Geese are one of the most popular types of poultry for breeding and keeping at home. They grow quickly and gain weight, and do not require complex care or expensive feeding.

In nature, the goose is a waterfowl migrant, therefore, flocks settle near reservoirs rich in aquatic vegetation, as well as in floodplain meadows with lush, tall grass.

The room for geese should be dry and ventilated, but without drafts. The area required for an adult bird is not less than square meter for one head. Geese are not afraid of frosts down to minus 10, and some breeds even lower. At the same time, they do not tolerate heat well; if there is a lot of crowding in the summer months, illness and death of the birds is possible.

If you follow these rules, keeping geese is not particularly difficult; it is enough to feed them grain feed twice a day, add bedding and monitor the cleanliness of the water. With this care, by two and a half months you can get a marketable carcass weighing more than 4 kg.

In the summer, geese can be successfully raised not only in a personal backyard, but also in a country house, even in the absence of pasture. You just need to provide them with a spacious walk with access to water and give them fresh grass daily as top dressing.

Breeds of geese for home breeding

The choice of breed depends on the requirements for the bird. Most often, geese are kept for their meat; some breeds, in addition, provide easily digestible fat, large and very delicious liver used for preparing delicacies. Breeds characterized by high egg production are bred to produce not only meat, but also table eggs.

Down is also considered a by-product of geese breeding - it is used to stuff pillows, feather beds, blankets and winter clothing.

In addition, when choosing a breed, you should focus on the conditions of its maintenance, temperature conditions and the method of raising young animals - an incubator or a brood hen. Having studied all these nuances, it is easy to choose a breed of geese that is suitable for specific conditions and meets all the needs of the poultry farmer.

A brief description of the breeds is given in the table.

Breed	Features and description	Live weight of an adult bird (goose)	Live weight of an adult bird (gander)	Egg production, Qty, pcs. in year	Egg weight	Slaughter weight at the age of 2-2.5 months.
	A fighting breed, currently used as a meat breed. Plumage white with gray feathers	6-7 kg	7-8 kg	from 25 to 30	170 g	3.5-3.7 kg
	Meat breed, can be fattened for liver. Well developed maternal instinct. Plumage color white	4.5-6.0 kg	5.5-7.0 kg; liver up to 500 grams	from 45 to 55	165 g	4.0-4.2 kg
	Not large, but very hardy geese, used in crosses to increase egg production. Color gray-white	4.0-4.5 kg	4.5-5.0 kg	from 45 to 70, in some cases up to 100	120 g	3.0-3.6 kg
	Meat breed, can be fattened for liver. Maternal instinct is well developed. Gray plumage	6-7 kg	7-9.5 kg	from 30 to 40 g	175 g	4.0-4.5 kg
	Good combination of egg production and weight gain. Not very good brood hens, requires incubation. Color white	6-7 kg	7-8 kg	45 g average	150 g	3.5-3.8 kg
	The fighting breed is also grown as an ornamental and for meat. The color is variegated, light gray, the body is squat	5.0-5.6 kg	5.4-6.0 kg	from 14 to 17 g	150 g	4.0 kg
	A heavy breed of geese, raised for meat and liver. Plumage gray or gray-white	7.0-9.0 kg	8.0-12.0 kg	from 15 to 25 g	190 g	3.9-4.0 kg

Where to start: eggs or young animals?

Help: the price of hatching eggs and young animals of different breeds can vary greatly, so when planning a livestock it is worth checking the current prices in your region.

It is sometimes difficult for a novice poultry farmer to decide where to start breeding geese. Prices for hatching eggs are usually much lower than for grown goslings, and at first it seems that by purchasing an egg they will save a lot.

Hatching egg of a goose of the "Large Gray" breed

However, it is worth taking into account such indicators as the percentage of goslings hatching and mortality in the first few days. Even experienced poultry farmers may have hatch rates of 80% or less. Beginner poultry farmers sometimes hatch no more than half of what was originally put into the incubator, so sometimes it’s better not to risk it and buy two- to three-week-old goslings.

