Keeping and raising geese at home

Poultry farming » Geese

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Kira Stoletova

It is difficult to find a house in the countryside where they do not breed geese. This bird is easy to care for, and its meat has excellent taste. If you build a small farm, then raising geese can be considered a small business that will generate a constant income. For a business to be truly successful, you need to provide the birds with proper care.

Geese

Why you should keep geese

The advantage of a domestic goose is that it can easily find its own food, so it takes little money to maintain it, but you need to provide the birds with an area with good grass. It is she who serves as the main source of food, so before you start breeding geese, you need to build a barn and construct a grazing area. It is also worth taking into account that the goose is a waterfowl, so it is advisable to have a body of water nearby. If there is none, you will have to think about building an artificial lake.

It is profitable to breed geese for several reasons: in addition to meat, you can trade eggs and donate feathers. White feathers are used to make pillows and blankets. You can also sell goose fat, which is used in cooking, medicine and cosmetology, and if there is a restaurant nearby, you can negotiate the supply of goose liver, from which the famous foie gras is prepared.

We solve priority problems

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, not every neighbor will like it. Why, as they say, do you need unnecessary troubles and tensions? Better then give up this idea and get another bird.

If you live in a village, then no questions should arise. There is a place there, free grazing. It is much easier to create conditions for maintenance.

Secondly, you don’t need to set large-scale goals in the first year. Especially if you are a novice poultry farmer. The first year is better to try, take a closer look, see if you like this activity. Geese make a lot of dirt. They need to be constantly cleaned up and cleaned up. It may turn out that this is not your thing and it is better to start breeding 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, set up a goose barn. The goose is an unpretentious bird and is not afraid of low temperatures, but it still needs to have a house.

Construction of a barn

Breeding geese requires having a building in the yard where they will spend the night. Considering that the construction will take not 5-7 days, but about a month, the construction of the poultry house should begin in the fall. As soon as spring comes, birds can be moved there. If you are planning a small farm, then the building may be small. If the farm has more than 20-25 birds, it is better to build a large poultry house. You can build such a barn with your own hands, having previously made the appropriate drawings. And it’s better to have a specialist do the drawing.

The technology for building a poultry house is not much different from the technology for building a small house. It is simplified in that you do not need to think about how to scorch the building.

Poultry house requirements

We will not dwell in detail on how to build a shed. Let's consider only the requirements for the premises for birds.

The bird is not particularly afraid of cold weather, so there is no point in investing money in insulating an outbuilding. You can use inexpensive building materials, or you can even build a barn from improvised materials: wooden boards, slate, etc. can be used. But there should be no drafts in the poultry house, which provoke a number of diseases in geese. You also need to make sure that the room is ventilated.

In the cold season, domestic geese should not sleep on the bare floor, as well as in the warm season, but if in the summer the bedding is laid in a thin layer, then in the winter this layer should be warm. To prevent the occurrence of infectious diseases, the litter is changed daily. It is best to use straw as bedding. An alternative option is sawdust and sunflower husks.

We must not forget to set aside an area in the poultry house for young animals and equip the barn with all the necessary equipment, which includes drinkers, feeders, and nests. It would be a good idea to set aside an area for storing feed and equipment. If the building is permanent, then you can store feed in the attic. It is worth mentioning that a building with an attic will be warmer than without it. If the structure is not solid, then the attic may collapse. In this case, it is better to set aside a place for storing food in the room itself, but it must be isolated from birds.

Poultry house dimensions

Before you start building a barn for birds, you need to think about how many birds you plan to keep. To make birds feel comfortable, you need to provide them with at least 1 square meter. m of living space. At this stage, you should think about not only how many specific birds will be kept in the first year, but also what the maximum number of birds is planned in the future.

You definitely need to think about what the height and width of the building should be. Since the goose is a small bird, it is not necessary to build a high room, but the barn will need to be systematically cleaned, so it is advisable to build the structure in such a way that when it needs to be cleaned, there will be no difficulties. You must not forget to equip a special hole through which the bird will return home, otherwise you will have to keep the doors of the poultry house open throughout the day.

Conditions for keeping geese in the summer

Geese are often bred for fattening during the summer season, since such rearing is the most economically profitable. It does not require a poultry house - it is enough to have a fenced area for walking or equip a canopy by the lake.

The birds' habitat must be provided with drinking bowls, feeders and nests. It is optimal if there are areas with grass for walking and ponds. Meadows with alfalfa, legumes and clover are most preferred, but geese also eat wheatgrass well. But they prefer to avoid sedge and some other plants.

For each little gosling, 1 square meter is enough. m of walking space, but as they grow, the needs increase, and in adult specimens they are already 15 square meters. m on the head. In a dacha or household setting, such areas are usually unavailable and it would be optimal to keep them in an enclosure with food supplied.

A pond can serve as a good source of green food in the form of algae, as well as shells and small fish. However, with such a diet, it should be taken into account that infections are often introduced along with aquatic food. Then the bird is treated with antibiotics, but over time its body gets used to this lifestyle and ceases to need treatment.

