46 



THE GAME BREEDER 



An Old Orchard — a Good Place for Geese. 



BREEDING CANADA GEESE. 



H. S. Little. 



In April, 1904, I bought my first pair 

 of Canada geese. They did not breed 

 the first year, as I did not get them 

 early enough to have them get accus- 

 tomed to the range; the next spring 

 the goose laid five eggs which hatched 

 and were all raised. 



I have been increasing my flock by 

 adding pairs of breeders and now have 

 a number of pairs that have been breed- 

 ing for the last few years. 



We have about five acres in an old 

 orchard with a brook running through 

 it about ten months of the year, and 

 an artificial pond at the lower end, the 

 geese are kept here the year round ; 

 they feed on the low ground near the 

 brook and do not require grain, except 

 when the grass is covered with snow. 

 We allow them to nest as they please; 

 some pairs will nest near the pond, build- 

 ing up a pile of grass and weeds ; others 

 will use shredded wheat cases that we 

 put out for our ducks to nest in. 



I have tried taking the eggs away and 



placing under hens, but with no success, 

 as the geese never laid a second clutch 

 and the hens did not raise as many gos- 

 lings as the old geese would. 



Our geese average about five eggs, 

 some will lay seven, but that is the 

 largest number I ever had. 



The young are very hardy; they will 

 follow the old geese a few hours after 

 they are hatched. On our range they 

 do not require feeding, as they gain rap- 

 idly on grass alone. Sometimes I give 

 them one feed a day of Spratts' Patent 

 game meal for a week or so to give them 

 a good start. Of course, on some ranges 

 grass would not be sufficient; then I 

 should feed the game meal and cracked 

 corn as they got older. 



I pinion the youngsters when a few 

 days did, using a sharp pair of scissors 

 and cutting the wing just beyond the 

 first joint or elbow; if not pinioned they 

 will fly at about ten weeks. 



We have had very good luck in mating 

 our geese. In fact, we have never had 





I 



