8 4 



Rearing and Marketing of Geese. [may, 



be cooped out with the hens that have hatched them, in the 

 same manner as chickens, and during the first week or two fed 

 at the same intervals. For the first few days they may be fed 

 on biscuit meal (or soaked bread), mixed with a good proportion 

 of well-chopped dandelion leaves. This may be changed to 

 Sussex ground oats and boiled rice at the third or fourth day ; 

 by the end of the first week they will have made considerable 

 progress as grazers, and their rations will consequently not re- 

 quire increasing in the same proportion as those of other growing 

 stock. By about the tenth day they will be able to do without 

 any brooding, and the hens may be turned out and brought 

 into condition for laying again. On a suitable grass range 

 they will then make rapid progress with a comparatively small 

 allowance of bought food. 



If for early marketing their grass range should not be too 

 extended, and they should not be allowed to enter swimming 

 water ; in addition to the grass, the supplied food should con- 

 sist of two moderate meals daily of a soft food mixture, for 

 which purpose barley meal, middlings, and a small proportion 

 of brewer's grains may be used. Goslings thus treated should 

 be in good killing condition well under three months. Those 

 intended for the autumn market should be run free during the 

 earlier months, or may, during part of the time, be folded on 

 turnips, being more closely confined for the last month before 

 killing and fed on meal and brewers' grains. When run on for 

 winter fattening they should be allowed the same liberty and 

 treated in the same manner as the old birds from the time 

 they are feathered, being confined to a roomy open-fronted 

 shed a month or five weeks before killing, and allowed two full 

 meals daily of soft food in the morning and corn in the after- 

 noon — the grain being fed in the water troughs with a good 

 supply of grit. It is also necessary to keep the fattening birds 

 well supplied with green food during the period of their con- 

 finement. 



Killing and Preparing.— The birds must be sufficiently fasted 

 before killing. I have always found killing by dislocation of 

 the neck to be the best method, and it has the great advantage 

 of being cleanly, but in the case of large birds, or where there 

 is a doubt as to the strength of wrist, it, should not be attempted. 

 The alternative method is to pinion or lock the wings over the 