Feeding birds with compound feed during summer walking can be reduced to 1 time per day (in the evening). Geese themselves come from the meadow or watering hole for the evening feeding - they can remember the way home.

Did you know? The ability of geese to eat weeds is used in the USA on cotton plantations. These birds do not like cotton crops, but they consume other plants well. A flock of 25 geese successfully clears a 10-hectare field of unwanted vegetation.

Walking area

Raising geese at home requires having an aviary of impressive size. In this case, you need to carefully select a place for arranging the enclosure.

Birds feed mainly on grass, but not all grass is suitable for geese. In addition, the quality of the meat depends on what the goose or goose eats. The diet of birds should include clover, nettles and dandelions. It is advisable to sow these plants yourself in the paddock for walking.

In addition to the fact that the walking area should be fenced, it is advisable to equip it with canopies, under which the birds can hide from the heat. It is advisable to make the canopies portable. Birds eat grass faster than it can grow, so it is advisable to change the location of the walking area several times during the season. There should always be drinking bowls with clean water in the walking pen.

When industrially rearing geese, cage housing is acceptable. Cages are expensive, but you can make them yourself. Caring for birds growing in cages is more difficult, since they will have to be fed several times a day, and building cages will take a lot of time and money. When cage breeding and keeping geese, it is better to opt for broiler breeds: in a few months they gain 3-5 kg.

Setting up a swimming area

If there is no body of water nearby, containers with water are placed on the walking area. The number of these containers depends on the number of birds. It is best to make an artificial lake. The construction of such a lake is a labor-intensive and costly process; moreover, the size of the site does not always allow for a lake to be built on the territory.

You can make a place for birds to bathe using an old bathtub or similar container. To do this, dig a hole in the area, the dimensions of which correspond to the size of the bathtub, then place the bathtub at the bottom of the hole and cover it with earth. Upon completion of work, the upper edge of the bath should be flush with the ground. If the sides protrude above the ground, it will be uncomfortable for the bird to swim. The water in such an improvised pool is changed every day.

Drinkers, feeders

It is permissible to build a feeder with your own hands. Boards, old pipes and other available materials are suitable for production.

The following requirements apply to feeders:

• they must be safe for birds;
• suitable for the type of food (wooden - for dry formulas, metal - for wet formulas, plastic - for milk formulas).

The main condition is that for comfortable feeding, the size of one feeder should not be less than 15 cm. The optimal placement height is 25 cm above floor level.

Drinkers are divided into the following types:

1. Nipple. Equipped with a drop eliminator, it provides a dosed supply of liquid. The downside is that the nipples get clogged quickly.
2. Bell-shaped. It has a built-in valve and allows you to control the amount of water; it requires connection to a central water supply.
3. Vacuum. It is easy to make, but the water in it heats up quickly.

It is necessary to monitor the quality of water in the drinking bowl. It should always be fresh and not freeze in winter.

Choosing poultry house equipment

To ensure that keeping geese at home does not cause trouble, you need to choose the right equipment for the poultry house. First of all, this applies to feeders and drinkers. In order not to collect feed throughout the house, the choice should be made on feeders that have high sides. It is also important to correctly calculate the number of feeders: if there is a crowd near the food trough, then most of the food will end up on the floor.

Wooden troughs are best suited for dry food. Wet food should be poured into metal containers. If feeders for wet mash are usually placed on the floor, then it is better to hang troughs for grass along the wall. Separate feeders for mineral fertilizing are also installed on hills.

If you want to save money, you can build wooden feeders yourself. To do this, you will need a diagram that you can make yourself, wooden boards, a hacksaw and a hammer with nails, and you can use old pots and bowls of a suitable size as drinkers and feeders for wet mash.

In the cold season, warm water is systematically added to the drinking bowl throughout the day.

Arrangement of nests

The poultry house must have nests for geese. This design is very simple, so you can build it yourself. They make nests from boxes or drawers, improvised materials (plywood, for example). Boxes must be made of thick cardboard. To make it comfortable for the goose to sit on the nest, the front wall of the box or drawer should be lower than the back. The hen does not always sit on the nest; in this case, its location should be changed.

Depending on the breed of goose, the size of nests for geese may vary, but on average, the width of the nest is 40 cm, length and height - 60 and 30, respectively. The front wall in the nest is lowered by 7-10 cm. In order not to make one of the walls in the nest shorter, you can build a ladder along which it will be convenient for the goose to enter the nest.

It is very important that the goose feels comfortable in the nest while hatching eggs, so it should be located away from doors and windows, if any. The goose nest should have a thick layer of straw. Change the litter in the nest as needed. It is needed so that the eggs do not break when hitting the bottom of the nest.

Where to start breeding geese

First of all, you need to decide on your main goals. It could be:

• rearing for meat;
• fattening for healthy fat;
• sale of liver;
• getting fluff;
• sale of eggs.

