Homemade geese. Maintenance of domestic geese

By popularity, domestic geese in our country are practically not inferior to chickens. It's all about the unpretentiousness of these birds and their ability to gain weight very quickly. At the same time, there is no need for too much wastage for feed. In the summer, geese pass mainly to the fodder.

How to choose a breed

Ancestor of modern poultry is a wild gray goose, widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere - America, Africa, Europe and Asia. Domesticated this bird was very long ago - originally in the Middle East and in China. At the moment there is just a huge number of breeds of geese. Experienced farmers advise starting to breed this bird from the most reliable and unpretentious old breeds. Such, for example, as kholmogorsky or Chinese. But it is best, of course, to choose the breed that is most adapted to the fodder and climate of this particular region.

What should be the room for geese

Poultry geese, as already mentioned, rather unpretentious. A shed for them can be built from almost any material - boards, timber, logs, clay, blocks, etc. It is important that the premises are dry and free of drafts. One individual must have at least 1 m ^{2 of} area. The floor can be wooden or adobe. It must necessarily lay a litter (in winter - from straw, in summer - from sand and sawdust). Also, in a barn for geese, nests 60 cm long, 40 cm wide and half meter high are installed. Their bottom is forgiven with clean straw. It is not recommended to hang nests in brightly lit places, and too close to walls, in cold winter.

A domestic goose is a bird that needs to walk even in winter. Therefore, next to the barn, you need to arrange a small courtyard, in which you should put the feeders, drinking bowl and large bathing capacity - trough or bath, if there is not a pond nearby.

Drinking bowls and feeders

Feeders for geese do nursery type. They must be made of easily washable materials. Under the drinker is suitable as an old enamel bucket, and cast iron or basin. In winter, the water tank can be buried right in the shed in the litter. In this case, the water in it will not freeze.

Maintenance of domestic geese: what to feed

In summer, the bird is kept on the go-ahead. In addition, it is fed only in the evening. In doing so, make a mash of grain. In the event that the grass on the goose "pasture" is small, introduce additional morning feeding. In the winter geese are given chopped hay or hayfield. Also in the diet include grains, concentrates and root vegetables. As an additive, you need to use meat-and-bone flour. In the barn, you need to put a trough with water, in which the domestic geese will wash their beaks after eating. Feed the bird in the cold season three times a day. Potatoes will be best cooked. The grain is more useful than germinated.

How to remove the goslings

Eggs these birds carry, beginning approximately from the end of February and till July. If the barn is warm (at least +4 ... + 5 ^о С), this process can begin earlier. But this will happen only if the light in the bird room burns at least 14 hours a day. Geese at home are usually taken out in an incubator. If this is not possible, the eggs are left under the goose. In the event that there is no pond on the site where the bird could bathe from time to time, they are moistened with warm water about once a week. This is necessary to open the pores in the shell.

If the eggs are incubated several gooses, the nests need to be placed far apart from each other and covered with septum so that birds can not see each other. Otherwise, they will behave restlessly and even begin to fight. In addition, after feeding geese will be confused nests. Also, during the incubation process, care must be taken to ensure that eggs do not roll out onto the edge of the nest.

Eggs domestic geese incubated approximately 28-30 days. The chicks go out quite easily. However, in the event that the geese suddenly start to break the shell from the sharp end, most likely, he will need to help a little. Sometimes you have to remove the fluff and sucked pieces of shell.

The temperature of the air during the hatching during the hatching of the chicks should be approximately +28 degrees. During the first two days on the street, geese with goose are not let out, as the kids need to get stronger. For the first week, the lamps in the shed are not switched off for the night. Further, the illumination time is reduced to 15 hours per day. By the second month of life, the young can reduce it to 8 hours.

How to feed the goslings

Little chicks are given a steeply welded wheat porridge and a boiled egg. Starting from the third day in the diet can add bran, crushed and herbs. Very good little chicks also eat crumbs and small pieces of white bread. The gosling is given only with clean water from well-washed drinkers. Once a day in the water should be added a little potassium permanganate (to a very light pink color). If the goslings are raised without a mother, feeders and drinking bowls are placed near the source of heating.

Greens are prepared immediately before feeding, thoroughly crushing it. Root crops are introduced into the diet from a week-old age. Boiled potatoes can be given already for a five-day goslings. At the same time, the cake is introduced into the diet.

The first three days of chicks are fed 6-7 times a day. The food is given every 3-4 hours. Gradually, the number of feeds is reduced to 3-4 times a day. Do not give goslings sticky mushrooms. The fact is that they clog the nasal apertures.

Picking geese

The feather and down from the bird are removed during molting. It occurs usually in late May - early June. In warm regions plucking can be done twice. The second time this procedure is carried out in September-October.

With natural molting plucking will be almost painless. Of course, you only need to remove the old pen. It is dry, clear and bloodless.

The plucking is performed as follows:

• Gusya bind his paws and, sitting on a stool, put him on his back, with his feet from himself.
• The feather begins to be removed from the abdomen. Do this carefully, without causing pain.
• Next, the domestic goose turns over on the stomach.
• Then they begin to pluck the lower part of the neck in such a way that they do not get a splat.

When performing this procedure, the bird's wings need to be pressed tightly against the body. Otherwise, waving them, it can get injured. First, the feather is removed, and then down.

In the first few days after plucking, domestic geese do not go too readily into the water. However, after this time, they fully master and bathe with pleasure.