1904.] Fattening Geese for Market. 459 



Toulouse is also greatly esteemed for its prolificacy and other 

 -qualities. , 



Geese of the larger breeds are of little or no use for breeding 

 until they are two years old, but, unlike fowls and ducks, they 

 are prolific up to a great age. The females may be kept for 

 breeding purposes up to twenty years, but it is not advisable to 

 keep males beyond the age of six or seven years. Of the larger 

 breeds, each breeding pen may consist of one gander and only 



A Toulouse Goose. 



two geese ; but of Chinese, three or four geese may be kept with 

 one male bird. 



If geese have been well fed through the winter they usually 

 commence to lay between the middle of January and the middle 

 of February, and continue laying one egg in every two days 

 until the end of March or middle of April, at which time they 

 become broody. Therefore it is necessary to provide some 

 means of incubating the eggs which are laid during the first few 

 weeks. In some instances incubators have been successfully 

 used for this purpose, but large hens, such as Brahmas or 

 Cochins, can hatch four or five goose eggs, and serve very well 

 for the purpose. They also make careful foster-mothers. 



