24 PARADISE VALLEY POULTRY RANCH 



cialty is made of producing fattened goose livers, weighing from twelve 

 to thirty-two ounces, by cramming geese which are about six months old 

 on boiled corn. Some of these livers are preserved and called "pates de 

 foie gras". 



Before marketing the young geese the average farmer can feed ad- 

 vantageously a fattening ration either on grass range or confined to small 

 yards, but it is doubtful whether it would pay him to confine them to in- 

 dividual or small pens and make a specialty of fattening unless he has a 

 special market or retail trade for well-fattened stock. Young geese are 

 in fair demand from June to January, while the demand is usually best at 

 Thanksgiving and very good at Christmas. Ten-weeks-old goslings of the 

 largest breeds of pure-bred geese weigh as much as ten pounds if forced 

 for rapid growth, and may often be marketed at this age to advantage. It 

 is said to cost from three to six cents a pound to raise geese to eight to 

 ten pounds weight. 



Geese are usually killed and picked in the same manner as other kinds 

 of poultry. They are generally stuck in the mouth with a long-bladed 

 knife and then stunned by a blow on the back of the head with a short 

 club. The wings are picked to the first joint, and the feathers are removed 

 from the neck halfway to the head. The soft pinfeathers and fine down 

 may be partly removed by rubbing the body with moistened hands or by 

 shaving the skin. Geese may be steamed after killing by hanging on hooks 

 in the top of a steam box or barrel, which can be made air-tight, and left 

 there until the soft feathers on the breast come off easily. The length of 

 time to leave them in the steam barrel depends on the flow of the steam, 

 varying from one-half to two minutes. The wing and tail feathers are 

 pulled before the geese are steamed. A good method for removing the 

 down is to sprinkle powdered rosin -over the body of the goose and dip it 

 into hot water, which melts the rosin so that it and the down can be,easily 

 rubbed off, leaving the body clean. Geese may also be steamed by scalding 

 slightly and wrapping the body tightly in burlap or cloth to allow the 

 steam to work thoroly thru the feathers. Some markets prefer dry-picked 

 geese, while in other markets no difference is made in the price of scalded 

 or dry-picked geese. 



After the geese are picked they are usually washed and put into ice 

 water for one to two hours to cool and become plump. Many farmers sell 

 their geese alive. When dressed poultry is shipped from the farm it should 

 be first cooled and then packed in clean containers, which can be packed 

 in ice and shipped by express in such a way that the poultry does not come 

 in contact with the ice or drippings. It costs about eleven cents each to 

 pick geese. Goose feathers sell at from thirty cents to one dollar a pound 

 and should be carefully saved and dried. White are worth considerably 

 more than mixed-colored feathers. Scalded feathers are not usually con- 

 sidered of any value, but steamed ones are as good as the dry-picked. 



Nearly all breeders of geese in the South and many in the Middle West 

 and the North pluck the feathers from the live geese at some time prior 

 to molting. Some pick as often as every six weeks during the spring, 

 summer, and early fall, while others pick only once or twice a year, either 

 in the spring or both in the spring and in the fall. Feathers are considered 

 ripe for picking when the quills appear dry and do not contain blood. The 

 average yearly production of feathers per goose is about one and one-tenth 

 pounds. This practice of plucking geese, however, is considered by many 

 breeders to be cruel and injurious. Geese should not be picked during the 

 breeding season. 



