Domestic geese: features of cultivation and breeding. Breeding geese at home - the main steps in building a successful business

For breeding, the herd is completed in the fall, before the first frost. Usually, no more than three geese are bred per gander. If you decide to have a bird only for the summer, slaughtering them in the fall, then buy the chicks in May. Choose active and healthy chicks. Goslings grow very quickly, in two months their weight increases almost 40 times.

The goose is a territorial bird, they become attached to one place and to their master. Therefore, there are practically no problems with their content. They won't run; they won't swim so far away that you won't find them.

In summer, you need to keep it outside: in meadows, near water bodies or in a specially built paddock. Geese should always have drinking water and fresh grass within reach. Birds are driven indoors at night. In summer, geese on pastures practically do not need to be fed. On the walk, they nibble grass up to 2 kg per day, drink water from reservoirs.

They will not eat tall grass, as well as grass from swampy ponds, so they are needed in meadows with good grass. Among the vegetation, geese prefer dandelions, plantains, sorrel, nettles, bindweed and birds. The remains of vegetation after harvesting are also eaten with pleasure by these birds.

In winter, geese should be kept in a clean and dry room, the walls of which are treated with freshly slaked lime. The room should be well ventilated so that dampness does not settle on the walls. If it is too damp, the birds may catch a cold. The legs and beak of geese are the most sensitive parts of the body, so the floor should be dry and warm.

Raise it 20 cm from the ground and sprinkle it with straw, sawdust or peat. The temperature in the room should be at least 0 ° C, if the wintering place of the birds is done correctly, then they themselves will bask due to their dense fluff. Geese are very hardy to cold, so in good weather they can be released outside for feeding.

In winter, birds are fed twice: in the morning and in the evening they give grain and water. The water in the drinkers should be periodically heated during the day so that it does not freeze. During oviposition, when breeding, increase up to 4 times a day.

Geese are slaughtered for meat in December, before the New Year. Then these birds have the highest meat content. Goose meat is very nutritious, it contains a large amount of proteins and minerals. Goose fat is widely used in folk medicine and eggs are perfect for baking.

Breeding geese at home is beneficial both financially and from the consumer side. This is a promising way to replenish family budget by selling not only meat and eggs, but also other components: feathers, fluff, fat. The maintenance and cultivation of a goose herd on a farm does not require large financial investments and energy costs. Birds are unpretentious in care, quickly adapt to any conditions, rarely get sick. The popularity of this direction is due to the intensive growth of young animals. Already after 2 months the bird is gaining a solid live weight. If you start breeding geese correctly, you can succeed in this area in the first year.

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Breed selection and productivity

For beginner poultry farmers, it is important to choose the right breed for breeding.. There are about 40 breeds of geese, differing in egg production, final yield of meat products and keeping conditions. The choice is made depending on the purpose. More often, geese are bred for tasty dietary meat and nutritious liver. The most popular is the meat-fat category of birds.

The table shows the productivity of the most common bird breeds.

These breeds are characterized by consistently rapid weight gain, unpretentious care, and high immunity. In addition, they build up a fairly impressive size of the liver. Therefore, they are often bred in large numbers in poultry farms. If getting eggs is a priority, then pay attention to the Japanese variety.

• In terms of profitability, geese of the Legart and Linda breeds are beneficial. With a low feed intake, 20% below the standard, they rapidly get fat. Already at the age of two months, the gosling weighs about 6 kg.
• The Arzamas breed is one of the oldest, originally listed as a fighting breed. Later she moved to the rank of meat, but she did not lose her former endurance and stamina.
• Gorky specimens were bred by selection in the last century. They are distinguished by equally high egg production and meat productivity. However, geese lack the instinct to incubate eggs.
• The Italian breed is valued for high-quality meat and liver, as well as high egg production. Geese, unlike previous varieties, are excellent hens.
• The breed of gray geese is effective in terms of obtaining a fatty and nutritious liver. Actively gaining live weight. Suitable for the role of hens.
• Kholmogory geese stand out for their beautiful exterior. Along with decent productive indicators, the birds are endowed with a complaisant and friendly disposition. Quickly adapt to environmental conditions.

