CARE OF BRLLDING GLLSL HATCHING GOSLINGS. 39 



turnips, etc., with oats or barley and bran. Corn is generally too fattening, and most breeders- 

 are very sparing in feeding it. Herewith are given the rations of several well known breeders- 

 of geese: 



Ration I. " Through the laying and breeding season, in addition to grass, they should be fed 

 twice a day with shorts and corn meal, equal parts, thoroughly moistened with 

 cold water, but not too wet lest it produce diarrhea; add ten per cent of beef 

 scraps, or its equivalent." RUDD. 



Ration II. " Take some boxes about eight inches deep, and put oats or barley in them. Place 

 these in the pasture away from other fowls. There is no danger of overfeeding 

 grain if the geese have pasture. Give corn only in coldest weather when it is 

 storming, or there is so much snow that they cannot go foraging." NEWMAN. 

 Ration III." Torn out on pasture from June until fall; feed no grain while grass is available, 

 then feed lightly of oats and whole corn. After February 1st, give full ration : A 

 mixture of corn meal, shorts, beef scraps, boiled potatoes, or turnips in the morn- 

 ing; whole grain in the afternoon." WILBUR. 



Geese usually begin laying late in the winter, or in the early spring. Not many lay while 

 there is snow on the ground. When the goose is ready to lay she is apt to seek out a nest for 

 herself, and having once selected a place is impatient of any interference with her laying habit. 

 The goose, as a rule, looks for a somewhat secluded place, and as a pasture often furnishes- 

 few such places, keepers make a practice of providing nests that may attract the geese. Ai> 

 empty barrel placed on its side with a little earth in it to hold it steady and make a foundation 

 for the nest, then a little straw or hay added, is the usual nesting place furnished. Often the 

 geese will ignore these and make their own nest right in the open. 



As geese lay but few eggs it is customary to take them away as laid during the first laying 

 period, and give them to hens to hatch, or place them in an incubator, and not allow the geese 

 to incubate until they have laid a second lot of eggs. 



Hatching Goslings. 



The hatching of goslings by natural methods, whether with hens or geese, differs little from 

 the hatching of other fowls. The points of difference in hatching with hens are those which, 

 depend upon the size of the eggs and the length of the period of incubation. The eggs of the 

 large breeds of geese are very large, and early in the season three will be found enough for a 

 medium sized hen. Later when the atmosphere and ground are warmer more eggs may be 

 given, but it is rarely wise to give more than five large goose eggs to a hen. The period of 

 incubation being thirty days, approximately half as long again as the incubation period for 

 hens' eggs, hens that are not in good condition and free from lice are likely to neglect or desert 

 their eggs. Hence besides taking special care to use hens that are in good condition and to 

 guard against lice, which multiply much faster on a hen late in a prolonged period of incubation 

 than while she is active and robust, it is well to watch the hens very closely after the third 

 week of incubation, and remove any that seem to be losing condition, giving their eggs to fresher 

 hens. 



When geese are used for hatching they may be allowed twelve to fifteen eggs. Usually they 

 must le set where they have been laying. Many growers simply leave the eggs of the second 

 litter in the nest. 



Goose eggs can be tested from the fourth to the sixth day, and the infertiles removed. Test- 

 ing should always be attended to with the early hatches and under hens. With eggs set under 

 geese late in the season it is not so essential, for the eggs usually run very fertile then, and a 

 the incubating goose does not like interference it is as well to let her alone. 



Artificial Hatching of Goslings. Artificial methods are very little used for batching goose 

 eggs. Only a few operators of incubators have had at all satisfactory results with them. One 

 of these, Mr. Samuel Cushman, gave me a few years ago the following points on the artificial 

 incubation of goose eggs: 



" Goose eggs need more drying out than hen or duck eggs, and also need more cooling. When 

 an incubator containing goose eggs is run as for hens' eggs the air cells are too small, not enough 

 of the fluids of the eggs are absorbed, the goslings are glued up, weakly, and cannot get out of 



