Domestic geese: features of growing and breeding

So, the desire to engage in goose breeding appeared. In this regard, beginners have many questions.

We solve priority tasks

First, we settle the issue with the neighbors. The solution depends on where you live:

• private sector of the city,
• or village.

The goose is a noisy bird. If you live in a city, then not every neighbor will like it. Why, as they say, you need unnecessary trouble and tension. Better then give up this idea and get another bird.

If you live in a village, then there should be no questions. There is a place, free grazing. Creating conditions for content is much easier.

Secondly, in the first year it is not necessary to set large-scale goals. Especially if you are a beginner poultry farmer. The first year is better to try, take a closer look, understand whether you like this activity. Geese breed a lot of dirt. They need to be constantly cleaned up and cleaned up. It may turn out that this is not yours and it is better to breed another bird. For example, chickens also require constant cleaning, but due to the fact that they row, it is much easier to clean up after them.

Thirdly, equip the goose coop. The goose is an unpretentious bird, it is not afraid of low temperatures, but it still should have a house.

Goose house arrangement

Geese can be kept in any adapted outbuilding. But you can build a special goose coop.

What should be a goose

It should be:

• dry,
• with good ventilation, but without drafts,
• clean,
• light,
• spacious.

Measures to fulfill the basic requirements

Based on these requirements, the place where the goose will stand should not be heated during spring floods. It is better to place it on the south side. So it will be better illuminated and warmed up.

It is good if the floors are made of boards and raised above the ground by 20 cm. Then the soil water will not get inside.

The area of ​​the goose house should correspond to the number of birds. Norm 1 goose - 1kv. meter. If it is not observed, the air in the goose house will be unbearable not only for people, but also for the geese themselves. In such a stinking atmosphere, pathogenic microbes will actively multiply. As a result, various diseases will begin to cling to them.

The floor of the goose is covered with bedding. The following materials are used for it:

• shavings
• sunflower husk,
• sawdust,
• hay,
• chopped corn cobs
• sphagnum peat.

It insulates the floor, dries the litter, thereby improving the air in the goose house. About 40 kg of bulk material is required per year for one goose. The bedding should not be damp and preferably always clean. To do this, it needs to be changed more often. Don't let the pen get dirty. Feather is an important element of thermoregulation of the body of geese. A clean pen will avoid many diseases.

In winter, it would be good to pour slaked lime on the floor, and lay a warm bedding (peat, hay, straw) on top. When the litter accumulates, it is updated, gradually adding bedding material. In the spring, you will get an excellent fertilizer for the garden.

To enrich goose manure with minerals, mineral fertilizers, such as superphosphate, are sometimes poured onto the litter. It not only improves future manure, but also increases the dryness of the air.

Nests are installed in the poultry house. There should be enough of them. It is calculated so that there are no more than three geese per nest. Do not place them against a cold wall or in direct sunlight. Approximate dimensions:

• height - 50 - 55 cm,
• length - 60 - 65 cm,
• width - 40 cm,
• the height of the nut is 1 cm.

The litter is used as usual, only change it more often. It is better to update in the evening. Then in the morning the goose will rush in a clean nest.

Equipment for feeding and watering geese

In the place where the bird will live, there should be containers for food and water. You can make them yourself.

For the construction of the feeder, you can use boards, old pipes, and other auxiliary materials. Only when making them, it must be borne in mind that one goose needs at least 15 centimeters for a comfortable meal. Then there will be no crush when feeding. Install or hang the feeder above the floor to a height of 20-25 cm.

Any containers are adapted for drinking bowls - it can be a bucket, a barrel, or a boil-down. In winter, you need to make sure that the water in the drinker does not freeze.

Temperature conditions and illumination of the goose house

The goose is a cold-resistant bird. It can exist without problems in a goose house even at minus 10 degrees. She is not afraid of short-term drops to minus 25 degrees. But if geese are kept for breeding, such conditions will adversely affect the egg production of geese. Therefore, it is desirable that it be warm in the goose house. To do this, the walls are carefully insulated.

Positive temperatures and artificial lighting in the goose house will speed up the start of laying eggs by geese. They rush at a day length of 14 hours. So, it is necessary to lengthen the day artificially. To do this, leave the lights on from 6 am to 8 pm. And we act in this way until the natural daylight hours become equal to 14 hours.

Usually geese begin to rush at the very end of winter. But with such lighting, egg production can occur much earlier (toward the end of January).

Placement of geese in summer

Everything that was reported above is important and necessary if you decide to start breeding geese seriously. If you are just a beginner and this is a trial experience, then usually goslings are bought in March-April, and by the fall they decide whether it is worth doing this business or not.

In spring and summer, geese can stay outside. On the economic territory where they will be located, it is necessary to fence off the aviary, and build a small canopy in it. Under it are containers for food. Then it will not get wet in case of rain. Under the same canopy, geese will be able to hide from bad weather.

For a comfortable existence of a bird in an aviary, it is necessary to put containers with water in which it could splash. It can be simple galvanized troughs and boils. And then you can do without a reservoir.

Goose breeds

Before you start breeding geese, you need to decide what breed you want to have. Well suited for home breeding: Kuban, Lindovskaya, Kholmogorskaya, Gray and Legart.

Table 1. Popular goose breeds that are bred in households.

Buying young animals

Having decided on the breed, we acquire goslings. When buying, you may encounter unscrupulous sellers. They can slip goslings of the wrong breed or not quite healthy.

It is good to buy from a poultry breeder at home. Then there is the opportunity to see the mother herd. See what conditions it is in. What kind of geese, are they strong, are they large, do you like them. And then if the seller is not afraid to show all this, then he probably will not deceive.

It is better to buy not daily goslings, but those who are five days old. They cost a little more, but their survival rate will be slightly higher. When buying goslings, follow these recommendations.

• Pay attention to the behavior of the goslings. It is good if they are peppy and active, they squeak loudly, and their necks stretch up.
• The navel should be overgrown without crusts.
• The abdomen is tucked up.
• Nothing stands out from the nostrils of the beak.
• Check the paws for any dislocation.

Rearing of young animals

If the goslings were originally strong, then it is not difficult to feed and raise them. At the beginning, they are given oatmeal and millet porridge, adding a finely chopped egg there. It is good to feed them fresh cottage cheese. Almost immediately, you can start giving starter feed. The diet of goslings is similar to that of broiler chickens.

They are often fed - at least six times a day. From the fifth day of life, you can begin to give the goslings chopped grass - dandelions, nettles and everything that appears in the spring. A monthly gosling can eat almost a kilogram of grass.

Do not forget about the pebbles necessary for the digestion of food. Place a container with coarse sand or small pebbles next to the feeder.

Geese should always have water. They drink a lot. A two-month-old goose drinks up to one liter of water a day.

By the fall, the geese grow up and even then we can conclude whether you should do this business. If you like, then from these geese you can form a mother herd by purchasing one or two ganders on the side. This is necessary to renew the blood and obtain healthy offspring.

Try, experiment! Without trying, you will never know if this bird is right for you or if it is better to do something else.

Note:

By the way, the delicacy of foie gras is goose liver. It is very oily, but not harmful to our vessels. Doctors say that fat in it is represented by polyunsaturated fatty acids. And they just reduce the presence of bad cholesterol in the body. As a result, blood circulation, brain function improves, tone increases.