In addition, independent hatching of birds involves the purchase of an incubator. These costs are reasonable for large planned livestock and further maintenance of poultry per breed. In this case, it is more convenient to buy breeding bird eggs from nurseries that have proven themselves among poultry farmers. Eggs are easier to transport over long distances, they are less demanding on temperature during transportation and allow you to regulate the timing of hatching.

Hatching eggs in an incubator

For successful hatching of young animals, careful selection of hatching eggs is necessary, including external examination, weighing and testing with an ovoscope. Upon external examination pay attention to the following signs:

• shape and size of the egg - elongated, small and too large eggs are rejected;
• no damage or cracks on the shell;
• absence of contamination that can cause infections and death.

Most poultry farmers do not recommend washing eggs before incubation, but they can be disinfected in a solution of potassium permanganate or under an ultraviolet lamp.

It is not necessary to weigh the eggs; just sort them by size. But for a better result, you can weigh them on an electronic scale and compare the result with the requirements for different breeds

Checking with an ovoscope must be carried out. This device will help identify the following shortcomings:

• incorrectly located or movable yolk - normally it should be located in the center of the vertical axis, be slightly shifted towards the blunt end, and move slower when turning and rocking;
• the yolk should not have damage to the shell and mix with the white;
• the air chamber is incorrectly located - it should be small and located on the side of the blunt end of the egg;
• there should be no blood clots or dark spots inside;
• There should be no veins or uneven thickness on the shell.

Any of these signs is a reason to reject the egg, since it will not hatch into a full-fledged chick.

After inspection and testing, the eggs are placed in the incubator. Its design may be different, and its functionality may vary greatly. Incubators, depending on the model, are equipped with automatic temperature and humidity maintenance, rotation and ventilation functions.

For home hatching, birds usually purchase semi-automatic, inexpensive models that require more attention: only the temperature is automatically maintained in them, and the humidity has to be set using special tanks filled with water. In some models, you also need to turn the eggs manually.

Before starting incubation, it is a good idea to understand the operating mode of the device, check the stability of maintaining temperature and humidity, and also provide an additional power source in case of a power outage.

Incubation of goose eggs takes 30 days, and it must be done using a certain technology.

1. Before laying the tested eggs, it is necessary to warm up the incubator for two to three hours and set it to the desired humidity - 70%.
2. The eggs are placed on a special grill for goose eggs and placed in the incubator.
3. In the first few hours, the temperature is maintained at 38-38.5ºC, then it is reduced to 37.8ºC and maintained at this level until the fourth week of incubation.
4. On days 8-9, the eggs are briefly removed one at a time from the incubator and checked again with an ovoscope. They should not appear the defects mentioned above, in addition, the first signs of embryo development - threads - should appear circulatory system and the embryo itself in the form of a shadow. If the appearance of the egg has not changed in 8-9 days, then it is not viable, there is no point in putting it back into the incubator.
5. The regime throughout the incubation process is maintained in accordance with the regime indicated in the table, not forgetting to turn the eggs.

Goose egg hatching mode.

Incubation day	Temperature, ºС	Humidity, %	Turns per day	Cooling eggs by airing
from 1 to 7	37,5-37,8	70	at least 4	no need
from 8 to 14	37,5-37,8	60	at least 6	no need
from 15 to 27	37,5-37,8	60	at least 6
from 28 to 30	37,5	85-90	no need	twice a day for 15-20 minutes

Feeding young animals from the first day to three weeks

Hatched or acquired day-old goslings are placed in a special compartment - a brooder, where the temperature is maintained in accordance with their age, and feeders and drinkers are also placed.

The area of ​​the room must be at least 0.1 m² for each individual, that is, no more than a dozen goslings can be placed per square meter. If this requirement is not met, weak goslings cannot approach the feeder or drinker and gradually weaken even more.

Feeding goslings in the first days of life
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The main condition in the first days of life of the chicks is maintaining the temperature regime. It must correspond to that shown in the table.

day of life	Temperature, ºС
from 1 to 3	28,0-30,0
from 4 to 5	25,0-28,0
from 6 to 7	23,0-25,0
from 8 to 10	22,0-24,0
from 11 to 15	20,0-22,0
from 16 to 20	18,0-20,0

Further, the temperature can be maintained within the same limits until the feathers grow, after which the geese become less susceptible to the cold. The temperature can be maintained using a heating pad, infrared heaters or a convector, while it is also necessary to monitor the humidity, which should be within 66-75%.

