PRAIRIE FARMER'S POULTRY BOOK 



Toulouse Geese 



Raising Geese 



Geese are profitable for flesh, eggs and feathers. A goose 

 lays about 40 eggs in a season. When they are sold for hatch- 

 ing the price averages about 50 cents each. Incubation is 

 usually accomplished by a chicken hen, which makes a good 

 mother and brooder for the goslings until they are able to 

 shift for themselves. For the first two weeks the goslings 

 should be fed a mash of equal parts of corn meal, bran and 

 wheat middlings, and about ten per cent of meat scrap with 

 coarse sand for grit. They should have range for green feed 

 from the beginning, and after they are old enough to forage 

 they will need but little feeding, as grass and weeds make the 

 bulk of their ration. An abundance of water is always neces- 

 sary. Geese and chickens do not thrive well together on 

 account of the unclean habits of the former and their 

 pugnacious disposition. Many a choice cockerel has suffered 

 a broken limb or ugly rents in the skin because of their vicious 

 nature. If kept in separate runs or fed on separate grounds 

 some of the objections might disappear. 



It is very difficult, if not impossible, to detect the sex of 

 goslings. When mature, however, it is found that the gander 

 has a sharp, shrill voice, while the goose has a coarse, heavy 

 voice. The male has a heavier, longer neck, and a larger head. 



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