When mating a Chinese goose and a Holmogor gander or Toulouse, viable young animals are obtained. With an appropriate feeding ration, such goslings are grown as broilers for meat.



Conditions of detention



Summer period

The first option is suitable for getting meat in a small amount, for your own needs. In summer, geese constantly graze on the street, which does not oblige the construction of fundamental economic structures. The main thing is to ensure unhindered access of the bird to vast pastures.

For a short-term corral, it is enough to build a canopy and cover it with a metal mesh. Drinkers and feeders are placed inside.

The most responsible period for the care and maintenance of young animals is the first 60–70 days after birth. If pastures are nearby, goslings begin to be accustomed to walking for 8-10 days. They graze geese in any territory, even swamps, ravines and difficult places for other animals are suitable. For comfortable walking, it is necessary to equip the space, preferably with perennial grass cover. Normally it is necessary for one head: for young animals - 1 sq. m, older than 2 months - 5 sq. m, adults - about 14-15 square meters. m. In the mornings and evenings they are fed with grain.



When growing in the country, it is problematic to release geese for independent grazing. This is due to the lack of sufficient free space nearby. Then they choose aviary content, and the birds are given a ready-made diet. This does not cause any particular difficulties, since already at 3-4 weeks the goslings are able to eat food waste. Usually the goose menu includes grain, feed, vegetables, fresh grass.



Winter Care

The geese are left on winter period for the purpose of obtaining eggs and breeding offspring. To obtain a good result, create the appropriate conditions: light and temperature conditions, a balanced diet. This allows you to increase egg production, preserves the integrity of the eggs for further incubation or incubation.

First of all, a thoroughbred herd is selected, making special demands on the choice of a breeding gander. A strong constitution, healthy plumage, pronounced signs of a meat breed are required. Three females rely on one male. Egg laying occurs at the end of February, but you can change the timing by artificially extending daylight hours. Starting from December, daylight hours are gradually added, up to 14-15 hours. After installing the backlight lamps, the geese begin to rush in 30–40 days.



So that the hatchability of the eggs from low temperatures is not disturbed, they are immediately removed from under the goose, cooled to a temperature of 12-13 ° C and stored for no more than 10 days, while incubation is possible.

Before laying and throughout the female and male are fed with balanced feed compositions according to a specific schedule. Three meals a day are divided as follows: in the morning and in the evening - a mash of wet food and cereals, at night they give germinated grain. They provide for advance fattening of ganders, since they expend a lot of energy and strength during the laying of eggs. As a result, individuals can lose weight. For support physical form include oats, carrots, fish oil and fish bone meal in the diet.

AT winter time walking is not canceled, but the territory is limited, having cleared it of snow cover. An acceptable alternative would be a solarium at the rate of 1-2 square meters. m per person.

Winter maintenance is not limited to receiving eggs as food. In the future, their incubation or natural incubation is implied. It is recommended to use the latter option, since the goose mother is more reverent about her offspring. This increases the percentage yield and safety of young animals. Laying hens are left in the same nests, only fenced off from each other to avoid fights. For the period of incubation, they are provided with food, drink and tranquility to the fullest extent.



If it is not possible to use natural incubation, use an incubator. For home breeding a small unit will do. It creates an optimal temperature regime - 37-38 ° C. If the temperature is lower, then the duration of incubation increases, and the goslings hatch weak.

Requirements for premises and inventory

A stationary poultry house is necessary under the condition of breeding a goose herd all year round, in order to obtain offspring and eggs. If there are no suitable buildings, you will have to start construction from scratch. The work will require wood and bricks made of straw and clay, homemade production. You can use any improvised material, which is always in abundance in the garden.

The ideal design for geese is a spacious box with no gaps. They exclude a draft inside and additionally insulate by puttying and plastering the walls. Geese are not afraid of frost, but the "walking wind" is fatal for them.

The roof is made sloping on one side, covered with roofing material. The floor is trimmed with wooden boards or poured more land to exclude dampness from groundwater. The area is calculated depending on the number of livestock and age. For adults, 1 sq. m per unit. The property is divided into two rooms different area: a large one is used for feeding, in a small geese they sleep.

