MANAGEMENT OF BREEDING GEESE 



fined as well as the other stock. If for any reason 

 it is desired to confine geese to a yard, the effort 

 should be made to provide yard enough so that the 

 geese will have a constant supply of green feed. In 

 a small yard this is impossible. A 2^ or 3 foot fence 

 is high enough to confine any of the common breeds 

 of geese and will also serve for Canadian and Egyp- 

 tian geese if they have been pinioned which should 

 always be done. 



Feeding the Breeding Geese. While the flock of 

 geese may be allowed to pick most of their living 

 from a good grass range during the summer and fall, 

 it is necessary to feed them during the winter. In 

 fact during the summer it may be necessary to feed 

 them lightly on grain or wet mash if the pasture gets 

 short. The quantity of feed necessary for this pur- 

 pose depends upon the condition of the pasture and 

 must be judged by the condition of the birds. 



During the winter, they must be fed regularly. 

 The feed given them should "consist of both grain 

 and some form of roughage. It is necessary to be 

 careful not to overfeed so that the geese will become 

 too fat, for while they should be in good condition 

 of flesh at the beginning of the breeding season, if 

 they are too fat, poor fertility and poor hatches will 

 result. 



Feed. Oats makes the best feed for breeding 

 geese as it is not too fattening. Corn, wheat or bar- 

 ley fed alone is likely to prove too fattening but a 

 limited quantity should be fed for variety. The grain 



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