Yes, and the Embden makes the case almost by itself. This is a big, heavily feathered white goose, and those feathers are a disguise: a bird can lose a significant share of its body weight while still looking like a round, prosperous goose across the yard. Geese also hide sickness as a flock instinct, eating and honking on cue while something is already wrong. Regular weighing is how you see through both disguises, and a written log is what turns a single weighing into a useful trend.
How to Weigh a Goose and What to Write Down
Monthly weighing is enough for an adult Embden outside the laying season. Pick the bird up with its wings held gently against its body, or weigh yourself holding it and subtract, or train it to stand briefly on a platform scale for a treat — the method matters less than using the same one each time. Beside the weight, log appetite in plain terms, droppings if they change character, any limp or reluctance to walk to water, and breathing sounds, since a goose that honks less or breathes with an open bill is giving you information. Band or name each bird in the log; in an all-white flock, 'the big goose' is not an identification that survives a season.
The Laying Season Entries
Embden geese lay seasonally and not prolifically, which makes each egg worth noting. During the laying months, record which goose is laying if you can tell, how often, and any soft or thin-shelled eggs, because a slide in shell quality or a hen stopping early can point to a nutrition gap or a bird under strain. Note broodiness too — a goose sitting tight eats little and loses weight on the nest, and having her starting weight in the log tells you whether that loss is within the normal range or something to act on when she comes off. Goslings, if you raise them, deserve growth lines of their own, since a young Embden should gain steadily and a plateau is an early flag.
When the Log Says Call the Vet
One Log Per Bird, Not Per Flock
Resist the temptation of a single flock page. Embden geese in one yard can differ enormously — the gander gaining on rich grazing while an older goose quietly loses — and a flock entry averages those stories into nothing. Even a small flock of four or five birds justifies a page each, because the interventions are individual: the bird who needs watching at the next weighing, the one whose laying slipped, the one whose limp resolved. Individual pages are what make the log worth keeping at all.
Waterfowl-savvy vets are not on every corner, and when you do reach one, a log transforms the conversation: 'she has lost weight steadily for two months and stopped laying' leads somewhere, while 'she seems off' often does not. Treat a sharp one-month drop, a bird separating from the flock, or breathing changes paired with appetite loss as prompts to seek advice promptly rather than waiting for the next scheduled weighing. Bring the record with you so dates and trends are exact instead of reconstructed. KinsLe's Pet Passport holds an Embden's weights, laying notes, and health entries in one portable packet, so the bird's whole story travels with it to the vet or to a new home.