In winter, the floor is additionally insulated with straw, peat, millet, and sunflower husks. It is important to create for birds comfortable conditions so that there is no dampness and cold, then they get sick and die less often. The litter is changed as it gets dirty, about once every 4-5 days.



The goose house is equipped with quite convenient drinkers and feeders. Wooden troughs are suitable for dry food, metal troughs for liquid food. It is important to provide a free approach to food and water, without crushing. To prevent the litter from getting wet when drinking, drinkers are installed on pedestals covered with a net. Top up regularly in winter hot water so that ice does not form.

In addition to the basic fixtures, it is necessary to have nests for geese. They are made in advance so that by the time the eggs are laid, the goose can adapt to a new place. For nesting, they take any wicker container, whether it is a basket or a tray. If it's normal wooden box, then a removable pallet is placed on the bottom. This makes it easier to remove the eggs.

Feeding

Long-term breeding of geese requires advance preparation of food so that it is enough for the entire cold season. Normally, this is 15–20 kg of hay and 35–40 kg of succulent feed per adult. Any grass or specially planted alfalfa with clover is suitable as hay. Forbs can be ensiled, that is, preserved by fermentation. Of the succulent feed, carrots and sugar beets are popular.



No less valuable will be supplements in the form of tree branches (linden, aspen, birch), needles, dried river plants, acorns. Geese love to eat earthworms, which can be collected in the summer and stored in the basement until the cold weather.

Little goslings are growing rapidly and have excellent appetite from the first days of life. Until the fortieth day, it is recommended to feed babies with mixtures with the addition of wheat bran, boiled potatoes, chopped grass, crushed grain. They are fed with boiled eggs and fermented milk products. Upon reaching the age of one month, you can begin to introduce whole grains, grass, mineral supplements (gravel, bone meal) into the diet. With pleasure, goslings also eat live food - frogs, tadpoles, beetles, worms.

Diseases in geese

Geese differ from the rest of poultry in their stable immunity. They rarely get sick, but under the condition of a competent and caring attitude. Preventive measures against the development of diseases:

Frequent diseases among goose livestock are paratyphoid, rickets, yolk peritonitis, aspergillosis, echinostomatidosis, cholera, and poisoning.

Paratyphoid is considered the most terrible and dangerous disease for young goslings. It is epidemiological in nature and kills up to 95% of young animals. The first symptoms are lethargy, lack of appetite, suppuration of the eyes, liquid stools. It is the result of improper care, lack of vitamins. With a lack sunlight geese develop rickets. Leads to retarded development, softening of the beak and bones. For therapeutic purposes, it is recommended to increase the hours spent on fresh air adding vitamin D to the diet.

Females are susceptible to yolk peritonitis, which occurs in stressful situations and poor nutrition. The focus of inflammation is localized in the peritoneum. The disease is not fully understood, so it is difficult to treat. Prevention is to maintain cleanliness in the house, to protect geese from negative impacts, good food. Therapy is not amenable to aspergillosis - fungal infection that affects the respiratory organs. Some individuals carry the disease on their feet, then it flows into the chronic stage. There is a lethal outcome.



Unfortunately, not all diseases can be cured, even by detecting early manifestations. Therefore, farmers are faced with the task of preventing the spread of infection. It is always necessary to monitor the cleanliness in the enclosures, regularly change the water, give only high-quality feed, and take the geese out to graze in fresh air every day.

The goose business is promising and profitable in many respects. With little investment in initial stage you can gradually expand the economy to an industrial scale. The return on such an investment comes in short term, as the demand for goose products is consistently high. In this way, you can not only make a profit, but also provide your family with environmentally friendly and healthy products.

Poultry farming is a typical and interesting occupation for our latitudes. And the goose is a traditional Russian bird at all. These birds have been kept at home for centuries, and they are bred today. Geese do not bring much trouble, and the benefits of growing them are obvious. How to breed geese in a home or cottage for beginners - we'll talk about this in our review.

Growing features

Growing geese at home For beginners, it promises the following benefits:

Growing geese at home requires raising a quality breeding herd that will be able to reproduce healthy offspring. Sexually mature age falls on 8-10 months, which is enough late deadline compared to other pets. However, offspring can be obtained from the eggs of a good female for 3-4 years. The breeding herd is formed from strong and healthy individuals. Gusakov is chosen so that the mass exceeds the average livestock by 10%.

