MANAGEMENT OF GEESE 1/7 



best quality for the relatively small numbers of fanciers and 

 breeders of standard-bred stock. The usual method of growing 

 exhibition geese is to keep only one breed on a farm, and to man- 

 age them as ordinary geese are managed, except that, to secure 

 the best possible development, the breeder is more careful than 

 the average farmer is to provide abundant pasture and all the 

 grain that the birds can use to advantage. Occasionally several 

 breeds of geese are kept on a farm, but most breeders consider 

 one enough. 



GROWING A FEW GEESE ON A TOWN LOT 



Old geese are so noisy that they are undesirable inhabitants 

 for populous places. In such a place a poultry keeper who wants 

 to grow a few geese often finds it satisfactory to buy eggs for 

 hatching and either dispose of the goslings as green geese when 

 three months old or eat one as he wants it until all are gone. 

 The only difference in handling goslings in close quarters and 

 on farms is in the method of providing the green food. On the 

 farms the birds graze ; on the town lot they must be fed very 

 abundantly with succulent food. They will eat almost any vege- 

 table leaf that is young and not too tough, and they should 

 have such food almost constantly before them. Most people who 

 try to grow geese in a small space injure them by feeding too 

 much grain. If they have had no experience in this line, they 

 suppose, quite naturally, that birds so much alike as the goose 

 and the duck, both in outward appearance and in the texture and 

 flavor of the flesh, require the same diet. When we compare the 

 duck, which lives so largely on grain and meat, with the goose, 

 which makes greater growth in the same period on grass alone, 

 we can begin to appreciate what large quantities of bulky green 

 food the goose needs to accomplish so remarkable a result. 



While the growing of geese in bare yards is not recommended 

 as a paying venture, every one interested in poultry should grow 

 a few occasionally for observation. 



