Geese. 147 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



GEESE. 



Geese require much the same management as ducks. 

 They may be kept profitably where there is a rough 

 pasture or common into which they may be turned, and 

 the pasturage is not rendered bare by sheep, as is generally 

 the case ; but even Avhen the pasturage is good, a supply 

 of oats, barley, or other grain should be allowed every 

 morning and evening. Where the pasturage is poor or 

 bad, the old geese become thin and weak, and the young 

 broods never thrive and often die unless fully fed at home. A 

 goose-house for four should not be less than eight feet long 

 by six feet wide and six or seven feet high, with a smooth 

 floor of brick. A little clean straw should be spread over 

 it every other day, after removing that previously used, 

 and washing the floor. Each goose should have a com- 

 partment two feet and a half square for laying and sitting, 

 as she will always lay where she deposited her first egg. 

 The house must be well ventilated. All damp must be 

 avoided. A pigstye makes a capital pen. Although a 

 pond is an advantage, they do not require more than a 

 large trough or tank to bathe in. 



For breeding not more than four geese should be kept to 

 one gander. Their breeding powers continue to more than 

 twenty years old. It is often difficult to distinguish the 

 sexes, no one sign being infallible except close examination. 

 The goose lays early in a mild spring, or in an ordinary 

 season, if fed high throughout the winter with corn, and on 

 the commencement of the breeding season on boiled barley, 

 malt, fresh grains, and fine pollard mixed up with ale, or 

 other stimulants; by which two broods may be obtained in 

 a year. The common goose lays from nine to seventeen 

 eggs, usually about thirteen, and generally carries straws 



