Geese are bred for delicious meat, eggs, feathers and down. Breeding geese is a rather profitable business, which, if desired, can turn into a business. If you keep more than 100 geese, you can draw up documents for registering a mini-farm and do well financially.

About the bird

Goose the bird is unpretentious in care and maintenance:

  • Lives up to 8 years. Young goslings grow rapidly - almost 40 times in 2 months. An adult bird weighs 4 to 8 kg.
  • Geese are not particularly afraid of cold weather and tolerate well.
  • In early spring, when the first greens germinate, the bird switches to pasture.
  • Geese are perfectly oriented in space and effortlessly find their way home, even if they graze in the distance.
  • The presence of a reservoir nearby is a prerequisite for breeding geese at home.

Breeding geese

For beginners, you should consider the specifics of growing in detail.

A goose needs a variety of grass and plenty of walking space to feed. Geese need to constantly move. In the summer, they spend most of the day outside their house, in the pasture.

Note! There are more blood vessels in the muscles of a goose than in chickens, which makes the meat darker.

Geese live in a poultry house, which you can build yourself from planks, timber or bricks. Also, if there is an unused greenhouse or shed, then birds can be kept in it. The road to the walk and the reservoir should not be very long.

Before buying geese, you need to choose the right breed. Preferred for meat production - beef breed, for breeding - self-production ability.

Goose breeds

Lindovskaya breed

An adult goose weighs 7-8 kg. Eggs per year bring 45-50 pieces, egg weight - 120-140 g. Geese tolerate cold well, have strong immunity and tasty meat. However, they are prone to hymenolepiasis.

Large gray

Geese have a large mass - from 6.5 to 9.5 kg, with gray plumage on the back and white on the belly. They yield fewer eggs than the Lindovskaya breed, but the goslings grow rapidly and gain weight by 2.5 months to 4.5 kg.

On a note! This breed is excellent for breeding for meat and valuable liver. It is very unpretentious to the content, it can do without a reservoir.

Kholmogorskaya

The largest, the weight of an adult bird is 8-12 kg. It brings 30-40 rather large eggs a year with a mass of about 200 g. The breed can reproduce in the middle range - only half of the goslings hatch from the eggs. Geese of this breed are quite calm and not aggressive.

Goslings grow rapidly and gain weight, with high immunity. The meat is delicious. Geese are especially demanding on keeping standards: heat, cleanliness and do not tolerate small areas of the goose nest.

Toulouse

The breed comes from France, very large - over 10 kg. Few yields eggs (up to 30-40 pcs.), Weighing 190-210 g. Geese are very calm and relatively inactive for their breed, but quickly fatten up.

They have very tasty meat, do not tolerate high humidity in a dry and ventilated room and a drop in temperature below +20 degrees in the goose house.

Tula

Weight - up to 8 kg, egg production - up to 25 eggs, egg weight - 140-150 g.

Geese are hardy, with good immunity. The meat is delicious. But the goslings grow slowly. Birds of this breed do not tolerate flooded meadows.

Geese Linda

Rhine

Breed from Germany.Weight - up to 6-7 kg and up to 37-47 eggs per year with a weight of 150-200 g. Geese are very hardy, have white plumage, produce good quality meat and fatty liver. Goslings grow rapidly.

Tape

This breed is not recommended for keeping in order to obtain meat or eggs, it is more suitable for decorative keeping.

Kuban

Bred in the Krasnodar Territory, Russia. Gray with a brown tint. Weight - up to 6 kg, brings up to 90 eggs per year. Geese of this breed are unpretentious and adapt well to the environment.

Italian

Geese of this breed originated in Italy, grow up to 7 kg, bring up to 50 eggs. They give good juicy meat and fatty liver.

How to breed geese

In order to have meat in the summer and the geese to lay eggs in winter, you first need to purchase young animals; novice farmers should not raise chicks on their own.

Note! The best time to buy young goslings is in spring, late March or mid-April.