It is equally important to feed the goslings properly. In the first week, the chicks are fed at least 6-7 times, optimally every three hours. It is most convenient to feed goslings with starter feed - it has a balanced composition and includes all the necessary elements. You can replace the feed with homemade feed, consisting of a finely crushed mixture of wheat, corn, peas, buckwheat and oatmeal.

The feed is given in the form of a moistened mash, crumbly, but under no circumstances sticky, otherwise the goslings' sinuses become clogged and they may die.

From the third day, a boiled chopped egg, cottage cheese, finely chopped greens - clover, nettle, alfalfa - are introduced. The ratio of protein and herbal supplements to the grain part of the feed should be equal. From the age of one week, goslings can be gradually accustomed to boiled root vegetables, chopped to a size convenient for the chicks.

There must be constant access to clean and warm water. It is best to use automatic drinkers that prevent contamination and spillage of water onto the litter. Additionally, for better growth and development, it is necessary to place a feeder with fine gravel, chalk and shell rock in the brooder.

Upon reaching a week of age in dry and warm weather goslings are gradually accustomed to walks, starting from half an hour a day and increasing the time by 0.5-1 hour daily. Two-week-old goslings in the summer can stay outside all daylight hours.

The selection of young animals for intensive fattening or breeding is carried out at three weeks of age, after which they are separated. The parent flock is transferred to a poultry house with an area of ​​at least 1 m² per head; fattening geese can be kept in a denser scheme - 4 heads per meter.

Intensive fattening of geese

For early slaughter, geese are kept without walking and fed without restrictions with high-quality compound feed with the addition of fresh herbs, the feed ratio is equal. The feed contains crushed grain, sunflower cake, peas or beans, and bran. Table salt, chalk, and shells must be added to it. The grass is mowed daily in the morning, giving it to the geese right in the holding room. The amount of grass may not be limited.

With this feeding, by 70 days of keeping the geese reach a marketable weight corresponding to the breed and are subject to slaughter. It takes about 12 kg of mixed feed and 25 kg of grass-fed green feed to fatten one individual.

Maintenance of broodstock

To create a parent flock, families are formed consisting of one gander and three geese. The composition of the family often remains unchanged, so it is necessary to take into account the nature of the bird and their peaceful coexistence. Fights lead to deterioration in egg production, diseases and injuries, so it is better to transfer a bird that “doesn’t belong in the yard” to fatteners, no matter how promising it may seem.

In the poultry house, it is necessary to create all the conditions for maintaining the parent flock - sufficient area, thick dry litter, absence of drafts. In secluded places at some distance from each other, nests are placed - wooden boxes with hay.

The geese are provided good nutrition, walking and constant access to water. The diet of the broodstock is somewhat different from that of the finishing stock. During the unproductive period - in summer - pasture maintenance is recommended. High consumption of green feed is beneficial for two reasons:

• ganders and geese do not get fat and maintain reproduction;
• they are saturated with vitamins and minerals necessary for fertilization, laying and incubation of eggs.

Combined feed is fed to geese when there is a lack of pasture or poor grass cover, usually in the evenings - this ensures that the geese return from the pasture at the same time. If it is not possible to let the geese out to pasture, they are provided with a sufficient amount of green grass, and feeding is done twice a day: in the morning with wet mash, and in the evening with crushed grain feed.

Feeding geese in winter - photo

Closer to the beginning of the productive period, the diet of the ganders is changed. For high-quality fertilization, it is necessary to include sprouted oats in his diet - 100 grams per gander, and also increase the proportion of grain in the diet to 60-80%. It is also necessary to include up to 20% of plant-based feed in the diet.

Before laying begins, geese begin to occupy the prepared nests, become restless, and sometimes conflicts arise. They usually begin to lay eggs in January-February, when daylight begins to arrive. It is necessary to inspect the nests daily; geese lay eggs more often in the morning, once every two to three days.

