FOOD AND CARL OF GO5LING5. 41 



After the Goslings are Hatched. 



Whatever method of hatching is used, the goslings should be kept warm and quiet after 

 exclusion, and for the first few days. Mr. Cushman thought it better to remove goslings at 

 once from the egg chamber and place in brooder. With hens it is well to remove the goslings 

 as batched to a flannel lined basket kept in a warm place, until the hatch is completed, when 

 they may be given to the hens that are to br^od them. It is best to remove the hen from 

 the nest, and give her a box large enough to let her turn about and give the goslings a chance 

 to get from under her and move about a bit, yet not get away and get chilled. With a goose 

 mother the goslings may be let alone, and as they are generally much stronger when hatched 

 by a goose, are not so likely to suffer from slight exposures. 



Except for the precautions to be taken during the first few days, the care of growing 

 goslings is as simple as anything can be. I give here first statements as to care and feeuinj, 

 from several of our best authorities, and following these a few comments from my own more 

 limited experience, and from observations made in sections where the growing of geese is 

 generally carried on. 



Food and Care of Goslings. 



Ration I. " The first two or three days keep them in a warm place and give a little soaked 

 bread and water. In nice weather turn them out in small enclosures which can 

 be moved every day. After a week let them go. The first four or five weeks 

 give nothing but stale bread occasionally, but always leave them at liberty to get 

 all the grass or clover they want. Do not soak the bread, as they do not like It so 

 well. After five weeks give a mash of two-thirds bran and one-third corn meal. 

 To fatten after six weeks, feed one-half bran, one-half corn meal ; do not feed it 

 sloppy. Never allow goslings to go to the water until fully feathered, and then 

 only let those go which are to be kept for breeders." NEWMAN. 



Ration II. "Goslings are better off if they get nothing but tender grass and water the first day 

 they are out, or before they are forty-eight hours old. The next day they may be 

 fed two or three times, but very lightly, with scalded cracked corn. This is prob- 

 ably as good food as can be given from then on, provided they have at all times 

 an abundance of tender grass to eat, and the amount of cracked corn fed is such 

 as will leave them always hungry for grass. An exclusive diet of grain or dough 

 without plenty of grass, or too great a quantity, even with grass, will spoil them 

 cause them to lose the use of their legs, and die. If grain is fed sparingly while 

 they are young, grass being three-fourths of their food, few will be lost. To 

 make the best growth^they should have succulent green food before them while 

 they can see to eat. If shut in for a short time morning or evening, or on a 

 stormy day, they should have a continual supply of freshly mown rye, oats, clover, 

 or corn fodder. Otherwise they will fret and lose much weight. When the 

 object is to raise show birds of great size and frame at maturity, it may be best to 

 feed oat meal, gluten feed, and bran liberally, as well as corn and grass or clover; 

 but there will be less uniformity under this feeding, and more will be lost." CUSH- 

 MAN. 



Ration III. " They need plenty of green food; and soft tender grass, rye, or other growing 

 grains should be freely fed. A good green run is really one of the necessary aids 

 to the proper growth of young goslings. While many of the old timers disbelieve 

 in the feeding of grain to young birds, we strongly urge that they be fed regularly 

 three or four times a day, as much as they will eat of a mixture similar to that 

 which is fed to the young ducks. This, in addition to the green range will cause a 

 growth that will astonish the natives, and yield a profit to the producer. The 

 young, as well as the old, need free access to stores of grit and shell. While not so 

 timid in disposition as ducks, they should be kept free from disturbance, and all 

 possible pains taken to keep them contented and happy; contentment means 

 growth, and growth means profit." POLLARD. 



