SUCCESS WITH POULTBY 



23 



for breeders. Oats and barley are better. The way I feed 

 is this: I take some boxes about eight inches deep and put 

 in the oats or whatever grain T want them to have. These 

 J. place in the pasture, away from other fowls, and invite 

 them to help themselves. One need not be so eareful in 

 feeding th,em. as in feeding ducks and other poultry. You 

 can not spoil their appetites, and by putting the boxes of 

 grain in the runs they get a good run and a light feed, and 

 . are in no danger of overfeeding. T should not advise you 

 to feed corn in this way. &ive them corn only in the 

 hardest weather, when it is storming or there ■ is so much 

 snow they can not go foraging. Toulouse geese need only 

 enough water to drink, none to swim in. 



When in proper condition young geese will lay from 

 eighteen to twenty-four eggs the first season, and old geese 

 will lay f^om thirty to thirty-six and even forty eggs in a 

 rels in out-of-the-way places and cover them with rubbish, 

 rels in out-of-tht-way places and cover them with rubbish, 

 having straw or litter of some kind inside of them. Some 

 of the geese will begin laying in February, and they will 

 find the plates provided for them. We gather the eggs 

 every day, but avoid disturbing a goose when she is on the 

 nest, and we always arrange the nest as nearly as possible 

 the same as we found it. Always leave a nest egg — any 

 kind will do. A goose will cover her egg with the nest 

 material, and in winter instinct teaches her to bury it deep. 



Young geese seldom get broody the first year. We sel- 

 dom let a, goose sit, but break them up as soon as they be- 

 come brooay. We put an extra gander in a yard by him- 

 self away from the other geese. Into this yard goes the 

 broody goose or geese. Her nest is destroyed, or if it Is in 

 a barrel or box it is moved to a. new position. In f&ur 

 or five days turn the goose out, and in most ca.'ses shu has 

 forgotten she wanted to sit and goes to work again. In 

 this way we keep, the geese busy laying eggs,, and a' large 

 common hen attends to the hatching for her. 



We set our geese eggs in crews. On the fifth or sixth 

 day w« test the eggs, and discard all infertile ones. The 

 same rule follows the hatching of geese eggs as hens' eggs, 

 except .the geese eggs needs a little more moisture on ac- 

 count of large thick shells. It takes thirty days to hatch 

 them. 



Feeding the CrOsliKgs. 



The first two or three days keep them in a warm place 

 and give them a little soaked bread and water. When the 

 weather is nice turn them out in a small enclosure which 

 can be changed every day or so. Use boards six feet long 

 and twelve inches wide. After a week let them go — and 

 then their foster mother's trouble begins, for the little gos- 

 lings do not care a snap for her calling. They are off hust- 

 ling for every spear 6f grass, and she has to go after them. 

 Her business is to keep them warm at night and warm them 

 in the day time if they get chilled. 



The first four or five weeks give them 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 them 

 a mash of two-thirds bran and one-third corn-meal. If you 

 wish to fatten them, after six weeks feed one-half bran and 

 one-half cracked corn, but do not let it be sloppy. Never 

 allow goslings to go to water to swim until fully feathered, 

 and then only let those go that you wish to keep for breed- 

 ers. Any of them will do as well if they never go swimming. 

 During this period you must keep the old geese away, as 

 they wul fight the hen and molest the young. 



It will sometimes happen that you will hatch and raise 



a gosling with a broken wing. It is no serious fault at all; 

 only a malformation in the egg. If it is a nice, large, prom 

 ising bird do not kill it nor be apprehensive that it will 

 breed broken-winged birds, for it will not. If the looks of 

 it be unpleasant to you take a sharp knife and sever the 

 crooked part at the joint. Bandage it and it will soon heal 

 and you will never note the difference afterward. You will 

 generally find such to be the largest birds. 



Ooslings, when nine and ten weeks old, weigh from 

 twelve to fifteen pounds. That is the best time to market 

 them, as they will bring more money then than in the fall 

 and winter and you have no trouble fattening them. The 

 first green geese in the New York and Boston markets this 

 year brought from eighteen to twenty-five cents a pound, 

 and now, when nine months old and not weighing much more, 

 they bring from fourteen to eighteen cents. Will you not 

 agree with me that they are profitable to raii?e? I do not 

 generally paint things in the brightest colors, and I do not 

 advocate everybody going into goose culture. You can not 

 raise geese as you do chickens and ducks — on an acre lot. 

 They must have a pasture. It is a wrong belief that geese 

 or their droppings will kill grass or destroy a pasture, i 

 will explain this as follows: If you have a large flock of 

 geese and a small pasture they will^ clean it up, that is, 

 they will eat the grass as fast as it sprouts and give it no 

 chance to grow, just as a cow on a city lot will soon have 

 only bare gi-ound and you will- have to tie her out in the 

 road. If you could do the same with geese you would find 

 the grass coming again and growing as before. 



To provide a good pasture for geese for the late fall, 

 winter and early spring, plow a piece of ground in Sep- 

 tember and sow it to rye. It will make good picking for 

 them in the winter and provide them with a good living in 

 the early spring before the grass comes in the pasture. 



Geese are as profitable as either ducks or chickens, but 

 you can not raise them in such quantities. But you can 

 raise quite a flock in a season and make it pay. Have no 

 fear of glutting the market. Green geese always find a 

 ready sale, and there is a good demand in the fall and win- 

 ter. Their feathers are an item worth considering, but do 

 not pluck your geese twice a year and expect them to be 

 good breeders. A goose so treated will not lay as early, 

 nor as many, nor as fertile eggs as one that is left alone 

 to go through the changes naturally. Always send your 

 fowls to market properly dressed. Never send them alive. 

 The difference in the price of the carcass and the feathers 

 will pay you three-fold for the extra work. 

 Diseases of Geese. 



Geese are easier to raise than any other fowl. Ther,e 

 is no mortality among the young stock from disease. Dame- 

 ness is the only ailment with which T have had to contend. . 

 It is caused by too close, confinement, unwholesome food, 

 too warm housing, and close quarters in the fall. Let your 

 geese stay out under a shed with some litter under them in 

 the hardest winter weather, and they will be more vigor- 

 ous than those closely housed. 



To treat' lameness, proceed as follows: If you notice 

 one that is rather bad, put it by itself in a dry;, t)lace,and 

 give light food (stale briead) and water. If it shows signs 

 of fever and diarrhoea, give a tablespoonf ul of caster oil- t)y 

 hOiUing its, beak open and working it down its throat. -TJe- 

 peat the second day if it is no better. 



Do not mistake the common crown goose for the Tou- 

 louse. The following is a short description of the Toulouse: 



Head, large and short, especially in the gander; color, 

 dark-gray; beak, reddish-flesh, not pink; eyes, dark brown, 