The “heavier” the breed, the faster the bird gains slaughter weight - for example, Kholmogory geese grow up to 4 kg in just 60-65 days

The breed is selected in accordance with the direction of interest. Most often, poultry is kept for meat. But here, too, everything is ambiguous. Depending on the type of productivity, taste qualities can vary greatly - some birds are quite fatty, others, on the contrary, are too “dry”. Some breeds gain optimal slaughter weight in 2-4 months, but there are also those that will have to be fattened for more than six months.

Taking into account the breed characteristics, it is necessary to take care of the conditions of keeping birds at all stages of development: from egg to slaughter. This must be done before purchasing the first livestock, and not later!

Temporary mobile or stationary shelters are made for young animals, they fence off a walking area, and think through approaches to the reservoir.

Next comes the purchase of feed. Their volume depends on the planned livestock, season, and stability of supplies.

Only when all the preparatory measures have been completed does the farmer acquire his first goslings. Usually this is the purchase of day-old or grown-up young animals. From this moment the troubles directly related to raising geese and their breeding begin.

Breed selection

When breeding geese at home, you first need to decide on the breed of bird. Today, thanks to the tireless work of scientists, there are many different breeds, each of which has advantages and disadvantages. Some breeds are valued for their meat production, others for their milk production. Some birds gain weight quickly, others more slowly, so you need to figure out for yourself for what purpose the bird is being purchased.

Today the most popular bird breeds are:

• Adler (meat-oriented);
• Vladimir (meat and egg);
• Toulouse (meat);
• Danish leghart (egg-oriented);
• Kholmogory meat (focus);
• Governor's (egg-oriented).

There are also breeds that are valued for their high quality down (Vishtines, for example). In addition to high-quality silky down, geese of this breed have good meat productivity (6 kg for geese and 7 for ganders).

I would also like to say separately about the Hungarian breed. The peculiarity of these birds is that their liver weighs up to 600 g with a total bird weight of 5-6 kg. The Italian white goose has the same feature, but its average weight is 2-3 kg higher than the body weight of the Hungarian goose. Another interesting breed, which was born after crossing a goose and a domestic duck, is called mulard. Mulards are valued for the high taste of meat.

Less popular are French Landish geese, Pskov, Demidov, Pskov bald, Tatar, Rhine, Emden, and large gray geese. But these breeds have their own advantages. So, for example, the egg of a large gray goose weighs 175-180 g. Chinese white goose, Nile, sukhonos, and Bashkir also deserve attention. And this is not the entire list of highly productive breeds.

Features of choosing a breed

When choosing a breed, you should pay attention not only to the general characteristics of the bird, but also to its habitat. So, for example, Arctic geese, whose homeland is the Arctic, are able to withstand severe frosts, so they can be bred in areas with harsh winters. It is advisable to first inquire what breeds of geese are cultivated in a particular region.

You also need to determine the purpose of raising poultry. Broilers, for example, grow quickly, so they are profitable to raise for meat.

There are also decorative breeds of geese. These are usually small birds with unusual plumage, which are kept not for meat or eggs, but as yard decoration. The black or gray color looks unusual and interesting. The most striking representative of decorative breeds is the ribbon goose. Its body weight is 5 kg, egg production is 20 eggs.

Before purchasing goslings, it is advisable to first ask for advice from a person whose profession is related to breeding birds.

Comments:

• Nadezhda A / 9.1.2018

  I kept geese for one season. The main thing is to protect them all from death for the first month, then they become strong enough so as not to shake over every gosling. But this is provided that there is grazing, water and there is no overcrowding of the herd. If I were to take up geese for profit, I would rather breed young animals for sale, but not keep them myself. As it turns out, I’m getting very used to them.

• Oleg / 10/21/2018

  The main thing in poultry breeding, including geese, is the sale of products. To make a profit, you need to establish sales. But I think so. that goose meat will be in demand.

• Igor / 10/21/2018

  It is a wonderful idea to raise geese. The meat of this bird is tasty and nutritious. will always be in demand. You can also open retail outlets to sell this meat directly, without intermediaries. Family matter...!

Methods of breeding geese

If the house for the geese is ready and the breed has been chosen, you can start breeding geese at home: you can purchase goslings, or you can hatch the goslings from eggs using an incubator. For beginners, the first option is more suitable, since removing chicks from the incubator is associated with a number of difficulties. First of all, you will have to purchase expensive equipment that may not be needed in the future. In addition, practice shows that eggs hatched by a goose have a higher hatchability, so it is better to breed geese at home by incubating eggs. Purchasing incubators is only advisable if you plan to sell chicks and poultry meat, but you must first calculate the profitability of such an event.

Buying chicks

The best place to buy chicks is to go to a nursery. Experienced poultry farmers do not recommend purchasing birds at markets. This is due to several factors. When buying chicks from a nursery, you can be sure that the bird has good genetics: nursery specialists select the best representatives of the breed for crossing. Also, when buying chicks at the market, you cannot be sure that this is a representative of the exact breed for which it is passed off as.

Before you buy goslings, pay attention to their behavior. Choose those pets that are active. Be sure to look under the tail of the young animals. It must be dry there, otherwise there is a high probability of infections that lead to gastrointestinal disorders.

