament is a genuine selling point. Sebastopols are calmer than many goose breeds and handle well, especially raised from goslings. They are still geese: loud, and assertive in breeding season.

Common Questions

Are Sebastopol geese rare?

They are a heritage breed maintained largely by hobbyists and small breeders rather than commercial operations, so numbers are limited compared with production geese. Coloured Sebastopols are scarcer than white.

Why are Sebastopol geese so expensive?

Small population, slow reproduction compared with chickens, and the difficulty of shipping live birds. They were never bred at commercial scale, so there is no volume to bring the price down.