Rules for buying goslings:

  • It is better to avoid markets where it is not always possible to check documents, do not rely on the honesty of the sellers, buy goslings on a poultry farm without deception and with a guarantee of the chosen breed.
  • Goose should be 5-7 days old. Younger, recently hatched, chicks can hardly tolerate transportation, older ones can be very shy and take a long time to get used to a new place.
  • According to an external assessment, the fluff in goslings should be yellow, soft and fluffy to the touch, without stuck shells. The umbilical cord is overgrown, the tummy is not sagging, there should be no discharge from the nostrils to the beak.
  • The gosling should stand well on its feet and be active.

Goose construction

Note! Before starting the construction of the goose house, you can convert an old barn or a former cowshed into it, so how much time and effort can be saved.

The site for the rooster should be near a reservoir, a river, close to a meadow and preferably on a hill. There should be no nearby groundwater. The facade of the building and the winter enclosure for walking geese are best located on the south side.

Home goose

The main requirement for the room for keeping geese is that it must be dry, without increased humidity of more than 75%, clean, without drafts, but there must be a window for the flow of fresh air. Indoor temperature - + 12-15 degrees.

Important! The area for keeping geese is calculated at the rate of 1 m² per bird. With a heap of content, geese lose weight, lay eggs less, and the quality of the fluff drops dramatically.

Gooseneck parameters and plan:

  • To prevent rodents from penetrating the rodent, the foundation is poured out of concrete to a height of 25 cm from the surface of the earth. A trench is also dug along the entire perimeter.
  • The walls are erected to a height of about 2 m from a bar with a section of 100 * 100 or from a metal corner 70 * 70. The walls are sheathed with a board 25-30 cm thick.
  • The roof is covered with slate, tiles or roofing felt.
  • In cold climatic zones, it is recommended to additionally insulate the walls, roof and door of the goose house with plywood from the inside, and sheathe OSB plates from the outside. The floors are laid from a board with a section of 25 * 100 or 25 * 150 and sprinkled with dry sawdust or wood shavings.
  • It is better to install the window on the south side for the penetration of sunlight, which affects the growth of geese. You can use the material polycarbonate. Geese prefer darkness only at night. The window should not occupy more than 10% of the wall surface.
  • Inside, the room must be divided into several parts for the separate keeping of geese by age and have a place for especially aggressive individuals.
  • Be sure to build wooden nests for females from regular wooden crates with a removable tray for easy egg retrieval. In order for the geese to get used to them, they are installed in advance 2 months before laying.

Gooseneck equipment

Caring for geese is impossible without convenient drinkers and feeders. Wooden troughs are designed for dry food, metal troughs for liquid food.

On a note. There should not be a crush near each feeder and drinker; you need to place such a number in the goose pouch so that all residents have simultaneous access to food.

You can calculate the size of the feeder by the ratio of 15 cm of the sidewall per goose. A mesh tray should be placed under the drinker under a small specially constructed hill to avoid splashing water onto the litter. Cleaning equipment: snow shovel, ordinary shovel and other tools.

Drinking bowl for geese

How to keep geese by number:

  • 2-3 week old goslings should not exceed more than 10 individuals on an area of ​​1 m²;
  • at 9 weeks - no more than 4 heads per 1 m²;
  • adult geese - 1 individual per 1 m².

Feeding geese

Geese are unpretentious in food. Their main food is grass, which they themselves find in the pastures. However, it should be borne in mind that the daily rate for an adult is at least 2 kg.

The rest of the diet isYut:

  • root vegetables - at the rate of 1 kg per 1 goose: these are potatoes, turnips and beets;
  • grain mixture - up to 300 gr .: these are wheat, oats and barley;
  • legumes, corn - up to 100 g;
  • mineral additives with chalk and shell rock content up to 10 gr.

Important! There should always be clean water in the drinking bowl, in a separate cup - sand mixed with small stones for proper digestion by geese, after three days each time, mix fishmeal, salt, feed yeast and vegetable fats into the feed.

Yeast is prepared in a proportion of 20 grams. for 2 kg of crushed grain. The mixture is poured with 2 liters of water and allowed to brew for 4 hours in a warm room. The resulting mixture is mixed with food.