It is best to purchase goslings that have reached a week of age. At this age, young animals quickly adapt to new conditions.

Natural hatching of chicks

If geese are kept in a poultry house for the purpose of further breeding, it is necessary to arrange nests in the optimal quantity.

Nests can be made from plywood or wicker baskets with bedding changed frequently. Those geese, as a rule, have one nest, located in an insulated place away from direct sunlight, preferably in a separate room from the rest of the birds. Optimal dimensions of the nest:

• height - about half a meter;
• length – 65 cm;
• width – 40-50 cm;
• threshold height – no more than 10 cm.

The average incubation period for eggs is about a month. Usually the chick hatches on the 28th day.

The most common egg breeds of geese

Read

Decorative geese. The two most beautiful breeds

More details

Caring for young animals

Caring for geese at home involves feeding the birds, cleaning the house and maintaining a certain temperature in it. For the first 3 weeks, baby geese are kept in a box, providing additional heating in the room. The air temperature should not fall below 28-30°C. After 3 weeks, lower the temperature by 7-8°C. After another couple of days, we transfer the young animals to the poultry house.

They begin to feed the young animals porridge mixed with pre-crushed boiled eggs. They opt for wheat and oatmeal porridge. Gradually add finely chopped herbs to the food. Carrots are added to the diet of monthly goslings, which are first grated. In order to start feeding your livestock with fresh grass as early as possible, you need to start growing it in a greenhouse in early spring. Clover is especially useful for young animals.

Month-old goslings can begin to be released into the pond, where they look for food. The diet of these waterfowl must include duckweed. If there is no body of water nearby, then additionally give the birds duckweed.

Change the bedding in the birds' cages as needed, ventilate the room daily without creating drafts.

Features of winter and summer care

In the summer, the geese are given a long walk. To do this, it is recommended to equip them with a spacious enclosure where they will spend most of their time. No special care is required in summer.

Many people are interested in how to care for geese in winter. During the cold period, poultry will need an equipped, bright and dry room that will be warm. It is important to ventilate it regularly. Warm water is added to the drinking bowl to prevent it from freezing.

Breeding geese can be a profitable business

Care for adults

Caring for adult geese is not difficult. The main thing is to provide fresh and clean bedding in the house and give the birds time to eat and drink.

As for the diet, it depends on the bird’s lifestyle. When kept outdoors, the diet of geese consists of pre-chopped corn cobs, chaff (oatmeal, millet or wheat), clover flour, sugar beets and potatoes. Vegetables are given to birds so that there are no disturbances in the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. The daily requirement of clover flour for an adult goose is 300 g; corn cobs and chaff give 200 g per day. In addition to the main feeds, they provide mineral supplements (shell rock, chalk). Such nutrition is sufficient if the bird eats grass while walking. If it is not possible to build a walking area, you will have to mow the grass yourself. An adult goose needs 1.5-2 kg of grass per day.

Geese should be fed no more than 2 times a day. It is advisable to feed wet mash in the morning, and grain crops in the evening.

Feeding geese in winter

Unfortunately, in winter it is not possible to feed geese with grass, so many people decide to stab adult geese before winter. But poultry farmers involved in breeding geese must leave a certain number of adults for breeding. In addition, not all breeds are early maturing, and birds do not have time to gain maximum weight before winter.

Oats are best suited for winter feeding. This grain crop contains almost all the microelements necessary for birds and does not lead to obesity, but corn, which is also good food for birds, can cause obesity in birds.

In addition to oats in winter, you can give birds hay prepared in the autumn. Drying grass for hay should not be done in direct sunlight, but in the shade, otherwise most of the nutrients contained in the grass will not be preserved. You should also carefully select grass for making hay. They still choose the same clover, nettle, quinoa, cereals and other succulent herbs. You can feed hay dry or steamed with boiling water.

In addition to hay, silage made from corn stalks is included in the winter diet of birds. You can also make silage from broad beans, but to ensure that the winter diet is no less complete than the spring one, silage, hay and concentrated feed interfere.

You can pamper your birds with dried branches of fruit trees tied into small brooms. You should not put such brooms in feeders. They should be hung around the house. It would be a good idea to enrich your diet with dried seaweed, ground into flour. They also add pine needles to the diet, which are harvested in autumn, winter and early spring. In summer, the needles are too hard and contain less nutrients. Before adding pine needles to the feed, grind them to a powder.

Nutritional features and what to feed when breeding for meat

Geese are fed wet, dry and combined feeds. Dry food should not be given frequently, as this can cause blockage of the esophagus due to lack of fluids.

Basic nutrition should consist of the following components:

• green grass and algae;
• vegetables;
• silo;
• meat and bone meal or crushed shells;
• lactic acid products.

Half of the diet of meat geese for sale should be green mass, to which soybean or sunflower cake and crushed grain are mixed.
Basically, two methods are used for fattening meat:

1. Fast . To quickly gain weight, broilers are limited in their movements and fed mainly with corn, oats and wheat.
2. Lugovoy . This method is the most economical and requires a pasture overgrown with grass.