Goose in the nest - photo

Eggs must be removed from the nest in a timely manner, especially at sub-zero temperatures. Eggs intended for hatching are marked with a soft pencil, putting the goose number and date. It is not recommended to store eggs for hatching for more than 10 days, and if much more time remains before the planned laying, it is better to eat them.

Natural hatching of goslings

If there is a broodstock, eggs are usually hatched naturally, with the geese taking all care of the eggs themselves. Hatching in an incubator, along with incubation, is practiced for certain breeds that do not differ in parental instinct, as well as in cases where the goose does not sit on the nest.

Choosing good hens is simple: just put several eggs in her nest in advance, not intended for hatching, and watch her reaction. If she sits on a nest, and when a person appears, she does not leave, but begins to drive him away, flapping her wings and making threatening sounds, then she is ready to become a good hen.

After drying, the first hatched chicks are placed in a box under a lamp, the temperature there should be about 28ºC. As soon as all the goslings hatch, they are returned to the hen; at the same time, the chicks obtained by incubation can be added.

Maintaining the size of the parent flock

To ensure that the productivity of the herd does not decline over time, it is necessary to regularly update it. This is usually done once a year, culling unproductive geese and geese, as well as nervous, conflict-prone birds. They replenish their numbers at the expense of young animals, selecting them based on weight gain, character and genetic indicators.

Breeding geese from a hobby can develop into home business, especially with a responsible approach to the choice of breed, maintenance and breeding work, many poultry farmers were convinced of this, starting with a small livestock taken for fattening, and over time expanding the poultry house to the limits of a mini-farm.

Video - Caring for geese at home

Video - Breeding geese

In poultry farming there is such a direction as raising geese. It is not new and has been known since time immemorial. Geese are a historically significant bird; back in the fifth century BC they managed to save Rome from the Gauls, waking up the defenders of the capital at night, who repelled the attack. It is not known for certain when they came into the orbit of human activity, but the fact that breeding geese is profitable is indisputable.

These are the only domestic birds that can within two months of fattening, gain weight up to 4 kilograms. Delicious dietary meat has exceptional nutritional properties. Pilot ace of the Great Times Patriotic War I.N. Kozhedub shared the recipe in his memoirs fast healing wounds tested for personal experience. On the recommendation of doctors, the diet should certainly have included goose meat. The result was stunning; after two weeks the pilot was already in service.

There are legends about the demand for goose liver. In France, and not only, a lot of farms are engaged in this type of business. True, the geese have a rival - this Muscovy duck Mulard breed, which is also raised for foie gras liver. The number of Mulard geese on farms in France 10 years ago was 35 million versus 800 thousand geese.

Healing goose fat and warm down, indispensable components of the growing process, are in steady demand on the market.

Raising geese at home for beginners is not such an impossible task. The size and behavior of an adult bird should not be intimidating. Geese are very attached to the people around them, and usually hiss and defend themselves from strangers. The advantages of breeding domestic geese of various breeds can be summarized in several points:

Having assessed the advantages, one can argue that the mulards have tastier and leaner meat, they are much cleaner and silent. But there are also significant disadvantages that offset the advantages - slow growth, low weight. For example, a female mulard weighs only about 1 kg. Thus, by focusing on raising and caring for geese at home, more effective method use of food supply and time spent.

The goals of breeding geese at home for beginners can be two:

• content for receiving a one-time supply of food products
• keeping and breeding geese to obtain a breeding stock with a long-term prospect of obtaining meat and related products

The first differs from the second in that during the season all efforts are limited to raising birds. The final stage of the process is the slaughter and sale of meat or canning products for long-term storage.

The second option requires a more comprehensive approach to the issue of breeding and includes breeding work to form a productive herd.

How to breed geese

The first step on the way to breeding geese is selection of breed. The choice here is simply huge. Meat breeds are very widely represented on the market. These are Toulouse, Kholmogory, large gray, Lindovskaya. It doesn’t matter what breed, the main thing is to master the technology, breeding and nurturing techniques. Having gained at least some experience, you can then experiment and explore new horizons, even growing the same mulards to obtain delicacies.

