132 MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



bills having 1 serrated edges which enable them to graze. They 

 never need a warm house. An open corrall is much better in Cali- 

 fornia for them and they are not given to disease. Goslings, how- 

 ever, should be provided with shade, as they suffer from heat, get- 

 ting a species of blind-staggers or sunstroke if exposed to the sun. 

 One of the best items of profit to be derived from a flock of Tou- 

 louse geese is the feathers, which are clear gain, costing nothing but 

 the trouble to pick them. Watch them in the fall and spring, twice 

 a year, when they begin to pull out the feathers and throw them 

 away. I know then they are ready to pick. I think it is cruel to 

 pick at any other time. Make cheesecloth sacks which will hold 

 two pounds of feathers. Make them large, as the feathers will curl 

 better if they are not packed together. Hang the sacks on a clothes- 

 line every sunny day for about two weeks, then keep them in a well 

 aired room. Women living in the city will be your best customers 

 providing you let them know you have good feathers for sale. One 

 can get from 75 cents to $1.00 per pound, and can never supply the 

 demand. The breeders should not be picked when they are laying. 



The Varieties 



There are a number of varieties of geese, but the most profitable 

 are the Toulouse, the Embden, and the China. Of the latter there 

 are the two kinds, the brown and the white. The color of the Tou- 

 louse is gray and white and the Embden is white. The Toulouse 

 and the Embden are the larger. A pair of Toulouse have been 

 known to weigh 59^ pounds, and an Embden pair has tipped the 

 beam at 57 pounds. They are great layers of large eggs, of which 

 they will lay thirty to forty a year, although I know a woman who 

 has a goose that layed 70 eggs without wanting to sit. 



In mating, allow two geese to one gander, though they generally 

 pair off and the gander will stay with his actual mate nearly all the 

 time. The gander is the protector of the goose, especially in breed- 

 ing time. He will defend her and her nest fearlessly. 



Hens as Mothers 



It is a good plan to put goose eggs under a hen. It takes thirty- 

 one days to hatch them. Then you want to be on the watch. The 

 hen will sit all right, but when the young ones break the shell and 

 the hen sees a queer, green little creature, with a long, wide bill 

 saluting her, she takes it for a freak of nature, and off comes its 

 head. Not many hens will claim the young geese or hover them ; 

 so take the goslings away as they hatch and try the hens, giving 

 the goslings to a good slow, gentle hen. As soon as she takes them 

 without any fuss there is no danger. If the weather is nice they 

 should be turned out in a small enclosure, which can be changed 

 every day or so. Use boards six feet long and twelve inches wide. 

 After a week let them go, and their foster mother's trouble begins. 

 The little goslings do not care for her calling; they are hustling 

 for every spear of grass and she has to hunt them. Her business 

 is to keep them warm at night and warm them in the daytime 