With a well-chosen diet, the slaughter of early maturing breeds can be done in 60–70 days.

Breeding work

Breeding geese at home involves breeding work. You can, of course, buy young animals on the market every year, but this is not profitable, especially if we are talking about a small business. In addition, breeding work can also be considered a business.

The first thing to do is to select a pair of geese for breeding. These must be individuals with good genetics and excellent health. It is important that the goose and gander are not relatives: this will negatively affect the genetics of the offspring. Since the goose independently chooses the gander, it is necessary to monitor whether the intended family is developing. If not, then we are looking for another male. It is best to choose a gander for breeding work that actively protects the flock.

When choosing a gander for your tribe, you should pay attention not only to its genetics, but also to its appearance. The bird must be large, have 10 flight feathers on each wing and 10 feathers on the tail. A male who cannot fight back other birds from the flock is not suitable for breeding work.

The bird does not always want to hatch eggs. If the goose does not sit on the eggs, they can be placed on another hen. You can do the same with ducklings if, after incubation, the hen leaves the newborns. But at the same time, it is not a fact that another hen will accept someone else’s offspring.

Egg incubation

When conducting breeding work, you will have to buy an incubator. When choosing equipment, you should pay attention to its functionality. To ensure that the incubation process does not cause a lot of trouble, it is necessary to opt for fully automated equipment. We will not consider in detail the existing incubator models on the market; moreover, the model range is constantly being updated with improved options. The consultant of the store where the purchase will be made will help you decide on the right one.

Eggs should be candled before laying. This procedure is called ovoscopy. Ovoscoping of goose eggs can be carried out either using a special device or using similar equipment made independently. But, given the not particularly high price of ovoscopes, there is no point in wasting time on building a homemade device that works as accurately as the factory one.

The broodstock should include only healthy individuals. In addition, they must have good genetic data.

Breeding goslings

When forming a breeding herd, the best gander and 3-4 females are selected. Since geese are not very productive in terms of egg production (compared to other farm birds), and the gander can deprive some of its friends of attention, 2-3 flocks are usually organized to increase the number of fertilized eggs. Each family must be placed isolated from each other, otherwise clashes between males cannot be avoided.

Eggs are collected and stored in a cool place for no more than 12 days; with each subsequent day, the hatchability rate decreases greatly

Geese begin laying eggs at the end of February. During this period, it is recommended to raise the temperature to +10 ℃, increase the duration of daylight hours to 14 hours and adjust the diet. Such activities significantly improve egg production and the percentage of fertilized eggs.

The collected incubation material is placed under the goose or an incubator is used. In the first case, no farmer intervention is required. On the contrary, it would be correct to protect the hen from stress (loud sounds, pets, bright light, etc.) by placing her in a separate room with an individual feeder, drinking bowl and bathing container.

Not all geese are good brood hens; with some breeds you can’t do without an incubator

When using an incubator, you must adhere to the manufacturer's recommended values. They may differ for different devices.

The first goslings hatch on the 28th day, by the 30th day the incubation is complete.

The babies are left in the incubator until completely dry. After this, the umbilical cord is cauterized and placed in a brooder. Further care of the young comes down to feeding, maintaining the microclimate and proper walking at an older age. There is no need for any drinking or vaccinations! When good conditions are created, even “incubator” goslings practically do not get sick.

As is already clear, breeding geese is not too difficult and a very exciting activity that even an inexperienced farmer can cope with. If the site allows your pets to freely walk and swim, then it is recommended to start getting acquainted with poultry farming with geese. The profitability of this small business is significantly higher than any other direction in private household plots. In the worst case, you can always bring the profitability to “zero”, but not remain in the “minus”, as often happens, for example, when raising broiler chickens. This is why goose farming has gained immense popularity in recent years.

Feeding poultry before slaughter

Before stabbing geese, you need to ensure that they gain the maximum possible weight. Accordingly, several months before slaughter, birds begin to be fed more intensively. In this case, the diet remains practically unchanged, only the portion weight changes. So, for example, the daily requirement of potatoes increases to 100 g. In winter, and experienced poultry farmers begin to fatten birds already in January, add oil to carrots, include grass meal in the diet, and provide root vegetables.

It is worth paying attention to store-bought feed intended for fattening birds. Despite the fact that the cost of good food is quite high, it justifies itself.

How much a bird weighs before slaughter depends not only on how well it was fed, but also on the characteristics of the breed.

How to create ideal conditions for breeding and maintenance?

Geese do not have great demands on living conditions. A regular poultry house will suit them. The base can be made of wood, brick and other building material. One of the requirements for the place is dryness. The roof must be dense and not allow water to pass through. It is better to make the floor from wood; this is the most suitable material for this bird. Nests should be located along the edges of the building, away from feeding and drinking areas. Adequate ventilation and building area should be ensured. If the flock feels discomfort, the geese will lay eggs worse and the ganders will behave aggressively.