Having decided on the breed, you need to choose the option of receiving goslings. You can purchase ready-made daily allowances in industrial incubators. Another way is to use a home incubator and hatch them at home. But for this it is necessary to select the eggs correctly, ensuring the maximum yield of young animals. The egg selection criteria are as follows:

By placing the eggs in the incubator, after 28–30 days we will get goslings, which must be carefully inspected. If congenital defects are revealed during examination, the goslings must be culled. Anything can happen:

• goslings cannot move independently
• one eye closed
• blind
• coordination of movements is impaired

Such goslings will not be able to fully develop in the general herd and require special care, but sooner or later their existence will end in tears, so why condemn them to suffering.

How to raise geese

After the goslings hatch, you need to look after them take good care of. Place in a special place for them, where it is necessary to create a temperature regime in the first week of 30–32 degrees, in the second 25–28 degrees and after the third week with a temperature of 20–25 degrees they are transferred to the general mode. Goslings should be fed from the first day with a mixture of chopped boiled egg with wheat or oatmeal porridge. Starting from the third day, you can introduce chopped greens into the diet, gradually switching to factory-made feed for young animals.

For two weeks, the goslings are fed mash and allowed to walk for 2–3 hours. After the third week, the young animals are grazed for a significant part of the day. Due to the fact that the goose is a waterfowl, it is necessary to provide access to water. It’s good if it’s a body of water, or at least a hole dug in the ground filled with water.

The room in which the geese will be located must meet the following conditions:

IN winter time optimal indoor temperature not lower than 0 degrees. It is easily achievable by insulating walls with any materials available on the market. The flock's own body temperature is enough to keep the building comfortably warm.

Geese find 70 percent of their food under their feet, so walking is an urgent need. Leaving the yard in the morning, the herd feeds on green spaces while walking, and if there is a nearby body of water, they spend the whole day on it, finding all the necessary amount of food there.

It is a mistake to think that this is enough for them. Geese have great respect for grains such as corn, wheat, and oats. That's why prerequisite after they return home from walking, it is the presence of such food in the feeders. When leaving the bird indoors overnight, do not forget to take care of the night food, since the goose, unlike other birds, is not averse to snacking at night.

Root vegetables are also not in last place in the diet of geese. In addition, the percentage of efficiency of feed use, for example, by chickens is 62%, while a goose absorbs feed energy by 75–80 percent, due to which it quickly reaches marketable indicators.

In winter, hay, bran, and grass meal can replace green food for geese. The latter are added to the mash when preparing the daily meal.

Formation of a breeding herd

To create a herd that can effectively work to create healthy offspring, you need to put in a lot of effort. Geese become sexually mature quite late, compared to another bird. This moment occurs after 8–10 months. The positive thing is that despite this delay, the productivity of females remains stable for 3–4 years. Once you have created a breeding herd, you can be guaranteed to obtain healthy offspring over a specified period, through incubation or hatching of eggs.

To carry out fruitful functions, it is recommended to select geese with a weight 10% more than the average for this breed. Select the number of ganders in the ratio of one sire per three geese. True, there may be exceptions in one direction or another. There are possible options for the existence of just a couple. Thus, they are formed families. Depending on the disposition of the heads of families, if they are calm, they can be kept in the same room. Otherwise, separate them into different fences, eliminating the fight for territory.

If there are several breeds of birds in the flock, they must be separated for purity of the species.

Having thus ensured peace and tranquility in the territory, one can hope for good results in the fruitful breeding of geese of various breeds.

Attention, TODAY only!

Unlike chickens, geese do not lay eggs in huge volumes - The average egg production of a goose is 40-50 eggs per year. Basic income goose farm brings at the expense delicious meat, feathers and livers of poultry, as well as through the sale of its droppings for fertilizer.

The principle of choosing breeds for breeding is unpretentiousness, low susceptibility to disease and rapid weight gain. Best meets the specified parameters White Italian, Chinese, Kholmogory and Gray domestic geese. You can have several breeds, since crossing will not worsen the performance of the offspring.

