282 THE PRACTICAL POULTRY KEEPER. 



they are equally fond. After being out a few weeks on the 

 stubble fields they will have added from 2 Ib. to 4 Ib. each 

 to their weight, and are in very good condition for killing. 

 If not then killed or fattened, however, it is bad economy 

 to put them back to mere grazing diet, as they lose weight 

 and become poor again. 



At Michaelmas these farm or country-reared geese are 

 often killed just as they are, as " green " geese. But more 

 'are fattened, upon systems which vary considerably. Some 

 pen them up in a rather dark shed and feed on barley-meal, 

 with some whole barley also in troughs of water. Others 

 fatten on barley-meal mixed with brewers' grains. Some 

 prefer bruised oats in water. 



Among the large goose fatteners of Norfolk and other 

 districts matters are more systematised. Some are hatched 

 in incubators, and reared under brooders, somewhat heated 

 for a little while; but many are bought up from farmers 

 and other rearers round, or from Ireland. Some turn them 

 for a while into turnip fields, where they are fed in large 

 numbers of pens, or sheds kept rather dark. It is found 

 better, where it can be done, not to pen them up suddenly 

 after free range, but to break the change in some such way as 

 this. When penned, some use grain boiled or steeped in hot 

 water, till the last fortnight, finishing with barley-meal 

 mixed with skim milk and a little fat. Others prefer heavy 

 oats, either whole or ground, soaked and given in troughs of 

 water ; this is said to make heavier flesh and less fat. Of 

 the tons of geese now sent over from France, the best are 

 fed in batches of about twenty in a pen, the food being 

 buckwheat given in long troughs of water, the meals being 

 three per day. These are only penned about four weeks, 

 and the flesh is remarkably white. Some green food should 

 always be given if possible, but it is often dispensed with, in 

 our opinion to the detriment of the flesh. 



