162 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



siderable trouble. It is this class of gTowers that is responsible for 

 the idea that goslings are hard to raise. 



As they require so much green stuff, and do so much better when 

 they can crop it for themselves, geese are not adapted to intensive 

 methods, and there are no farms devoted exclusively to the growing 

 of geese. Most of the geese on our markets come from small farm 

 flocks. In a few districts nearly all the farmers gi'ow geese to the 

 number of several hundred each year. Where the industry is con- 

 centrated in this way the goslings are mostly sold young as green 

 geese. Elsewhere most of the product goes to market when full 

 grown at the winter holiday season. 



Those who grow ducks and geese under such conditions that the 

 expense is an appreciable item should always dispose of those that 

 are to be sold before being bred from, as green ducks or geese, as 

 the case may be. They bring a higher price per pound then because 

 they are ready for market at a time when most of the young chickens 

 are small, and there is more profit in marketing them at that age, 

 not only because the price per jDound is higher, but because the 

 weight — though not the meat — is then almost as good as it will 

 ever be. Those who gi'ow ducks and geese for their own tables usu- 

 ally kill a part in the green stage, but save more to be killed when 

 they come to full maturity. If much of the food for them has to be 

 bought they ai'e really more costly then than the soft bird that is so 

 largely composed of fat, but they are much better eating. 



If not killed in the green stage, when about nine to twelve weeks 

 old, it is practically necessary to keep them until full-gi'own, be- 

 cause at about three months of age they molt their " chick " feathers 

 and begin to grow the adult plumage. From that time untU the 

 adult plumage is complete — between two and three months — they 

 are so full of pin-feathers that it is very difficult to pick them clean. 

 They are also usually very poor in flesh during the early part of 

 this period. Most people find the work of picking ducks and geese 

 very tiresome at best. That perhaps is one reason they are not more 

 generally grown for home consumption. They are much harder to 

 pick than fowls and turkej'^s at any time but are easier to pick 

 when full feathered than when young. It is, too, largely a matter 

 of being in practice. If people eat a great deal of poultry of their 

 own production they soon become expert enough in picking to get 

 over the eagerness to avoid a job that goes a little hard. Picking 

 poultry for home use is not as particular work either as picking 

 it for market. If a bird is a little torn the quality is not really 

 damaged, but as the appearance is damaged it must be sold for a 

 lower price. 



Both ducks and geese lay either in the latter part of the night or 

 very early in the day. Ducks are especially careless about laying 

 in nests. A duck wiU often make her nest and fuss around it for 



