Keeping geese: care and rearing at home for beginners

Breeding geese is a profitable occupation, the bird is smart, endures any vagaries of the weather, unpretentious in feed. Maintenance costs are low, and the yield of goose products is impressive - feathers, fluff, meat of high palatability, he althy fat, liver, which is in demand in the preparation of delicious pates. Consider the rules for growing geese - keeping conditions, breed selection, breeding methods.

Breed selection

Each breed of geese has pros and cons, they need to be taken into account by beginner poultry farmers when choosing young animals. The following breeds of geese are successfully grown in Russia.

Kholmogorsk

The breed is bred for meat, the goose grows up to 10-12 kilograms, weighs 4 kilograms at 2 months.

Pros and conscalm character, lack of aggressiveness;unpretentiousness;strong immunity;developed maternal instinct in geese;productivity - meat, feather, fluff, high quality fat.a pond and a place for walking are required;low egg production - 40-50 eggs per year.

The breed belongs to goose centenarians, live 12-17 years. Geese weigh up to 8 kilograms and often crush eggs.

Large Gray

Meat breed of geese, reaches 4 kilograms already at 9 weeks. The weight of an adult is 7-8 kilograms. Unpretentious, have good immunity, can be grown without a reservoir.

Pros and consdo without swimming and long walking;hardy;attached to the house;geese are good mothers, they build a nest themselves;growing fast;high quality liver (weight - up to 400 grams).noisy;differ in resentment and vindictiveness.

Some poultry farmers note the low survival rate of young animals of this breed.

Lindovskaya

The breed was bred in the Nizhny Novgorod region. You can grow a large bird (3.5-4 kilograms) in 2-3 months, at 5 months the weight is 7 kilograms.

Pros and consprecocity;resistance to heat and cold;high survival rate of goslings - 85-90%;unpretentiousness in food;calm character.a pond and conditions for walking are required;vitamin supplements are needed to protect against hypovitaminosis;The bird likes to talk loudly.

The Lindovskaya breed of geese produces more than 50 eggs a year, they are laid mainly from February to July.

Toulouse

Massive geese with a male body weight of 9-11 kilograms. The French breed was bred for tasty meat and an impressive liver for making foie gras.

Pros and conshigh yield of meat, high-quality fat;large liver;fast growth;great fluff.low resistance to cold and high humidity;low mobility;a large percentage of the death of young animals;weak constitution.

The yield of Toulouse eggs with a dense shell and weighing 180-200 grams is 18-40 pieces annually.

Basic requirements for keeping geese at home

For beginner poultry farmers who start breeding from scratch, it is important to familiarize yourself with the basic rules of keeping and feeding. Geese have dense plumage, which helps to endure temperature changes (up to -25 °), livestock can be kept outdoors almost all year round. Consider the content requirements in detail:

1. Geese are able to forage for most of the day. In the village and in the country they are kept on the run. The ideal option is grazing near a pond. Geese are well oriented, they find their own way.
2. Poultry houses are built from natural materials - wood, brick. Be sure to provide ventilation, protection from drafts, lighting. If the content is seasonal, a shed is sufficient.
3. A paddock is made near the poultry house, even if the geese spend most of the day near the pond.
4. Area norms - 1 square meter per adult indoors, 2 meters - in the walking area.
5. When keeping in winter, the temperature in the poultry house is not allowed to fall below 5 °. Peat bedding helps keep paws warm.
6. The floor of the poultry house is covered with bedding material - straw, hay, sawdust, peat. The bedding is changed every 7-10 days.
7. Recommended humidity - 60-70%. With high rates, geese often catch colds and get sick.
8. Nests are placed in the far part of the house or shed. They are made from boxes, plywood, baskets, softened with bedding. One nest is enough for 2-3 geese.

On the farm you need to have drinkers and feeders. Geese can be watered from any heavy metal utensils that are placed on pallets to prevent spreading on the floor or ground. When choosing feeders, take into account the type of food and the fact that all geese eat at the same time.

Bird care rules

Most of the poultry farmers keep geese seasonally - they buy goslings, grow them to the right conditions and slaughter them. Keeping a bird longer than 6 months is impractical. The meat coarsens, loses taste and nutritional qualities. Consider how to care for young and adult birds:

1. Goslings are purchased at least 5 days old. 2-3-week-old goslings can be immediately reared on the run near the poultry house in a fenced area, they are more expensive, but the survival rate is higher.
2. It is important to observe the temperature regime - the first days goslings need 26-28 °. Lighting is regulated, lamps are used to extend daylight hours to 16-18 hours.
3. Depending on the breed, planting rates are chosen. Large breeds - 4-6 goslings per square meter, small ones - 6-8 individuals.
4. Crowding is dangerous for young animals - goslings crush each other, they do not have enough air. Weakened goslings do not get food.
5. For heating use a heating pad, bottles of warm water, infrared lamps.
6. Young animals are trying not to disturb once again, the litter is changed carefully, on the edge.
7. Geese can teach young animals to walk, followed by goslings willingly. If there is no adult bird, at 2-3 weeks the little geese are carefully sent to the fenced area.
8. For young animals, low feeders are used (height - 2-3 centimeters). For grown geese, long troughs are made so that each has 15 centimeters in length.
9. Weakened goslings are fed separately, making sure that they get food and a comfortable place.