Arrangement of a goose barn and bird run

They won’t cause much trouble, because they are unpretentious and resistant to cold weather. In winter, they can live in an unheated house, but do not tolerate drafts and unsanitary conditions. A plank shed with carefully sealed cracks, a tightly closing door and a leak-proof roof is suitable for a goose barn.

It is advisable to make the floor 15-25 cm above ground level. and cover with a thick layer of straw. The litter should be changed every 5-7 days. The goose barn must be ventilated, and the temperature in it in winter should not fall below +4C - +5C degrees.

The room is built based on the calculation: 1-2 geese per 1m2. Fenced walking areas are attached to the poultry house, the territory of which should be 150-200% larger than the area of ​​the poultry house.

Keeping geese - care, feeding, grazing

In spring, summer and autumn, geese are kept in open grazing pens. The pen is fenced with a 1.5 meter high net and equipped with a lean-to canopy. It is ideal to have a pond in a designated area, but if it is not available, several mini-baths from old bathtubs or basins are installed.

Feeding geese in summer

In the summer, geese feed on a variety of grass in the pastures: nettles, plantain, sorrel, dandelions, etc. In the evening, the birds are fed with root vegetables, vegetable waste, and crumbly grain mash.

Feeding geese in winter

In winter, birds are fed three times a day with grain, silage, vegetable waste, hay dust with flour, cake, boiled legumes, etc. For vitaminization, they give spruce or pine needles.

There should always be fresh water in sufficient quantities in the poultry house, because geese drink a lot.

Breeding goslings

Geese lay eggs in February-March. A month before, the geese are transferred to intensive feeding. At the same time, nests with a height of 30 cm and dimensions of 40x60 cm are installed in the goose barn.

The laid eggs are taken into the incubator or left for the goose, providing her with maximum peace and comfort during incubation. Goslings are born 28 days after laying.

For up to 2-3 weeks, goslings are provided with a warm regime (+25C - +30C) and special nutrition from crumbly porridge, finely chopped greens, eggs and grated carrots. After the third week, they are gradually transferred to an adult diet.

The goslings grow quickly and reach the size of an adult by 10 weeks of age.

Prevention of diseases in geese

Geese rarely get sick if they are provided with proper and certain preventive measures are taken:

Some will be useful nuances of increasing productivity breeding geese:

• There should be 3-4 females per goose in the herd.
• Basically, geese begin to lay eggs in the second year of life, but egg production can be achieved from a 5-6 month old bird.
• The ideal weight for slaughter is considered to be 5-6 kg, after which the bird accumulates excess fat.
• Geese lay eggs at the same time in the morning. The female sits on 5 or more eggs to hatch the chicks.

Costs and income from breeding geese

Goose business - this is a long term investment, the main income from which is felt 2-3 years after starting the business. However, in the first year it will bring some profit.

Expenses

• Construction of a barn and fencing of an enclosure - 100-120 thousand rubles;
• Arrangement of a poultry house and aviary - 40 thousand rubles;
• Purchase of goslings (50 pcs.) – 20 thousand rubles;
• Feed costs in the first year – 25 thousand rubles;
• In total - about 200 thousand rubles.

Income

• Sale of eggs - geese will bring 1480 eggs per year, minus 50 pcs. for breeding, you can make a profit of 21,400 rubles by selling them for 15 rubles. a piece.
• Sale of meat - by slaughtering half of the herd, we get 150 kg. meat for 300 rubles. – profit 45,000 rub. If you slaughter all the geese after three years (after technical development), you will get 400 kg of meat, because... The weight of the geese will increase to 8-10 kg. from an individual.
• Sale of feathers and down - in the first year the income will be about 8 thousand rubles, since young geese shed little, in the future the volumes will double.
• You can sell goose liver separately - from 200 rubles per goose and bird droppings - about 1000 rubles per year.

Total, in the first year you can earn about 80 thousand rubles from 50 geese.

The goose farm begins to produce stable income starting from the third year of operation, but keeping small numbers of livestock is not very profitable. The optimal number of goose flocks for an effective one is 150-200 birds.

Raising geese should begin with identifying the goal, choosing a breed and preparing the poultry house. Most often, birds are bred at home to provide meat and eggs or for the purpose of selling meat and young goslings.

