THE POULTRY AND EGG INDUSTRY IN EUROPE 33 
PEN FATTENING 
The best way of describing the pen fattening of geese is to describe 
the methods in vogue at the village of Libus, Czechoslovakia. This 
village, situated about 4 miles from Prague, contains less than 1,000 
inhabitants, of which, according to Maria Kuklovia, of the Biological 
Institute, Prague, nearly two-thfrds are engaged in the fattening of 
geese as a trade. 2 The annual production of fatted geese in this vil- 
lage is approximately 200,000 head. Geese are obtained from the 
surrounding territory and carloads are brought in from such foreign 
countries as Poland. Hungary, and Italy. 
Fattening of geese is a family business in which all help, and the 
trade has been passed down from father to son for several genera- 
tions. One person can care for 1,600 to 2,000 geese. The period of 
fattening is ordinarily a matter of three weeks, after which the geese 
are sold and replaced with fresh ones. The geese are kept in pens 
either in the open or under sheds in the courtyards of the village 
houses. These pens in which the geese are confined are approxi- 
mately 15 feet square and hold from 30 to 50 geese. The geese are 
bedded with straw or stand on slatted floors, through which the drop- 
pings fall onto the ground beneath. AY hen bedded with straw, fresh 
straw is added as the old straw becomes soiled, so that by the end 
of the fattening period the straw may be 12 or 16 inches deep in 
the pen. The feeders seem to think that the geese do better on the 
slatted floors than they do on the straw bedding. Troughs for 
feed are placed along the edges of the pens, so that the geese put their 
heads through and eat. Between the pens extend narrow, shallow 
troughs of drinking water. Small sticks of wood float in these 
troughs for the geese to play with. It is stated that if the geese do 
not have these playthings they fight with each other. 
The feed consists of boiled corn, crushed oats, and soaked oats. 
The corn is boiled or steamed in large kettles until it is thoroughly 
soft. It is then placed on the floor and mixed with sufficient crushed 
oats to take up any excess moisture, and is fed in a rather dry, flaky 
condition. When placed in the pens the birds receive, for the first 
three or four days, whole oats which have been soaked and swelled 
in lukewarm water for 12 to 24 hours before using. Then the mix- 
ture of boiled corn and crushed oats is added gradually to the 
swelled oats until -about the tenth day, when the ration consists 
entirely of boiled corn and crushed oats. From the sixteenth to the 
twenty-first day the corn ration is decreased, so that the finishing 
of the birds may be entirely upon swelled oats. The average con- 
sumption of feed is estimated at iy 2 pounds per head per day. 
The gains obtained in feeding vary with the season, which extends 
from May until January. During the spring and summer months 
the geese fed are largely old geese, which do not gain as fast as the 
young geese, although their initial weight is greater. Although no 
actual weights could be obtained, the information was that during 
the summer the gain ran from 2Vo to 3 1 ._> pounds per head in three 
weeks. Thus, an old bird weighing 12 pounds would weigh approxi- 
3 Kuklova. M. Aviculture en Teh.e'coslovaquie. 31 pp.. illus. Prague. 1924. (Czecho- 
slovak Republic Min. Agr.) 