If you plan to grow geese without a pond and walking, you need to be prepared for more feed consumption, the use of vitamins, premixes to support immunity.

Reference: if there is no reservoir, they put plastic pools for geese, large troughs, so that swimmers can wet their plumage, wash their beak and head.

What to feed?

When grazing, geese eat grass, algae, and other pasture. On farms without walking, you can raise poultry on different feeding rations:

• dry - used on poultry farms, consists of compound feed, dry mixes;
• combined - combine feed, greens, mash, household waste.

In the summer, geese are fed twice, during the day the bird gets its own food. When compiling the diet, they combine coarse and succulent feed. Hay improves peristalsis, it is included in the winter diet daily.

The following types of feed are used for feeding at home:

• cereals - barley, corn, wheat, oats, including sprouted ones;
• herbs, foliage of trees and shrubs, berries (mountain ash, wild rose);
• bran, cake;
• bone, fishmeal;
• shredded vegetables and root vegetables - pumpkin, zucchini, carrots.

To increase fatness before slaughter and during mating, ganders increase the norms, introduce protein-vitamin mixtures into the diet. Goslings in the first days of life are fed with eggs, cottage cheese, cereals 5-6 times a day. From 10 days they give flour mixtures, herbs (alfalfa, clover). Be sure to introduce feed containing proteins (bone, meat meal), as well as yeast, chalk, s alt. In adult birds and goslings, they constantly monitor the water in the drinkers. In the cold season, water is given heated. Geese drink a lot, especially in the heat.

Reference: the taste of goose meat depends on the composition and quality of the feed.

Breeding Methods

During the breeding season, the number of eggs increases, ganders become aggressive, often fight. When breeding for 3 geese, one male is usually kept. In most breeds of geese, females have developed maternal feelings, they are able to hatch the masonry themselves. Goslings hatch on day 28.

Incubator

Incubation is used if it is impossible to plant a goose on eggs. During incubation, it is possible to obtain offspring from only 70% of the eggs. Rules for breeding geese in an incubator:

• with the beginning of the active breeding season, eggs are selected - within 10 days, the best (large, even, without defects);
• eggs are treated with a weak solution of potassium permanganate;
• preparing an incubator - set the temperature to 40 ° for 4 hours;
• 5 hours laid eggs kept at 38°, then set at 37.5°;
• turn masonry 6-8 times daily;
• once every 2 weeks, ventilate the incubator for 10 minutes.

The incubator is usually used when growing broiler breeds.

Breeding mother chicks

Females start laying at 8-10 months. Laying geese are usually kept for 4-6 years, males per tribe - 8 years. Since the size of the eggs is significant, the clutch consists of 13-14 pieces. To breed goslings in a natural way (by incubation), follow the following rules:

• the nest is located in a secluded place of the house (in the far corner);
• other birds are not allowed to the nest, so that foreign females do not lay their eggs in the hatching clutch;
• The room and the nest are kept warm (14-16 °), protect from moisture, drafts, do not disturb the goose;
• damaged eggs are removed from the nest;
• geese are given selected food, regularly change the water;
• make sure that the bird does not leave clutch for more than 20 minutes.

The emerging goslings are collected in a box lined with a warm cloth, heated with a lamp. When all hatch, the little goslings are returned to their mothers to be raised.

Possible diseases and prevention from them

The most common diseases in different breeds of geese include:

• infections - pasteurellosis, paratyphoid, colibacillosis;
• invasive - coccidiosis;
• helminthiases - parasitic infestation;
• hypovitaminosis.

In the cold season and with excess moisture, geese can catch colds, get sick with viral and bacterial infections with sinusitis. Prevention includes:

• vaccination against common infections;
• maintaining the cleanliness of the poultry house, walking areas, inventory;
• disinfection of premises every 6 months;
• balanced diet to prevent hypovitaminosis;
• change bedding every 7-10 days;
• monitoring the state of water bodies;
• deworming.

Sick geese are isolated, quarantine measures are being taken. Breeding geese gives a reliable income and provides the family with delicious meat. Other products from goose farms are also in demand on the market - fluff, feathers, fat. Geese of all breeds have good immunity, are able to find food, stay in a flock, return safely from walking, do not require much care and maintenance costs.

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