The norm of the day

To divide feed rationally, according to the needs of the geese:

  • In the morning - one third of the daily ration of compound feed (about 100 g) or grain mixed with a flour mixture.
  • In the afternoon - hay, vegetables in raw or boiled form mixed with one third of grain or mixed feed.
  • In the evening, leftover vegetables, oats, silage, grains and legumes.

Walking geese

The paddock should be on the south side of the goose building. If it is not possible to release geese for independent walking, then the territory should be spacious, no more than 1 goose per 1 m².

Sometimes walking is used for special separation of individuals or for the formation of a herd with the selection of more suitable individuals for further breeding of geese. They need to be kept separately in order to quickly fatten them for meat on a special diet. 3 months are enough for fattening, then the bird gains weight very slowly. The herd consists of a gander and 4 geese, and it should not be a relative for a goose.

Important! The walking area should have a canopy so that geese can hide under it in inclement weather with precipitation.

Goose care

Adult geese need to have their wings clipped to prevent them from flying.

Clipping the wings

Summer period

The first 3.5 months of life of young animals require more attention to care, the rest of the time the geese graze on their own, sometimes absent all day, basic care is enough.

Winter period

The winter period is mainly intended to raise new offspring after mating. A goose can mate with no more than two geese, because by nature these birds are not polygamous. Eggs are laid at the end of February. If you wish, you can change the period by increasing the artificial daylight hours. When illuminated 14 hours a day by lamps, the geese lay their eggs in a month.

How to care for geese in case of heavy snowfall - you need to clear the area for walking and take them for a walk. To insulate the floor in the goose-bed additionally 30 cm in height, adding straw or millet. Change the bedding every 4 days.

Important! Dampness, drafts, cold and freezing of geese in the house should not be allowed.

It is worth adding hot water to the drinker so that ice does not form. You need to feed the geese more high-calorie. Add vitamin and mineral supplements. Rich in vitamin C, spruce and pine needles. Pruning of branches from trees is done in advance, then they are lowered under the snow and taken out as needed.Geese love to pluck them very much, their appetite improves, and their immunity is strengthened. Harvested branches of birch, maple, willow and nettle are also suitable.

Infections

Geese can get sick with infectious and non-infectious diseases, parasite infestation. Some diseases are difficult to treat, and the bird must be isolated from the flock. So, infections spread very quickly and lead to the death of birds.

Note! If symptoms of a serious illness or poor health of the bird appear, an urgent need to consult a veterinarian for an accurate diagnosis.

Keeping geese in winter is sometimes fraught with insufficient green bait, in spring geese can eat herbs that are dangerous for themselves, these are: lily of the valley, quinoa, henbane and nightshade, and also eat algae in the reservoir and catch intestinal diseases.

Disease prevention:

  • Before launching young animals into the goose house, it must be disinfected with a 2% solution of caustic soda.
  • Avoid wetting the litter by more than 25%, and the formation of pathogenic flora in it.
  • After the rain, the young should not be immediately released to the pasture; you should wait out a short period so as not to get enteritis through the dew. It is worth using a special preventive feeding.
  • Correct maintenance in winter will help to avoid: rickets, sinusitis, inflammation of the frontal sinuses and mouth and common colds in geese.

To keep the geese healthy, care and maintenance at home are completely dependent on the owner. His neglect will immediately affect the well-being of the birds.

FROMtips for a novice farmer

Although geese are easy to keep, it is worth deciding on the purpose of their establishment:

  • If for obtaining meat, then preference should be given to meat breeds, but those that carry few eggs and are very capricious in hatching them.
  • If for breeding geese, then you should take a closer look at breeds that do not have much difficulty in incubating.

Still, for a start, we should limit ourselves to simple but good care of geese in the summer to get tasty meat, fatty liver and fluff, which can be used on the farm.

If you follow all the rules and recommendations, you can learn everything about geese, about caring for them, then you can easily be provided with: tasty and healthy meat, nutritious eggs, fatty liver and excellent fluff, as well as discover the ingenuity of geese and their attachment to owner.