Diseases and their treatment

It is impossible to know everything about geese diseases. As a rule, treatment is carried out with the help of antibiotics, which can only be prescribed by a doctor, so you should not even try to self-medicate. Most often, these birds experience colds, problems with the gastrointestinal tract (blockage of the esophagus, for example), rickets, cloacitis, stomatitis, goiter, enteritis, aspergillosis, salmonellosis, colibacillosis, cholera. Geese are also susceptible to attack by parasites. Down-eaters spoil goose feathers and cause problems with the gastrointestinal tract, echinostomatidosis and worms.

What you cannot do is self-medicate. At the first symptoms of disease, you need to consult a specialist. It is extremely difficult to make a diagnosis on your own, since many diseases have similar symptoms. In almost all diseases, the bird eats poorly, flaps its wings, does not get up and wheezes, and foamy mucus appears from the beak. And some diseases can destroy an entire herd in a few days.

Prevention against viral and infectious diseases consists of providing birds with proper care during maintenance. Colds are most often caused by drafts. Problems with the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract are caused by bacteria that grow in dirty feeders, so you cannot leave wet food in the feeder for a long time: it turns sour, and bacteria multiply quickly in such an environment. To prevent the growth of bacteria, after each meal, remove leftover food and wash the feeders. Also, problems with the gastrointestinal tract can be caused by birds swimming in a dirty pond.

Also, as a preventive measure for diseases, it is necessary to systematically treat the poultry house with disinfectants, and to minimize the risk of parasites appearing on the body of birds, they are given ash baths.

Common diseases

Geese are susceptible to diseases that affect waterfowl.

The most common diseases are the following:

1. Coccidiosis . This disease often affects young goslings. It manifests itself in the form of diarrhea, which causes dehydration and exhaustion of the body. Renal coccidiosis affects the kidney canals - in this case, affected individuals lose activity and appetite, sit with a ruffled appearance, which also leads to severe exhaustion. Coccidiostats (Baycox) and sulfonamide drugs are used for treatment.
2. Pasteurellosis . This dangerous disease quickly affects the bird and often leads to its death. In this case, the goose barn is quarantined and all sick birds are slaughtered. Treatment is carried out with antibiotics and sulfonamides.
3. Paratyphoid . In adults, the disease can pass without any symptoms, but goslings do not tolerate paratyphoid easily. Severe diarrhea, conjunctivitis, exhaustion, breathing problems appear, and the chicks begin to limp. Death occurs within 3-4 days. Paratyphoid fever is treated with antibiotics such as tetracycline and nitrofuran, but treatment does not bring results in all cases.
4. Helminthiases . Geese can become infected with trematodes, cestodes, and nematodes. They are treated with anthelmintics and Ivermectin.

At low temperatures and drafts, birds can become ill with viral diseases that cause inflammation in the frontal sinuses and sinusitis. Antibiotics are used for treatment.

Non-contagious diseases of geese include hypovitaminosis, which occurs due to a lack of essential vitamins and minerals.

Interesting Facts

Let's look at some interesting facts about birds. Few people know how long geese live. With proper care, the life expectancy of these birds is 20 years. But until this age, almost no one keeps geese, since egg production decreases significantly with age, and the meat of old birds is tough.

Although the bird that lives at home is not particularly eager to be released, do not forget that geese can fly, so it is worth clipping its wings, otherwise in the spring you may lose your feathered pets.

The maximum weight of a domestic goose recorded to date is about 12 kg. Even some world records were set by geese. So, for example, a goose can withstand frost of -110°C. Not a single animal in the world, not even a polar bear, is able to withstand such low temperatures. There is also a record related to age. The lifespan of one bird from Great Britain was almost 50 years.

A wild goose flies at an average speed of 75 km/h. Maximum flight speed is 90 km/h. And if the flight range is far from the record values ​​of other birds, the height is impressive: these flyers rise 8-9 km. Such indicators allow geese to fly over the Himalayas. Before departure, the birds gather in flocks and, after having rested, set off. The air temperature over the Himalayas drops to -40°C, which makes flying over them difficult. But the birds successfully overcome all difficulties, following a leader who knows the area, after which they stop to rest and only then continue on their way. It is noteworthy that birds fly without a map, and at the same time never lose their way.

What do geese get sick with?

If you keep geese improperly and do not follow the rules of hygiene when breeding at home, you will get such a frequent and unpleasant problem as infections. They can destroy the entire herd and make the meat unfit for consumption.

speciesA species is an evolutionarily established set of individuals characterized by a single... infections and predators:

1. Viral enteritis.
2. Cholera.
3. Paratyphoid.
4. Aspergillosis.
5. Calibacillosis.

In order to avoid diseases, you need to promptly treat the walls of the poultry house with lime, monitor and remove infected individuals from the flock, prevent contact with other flocks and promptly treat your birds.

Another danger of quickly losing young individuals is predators. If the bird is not strong enough and the predator is large, then during the night only one animal can destroy up to a hundred goslings. The main pests include:

1. Ferret.
2. Weasel.
3. Marten.
4. Rat, etc.

To combat them, special traps are installed.

Hatching eggs - what conditions should be created for the hens?