Choosing a Geese Breed

Various geese were bred to accomplish all sorts of tasks. Agriculture and poultry farming in particular. Most common the following types:

1. . An adult male gains up to 10 kg, a female about 8 kg. These birds are capable of laying 40 eggs per year, although the egg production of individual geese can reach 80 eggs. The plumage can be white or gray. Geese of this breed can be raised in almost any climatic conditions.
2. Gray geese typically grow up to 8 kg. The average number of eggs is 40 pcs. Geese are comparatively worse brood hens than other breeds.
3. The breed is one of the largest and fattest, adult birds reach 12 kg in weight (geese up to 10 kg). They are capable of producing up to 40 eggs per year, weighing 200 g each. Inactive, poorly adapted to cold climates.
4. Italian. Their characteristics are similar to Kholmogory geese. They are bred, as a rule, to obtain liver. The breed is distinguished by above-average egg laying (up to 50 pcs.) and early maturity of the young.
5. Kuban geese are relatively small, weighing no more than 5-6 kg. Very resistant to external factors, capable of laying about 50 eggs, weighing 140 g each.
6. Chinese are in great demand among farmers due to their increased level of egg production (the best geese can lay up to 100 eggs per year). The weight of adult birds is 4-5 kg.

Geese and Toulouse breeds are excellent for the production and sale of liver, and for the purpose of obtaining down and feathers, farmers choose Edmen and Rhine geese.

If several breeds are kept on one farm, each of them must be raised separately.

Depending on the chosen goals, the required number of heads is calculated, as well as the area required to maintain them.

The optimal parameters of the poultry house will be the following: height – 2 m and above, area per bird – 1 sq. m.

The room must reliably protect the geese from drafts and precipitation, and the floor must be equipped in such a way as to prevent the entry of rodents. That is, it can be covered with clean, dried straw, sawdust or peat. For one goose you will need to prepare about 40 kg of bedding material. It is recommended to whitewash the inside of the poultry house with slaked limestone.

The health of the birds will be ensured by uniform heating and proper lighting. In addition to piece light, the room should also penetrate Sun rays, for which several windows should be provided.

To breed geese at home, it is advisable to design the poultry house in such a way that it consists of several separate boxes. This will allow you to sort the birds by groups and age.

A huge advantage will be the presence of a green area with a pond where you can walk. For goslings you will need 1 sq.m./1 piece, and for adult birds the best option there will be an area of ​​15 sq. m. For bathing, it is advisable to install a large container with clean water, which should be changed regularly.

Particular attention should be paid to the feeders. They are usually made in the form of a trough, which ensures easy cleaning and uniform feeding of the entire herd. It is advisable to choose a drinking bowl with height adjustment, because, according to experts, its bottom should be several centimeters higher than the bird’s back.

Feeders and drinkers are washed periodically warm water with the addition of 2% caustic soda solution.

Despite the fact that geese survive absolutely normally in poultry houses with temperatures down to -10°C, it is advisable to keep the goose coop warm (optimal temperature is +4°C). This will promote good egg laying and hatching of healthy chicks.

For every 2-3 geese you need to provide a wooden nest with clean and dry bedding.

To prevent skin and feather diseases among geese, it is useful to install a trough in the yard with the addition of sand, ash and feed sulfur. Geese “bathe” in this mass and thus clean their feathers of pests.

What else is useful to know about raising geese

Raising geese at home has several key points that every beginning farmer should know.

After laying eggs (approximately in June), the geese begin a period of molting. At this time, it is necessary to pluck the birds, which is completely painless for them. Thus, the resulting fluff and feathers can be used in the household.

The day before the procedure, the geese are bathed in clean ponds or troughs, and then given the opportunity to clean their feathers. The next day, the birds selected for plucking are not released into the pasture, but are locked in a pen.

Features of feeding geese

Feed for geese is characterized by a relatively high calorie content and the presence of fiber. Due to this, the bird consumes less food, but at the same time grows actively and quickly.

For females laying eggs, the diet should not be limited to grains or mixed feed. In order for them to produce healthy offspring, their food must include fresh green grass, bran, various vegetables, steamed hay, etc.

