It is very profitable to breed poultry in the countryside. If there are free meadows or a lake near the house, then you can get geese. These birds are unpretentious in keeping and eating. In summer, their food consists of pasture, and in winter only grain and water. From geese in the fall, you can get up to 6 kg of delicious meat, about a kilogram of healthy fat and, of course, soft fluff for pillows.
For breeding, the herd is completed in the fall, before the first frosts. Usually, no more than three geese are born per gander. If you decide to have a bird only for the summer, after slaughtering them in the fall, then buy chicks in April – May. Choose active and healthy chicks. Goslings grow very quickly, in two months their weight increases almost 40 times.
The goose is a territorial bird, they stick to one place and to their owner. Therefore, there are practically no problems with their content. They will not run away from the yard; float away so far that you won't find them.
In summer, geese should be kept outdoors: in meadows, near water bodies or in a specially built paddock. Geese should always have drinking water and fresh grass in the accessibility zone. At night, the birds are driven into the room. In summer, there is practically no need to feed geese on pastures. While walking, they nibble up to 2 kg of grass a day, drink water from reservoirs.
They will not eat tall grass, as well as grass from swampy ponds, so they need to graze them in meadows with good grass. Among vegetation, geese prefer dandelions, plantains, sorrel, nettle, bindweed and bird buckwheat. The remains of vegetation after harvesting are also eagerly eaten by these birds.
On hot days, geese walking in the paddock should have bathing water. Just put a wide bowl of water for them. Once a month, bathe the birds in a sand and ash mixture with some feed sulfur. This will be a prophylaxis against feather parasites.
In winter, geese should be kept in a clean and dry room, the walls of which are treated with freshly slaked lime. The room should be well ventilated so that dampness does not settle on the walls. If it is too damp, the birds can catch cold. The legs and beak of geese are the most sensitive parts of the body, so the floor should be dry and warm.
Raise it 20 cm from the ground and sprinkle with straw, sawdust or peat. The temperature in the room should be at least 0 ° C, if the wintering place of the birds is done correctly, then they themselves will warm themselves due to their dense fluff. Geese are very cold-tolerant, so in good weather they can be released outside for feeding in winter.
In winter, birds are fed twice a day: grain and water are given in the morning and in the evening. The water in the drinkers must be periodically warmed up throughout the day to keep it from freezing. During the laying period during breeding, feeding is increased up to 4 times a day.
Geese are slaughtered for meat in December, before the New Year. Then these birds have the highest meat content. Goose meat is very nutritious and contains a lot of proteins and minerals. Geese fat is widely used in folk medicine, and eggs are ideal for baking.
Keeping geese is not difficult at all. If you surround the bird with care, then they will trust their owner. Then, by their own behavior, they will prompt you what is required for healthy and strong development.