With the natural breeding method, it should be taken into account that one hen can produce 13-14 birds due to the large size of the eggs. If you use a hen for breeding birds, select a dry, well-ventilated, draft-free room for hatching. The temperature inside should be maintained at 14-15 degrees. To organize a nest, select a separate place in the goose coop. To train geese to lay eggs and protect eggs from being trampled, lay boards along the wall, with a bed of straw or sawdust.

Keep the hens separately from the flock. This is due to the fact that other geese can lay eggs in the incubated clutch during the absence of the hen, in which case the brooding process will be delayed, which will negatively affect the further development of the chicks. Make sure the nest is always dry. If an egg breaks, remove it; wipe the remaining eggs if they get wet. Geese have a highly developed maternal instinct; they can transfer the eggs of other hens to themselves while they are away. With a large number of eggs, it is more difficult to heat them all at the same time. In addition, the likelihood of their damage increases. Therefore, if there are several hens, fence each one off with a partition.

If the hen leaves the nest, you need to make sure that she returns to it without confusing it with the neighboring one. If the hen is absent from the nest for more than 20 minutes, drive her back. Feed the hens selected grains and change the water daily. Hens take care of their offspring independently, transferring eggs for uniform heating.

The chicks hatch after 28 days. The hatched chicks are placed in a separate box and provided with heating. When all the chicks appear, they are placed in the nest with the hen. You can add to them several chicks that appeared in the incubator. It is better to carry out replanting in the evening.

Incubation is an alternative method of hatching chicks

Incubation of goose eggs is more difficult than for chicken eggs, since the eggs are larger and contain a lot of fat. A good result is considered if 70% of the goslings have hatched. For successful incubation, adhere to the following rules:

• Select eggs for the incubator that are no more than 10 days old;
• Only healthy eggs with ideal shape should be selected; they should not be washed;
• for disinfection, a solution of potassium permanganate can be applied to the eggs with a spray bottle;
• Before placing them in the incubator, warm the eggs to a temperature of 39 degrees 3-4 hours before placing them in the incubator;
• after laying, maintain the temperature in the incubator at 38 degrees for the first 4-5 hours, then reduce it to 37.8 degrees;
• to prevent dehydration of the embryo and the inner shell from drying out, maintain the air humidity in the incubator between 60 and 65%;
• to avoid the accumulation of harmful gases, after 15 days after laying, periodically open the incubator to ventilate it;
• so that the eggs are heated evenly and do not stick to the mold or mesh, they need to be turned 6 to 8 times during the day;
• since the air exchange in goose eggs is 12 times more intense than in chicken eggs, organize proper ventilation to avoid oxygen starvation of the embryos;
• two weeks before the chicks appear in the incubator, lower the temperature to 29-30 degrees every day for an hour, this will make it possible to get rid of excess heat.

If the incubation rules are followed, the chicks appear a month after being placed in the incubator.

If you plan to raise goslings without a brood hen, the temperature in the room must be 26 degrees. The growth and survival of chicks depends on access to feed and water. If the goose coop is crowded, the chick may not reach the feeder and die of hunger. For 10 goslings, at least one square meter should be allocated.

Read an interesting article - Little Dove: how to go out in an apartment.

How to avoid diseases in geese - preventive measures

Breeding geese requires compliance with the rules of care and proper nutrition. The following preventive measures are recommended:

• provide space for birds to move;
• promptly change the bedding and water in the drinking bowl and swimming containers;
• regularly clean the feeders and gooseneck;
• treat the room with lime;
• install containers with ash and sand, add potassium permanganate to drinking bowls to get rid of skin parasites.

Beginning farmers often encounter diseases in geese, especially in young animals. Viruses can also infect adult geese. With poor quality care, poor heating of the room, drafts, and lack of vitamins, the following diseases are possible:

1. Rickets – lack of vitamin D, insufficient exposure to the sun. Manifests itself in slow growth, softening of bones and beak, lethargy, thin egg shells. It is necessary to add foods high in vitamin D, fish oil, and yeast to the menu.
2. Paraphyte is a contagious disease that affects young goslings and leads to 95% of the death of the young. The disease occurs due to vitamin deficiency, poor quality maintenance, and overheating. Treated with antibiotics.
3. Yolk peritonitis - the disease affects only geese. The disease is provoked by the presence of large amounts of protein in food, poor handling, and timidity. Causes inflammation of the peritoneum and intestinal loops. It is difficult to treat, since the disease is poorly understood.
4. Poisoning. Causes: moldy food, fertilizers, poisonous plants, etc. getting into the stomach. Symptoms: cramps, thirst, vomiting, loose stools. Symptoms are relieved with vegetable oil, water, and herbal decoctions.
5. Echinostomatidosis. The disease is caused by trematodes and echinostomatodes, which appear in the body of birds when they eat frogs and tadpoles. Symptoms: weakness, diarrhea, loss of appetite. Treated with Bithionol and Phenosal.
6. Cholera is an infectious disease caused by pasteurella. Parasites can be transmitted through water, air from small rodents, sick birds, or poor quality of care. The disease is accompanied by convulsions, weakness, poor appetite, and fever. Most often it affects young individuals. Treated with antibiotics and sulfa drugs.