During the winter, the daily diet of each adult goose should contain:

• grain flour crops - 150g (with an admixture of whole oats);
• legume hay – 100-150 g;
• vegetables (including potatoes, beets and carrots) – up to 0.5 kg;

It is also allowed to add 50 g sauerkraut. Finely ground chalk and gravel should be added to separate containers.

Geese, unlike other birds, can eat food at any time of the day, so you need to monitor the availability of food in their feeders around the clock.

What you need to know about raising geese for meat?

Fattening should begin in August, when young birds reach 3-4 kg of weight.
The geese are given grain feeding several times a day, without stopping grazing.

1.5-2 weeks before slaughter, the birds are placed in closed rooms and fed up to 4 times a day with a mixture of steamed grain. The calculation of grain is carried out according to the formula: 35 g - 1 kg of weight.

Birds are slaughtered for meat on the 70th day of life, when the goose gains 5-7 kg. If you skip this period, the goose will begin to molt and will have to wait until it is 4 months old.

primary goal breeding and keeping geese at home for beginners– obtaining dietary eggs, tasty meat, down and feathers. These birds are quite unpretentious in care and easily adapt to any conditions. Read useful tips and watch a video about caring for geese, then poultry farming will become a profitable branch of agriculture.

Raising geese at home for meat

On average, a goose can gain up to 6 kilograms of its own weight per season, so it is ideal for keeping at home for meat. Meat breeds of geese gain up to 8 kilograms of weight per season and produce about 50 eggs. Despite the unpretentiousness of geese to living conditions for beginners, a number of rules must be followed, namely:

Photo of an artificial pond for breeding geese

How to breed geese at home

When raising young geese chicks, strictly observe the temperature regime in the chicken coop, feed and maintain them correctly. For 10 goslings, an area of ​​about 1 square meter is enough; with a smaller area, it will be difficult to approach the feeder, and the chicks will feed and grow unevenly. And also, due to the tightness, they will begin to overlap each other and can suppress each other.

The photo shows the process of hatching a gosling in an incubator

In the first weeks from birth, goslings for normal maintenance at home for beginners will have to maintain a temperature of at least +28 degrees, and then +18. Incorrect temperature conditions will lead to the fact that when it is hot, the chicks will drink more and, accordingly, eat less, and when it is cold, they will not eat at all. All this leads to the fact that the goslings will die.

In the first days after the goslings hatch, lighting should be around the clock, only dim the light a little at night, although many novice poultry farmers do not know this. Then the daylight hours must be reduced by 30 minutes every day, bringing it to 17 hours in duration.

Photo of a poultry house for geese

Geese are waterfowl, so when keeping them at home for beginners, having a pond is a must. If it is not possible to create a full-fledged reservoir, then a small ditch filled with water or a trough with water, which you change periodically, will do. When breeding geese at home, it is useful to graze on grass, in a meadow, or to arrange a walking area with green grass on the property. If the geese graze, they will need less home feeding.

Walking geese near a pond when breeding in the country

Adult geese begin to lay eggs at 8–11 months, so you will have to build a nest in the poultry house. It is advisable to change the litter in it in the evening, and you need to collect eggs periodically.

Photos of breeding geese for beginners

Most often, geese are slaughtered at 70–75 days; their weight then reaches, after proper maintenance, more than 4 kilograms. During the period of feather growth on days 120–130, it is better to wait until feather growth is complete. This generally occurs at the end of November, when the geese reach their maximum weight.

Feeding geese at home for beginners

For good growth and normal maintenance for beginners, it is advisable to feed geese frequently and leave the food in the house at night. In summer, geese feed well on grass when walking, and in winter they readily eat steamed hay. When bred at home, they are given a diet of bran and grains, such as wheat and corn.

The photo shows a list of breeds of geese for keeping

The photo shows gray geese for breeding for meat

Breeding geese does not require much effort, but they delight with their meat and eggs. For successful growth with keeping geese at home for beginners It is important to follow the rules of feeding, temperature conditions and the size of the living and walking area. Master farming, then you can not only feed your own family, but also start running a profitable business.