Some diseases cannot be cured, therefore, in order to reduce the risk of diseases, you need to keep the goose barn clean, provide high-quality feed, change the water in a timely manner and ensure that the flock is allowed to walk. With proper care you can achieve high productivity.

Rules for keeping parent stock

The quality of the breeding stock is especially important on the farm. Replenishing the parent flock is a responsible matter. The best individuals need to be selected for it.

To do this, poorly developing specimens should be discarded in stages.

1. At one day of age, puny, inactive goslings are excluded.
2. At 8 weeks of age, individuals are excluded taking into account the quality of physique, plumage, and growth.
3. At 26 weeks of age, the best specimens are selected based on the sum of indicators.

For optimal breeding, select three times more geese than ganders.

Care is not particularly difficult. For the development of immunity, housing conditions from the first days of chick development are important. It is important to take into account three component factors: features of the premises, feeding and care.

Premises requirements

Firstly, the flock needs an appropriate room, which should have high-quality lighting, including the use of artificial sources. With a lack of light, egg production decreases .

Important requirements for the premises are cleanliness, dryness, and regularly replaced high-quality bedding (sawdust, shavings, straw).

Main elements of the home:

• feeders, drinking bowls;
• nests;
• litter;
• passage hole;
• container for water treatments.

A corral should be set up near the premises. Along its walls, install boards with fresh bedding for laying eggs.

It would be useful to arrange a reservoir with regularly changed water. Breeders note a direct connection between wet plumage and the hatchability of goslings. Birds grow faster in the fresh air.

If necessary, disinfection is required. Area per bird: approximately 1 m².

To avoid skin diseases, you need to offer the birds a trough of ash twice a week . “Bathing” in it and then cleaning the feathers protects geese from parasites.

The habitat of young animals should be reliably protected from visits by predatory animals (rats).

Feeding

Geese eat food quite often due to their increased metabolism. The first feeding is carried out immediately after the chicks dry out. To stimulate, you can tap on the feeder, this helps attract them.

Within a month and a half after birth, meals should be 6-8 times a day. It includes different products:

• Mash: ground grain, wheat bran, boiled potatoes, chopped grass.
• A mixture of lactic acid products.
• Hard-boiled eggs and finely chopped (can be mixed with chopped green onions).
• Constant access to water and mineral supplements (feeding) are required. However, do not forget to ensure that the chicks do not choke or drown.

From one month : green food and grain are found. And also bone meal, shells, gravel. Small animals should be included in the food: frogs, worms, beetles. Peas that are pre-soaked for 10-12 hours and chopped are useful. Kids also love corn porridge. The drinking bowls are increasing. Bowls are recommended as mini-ponds. When raising young animals, new feed elements are introduced gradually in small volumes.

Lush grass and bathing water are a pleasure for geese and a growth stimulant.

Adult birds eat a lot of grass (up to 3 kg). As well as tops, root crops, mixed grains, silage. It is profitable to breed geese, as they happily eat leftover vegetables (beets, pumpkins, potatoes, carrots).

It is optimal to eat green grass directly from the meadow (nettle, clover, dandelions, sorrel, alfalfa), as well as algae.

Required equipment:

• feeders are long, with high sides, to prevent food from spilling;
• mangers for grass to prevent it from being trampled;
• drinking bowls (ideally automatic drinking bowls).

Important rule : to avoid water freezing in winter, it is poured hot.

Care

To protect against winter cold, good, insulated rooms without drafts are needed. A special flooring of up to 30 cm is installed on the floor. In summer, geese are comfortable in enclosures with canopies to protect them from sunlight and rain.

The optimal temperature for chicks is 28 degrees with a gradual decrease to 22. From 21 days old, individuals adapt to natural conditions. The warmth of their plumage and fat layer save them from the vagaries of the weather. At temperatures up to 15 degrees below zero they feel comfortable.

Care in the process of breeding geese includes preventive measures against diseases:

• cleanliness of equipment and premises, change of water and bedding;
• sufficient space;
• high-quality food, clean water;
• timely walks;
• treating the breeding site with lime;
• adding potassium permanganate to drinking water and baths;
• rubbing sulfur into feathers to protect against lice;
• the use of ash in the fight against parasites.

Geese are not afraid of the cold, but of drafts!

Common diseases of geese: rickets, paratyphoid, aspergillosis, vitelline peritonitis, cholera, poisoning.

In general, geese are hardy. They walk in the fresh air in any weather, winter and summer. They are only in the goose barn at night. They are ready for independent grazing upon reaching 2 kg of live weight .

Geese love “water procedures.” Birds are well oriented, find food and their way home. To prevent them from flying away, their wings are clipped as adults.

Geese love space, walks, and movement.

With good care, geese gain weight from 100 grams of day-old chicks to 5-6 kg (some breeds up to 10) after 5 months. By 12 months the weight doubles.