The weight of the goose should be at the level of the average, it is undesirable if the mass is less. The hereditary and exterior qualities of individuals are also taken into account. When forming a broodstock, remember that males should be three times less than females. Experienced breeders select a pair or several geese for males. A herd of several families can be raised in one place.

If the ganders have a strong temper when they are kept and they defend their territory, then they are separated and organized for each in a small corral. In this case, there are no quarrels in goose families, and high egg production and fertility reign in the breeding stock. To understand the question of how geese are grown at home, you need decide how to breed them.. To get young animals, you can use an incubator, an old one is also suitable traditional method, when in leading role a mother goose appears. We offer you a video about how little goslings are born through an incubator.

Egg rejection

If the eggs are selected correctly, then the goslings are born after 4 weeks of incubation. For this reason, it is necessary to cull out substandard eggs before placing them in the incubator or under the hen. These can be eggs:

• wrong shape,
• With blood clots that are visible when translucent,
• With damage to the shell, for example, with a crack,
• Large with one highly mobile yolk or two yolks,
• With an incorrectly positioned or very large air chamber that can be seen through the light.

It will be easy for beginners to keep geese at home, since they do not need special knowledge and conditions. These birds are resistant to diseases, are unpretentious. Therefore, breeding geese in the country or in your household is a common thing. The main requirement that feathered domestic animals make when breeding is good bedding, which is built from hay, straw or peat. These birds are frost-resistant, since the subcutaneous fat layer warms them well, but the beak and paws are sensitive to cold, so it is necessary to lay bedding in the goose coop.

If you decide to start breeding several breeds of geese, then it is better to place them separately. Please note that geese most they spend time in the wild, so it is not advisable to constantly keep them indoors, since they are able to get the lion's share of their diet on their own.

Room: what should it be?

Breeding birds implies a building that must be clean, dry, and light. In order for each individual to feel comfortable, she needs about 1 sq. M. If the room for keeping birds is damp and dark, then this is fraught with frequent colds. The following feature should also be taken into account: evaporation of water, from about 10 heads - 2 liters. This suggests that it is necessary to establish good ventilation. The floors of the room are lined with wood or filled with clay, the main condition is dryness, since the geese spend the night on the floor.

In winter, the temperature in the room should be at 0 degrees. The walls and ceiling of the goose house are insulated with mineral wool, other sealed material is also suitable, in which case additional insulation is not required. Optimum temperature will be maintained by the heat coming from the bodies of birds. Periodically ventilate the room in winter to avoid stale air, which can cause diseases. To do this, release the geese into the yard for a short time.

Inventory Features

In the room it is necessary to properly place the inventory. This will save space and make cleaning easier. For example, it is better to take a feeder with a high side so that the feed is used sparingly. To do this, you can use troughs made of wood or plywood, dimensions based on 15 cm per goose. To avoid quarrels and crush put some feeders. For mineral feed, a separate container 20 cm high from the floor is used; geese eat green food better from a manger that is installed in the wall.

Buckets, troughs and other containers serve as drinking bowls. You can also make your own from large pipes that are installed on special baking sheets. In winter, so that the water does not freeze, heated water is added to the drinker. Nests are installed indoors a month before the expected laying. The size is as follows: width - 40 cm, length - 60 cm, height - 30 cm.

Goose feeding

Successful rearing of geese at home depends on the quality of feeding. If the territory for walking is large enough, then they will not remain hungry. These birds are herbivores, one goose is capable of pluck about 2 kg of grass. Especially preferred are clover, dandelion, couch grass, alfalfa, which grow in abundance in any area. Cereal greens are also used, but geese love it more until the moment of flowering.

Breeding in winter is different in that the green diet is replaced with hay, bran or grass meal. Of course, you will not be full of grass alone, and it cannot satisfy all the needs of a goose. A complete diet consists of grains; birds prefer oats, wheat, barley, rye and corn. They also love root crops such as potatoes, carrots, and beets. The stomach of geese is able to cope with fiber, while for other birds living at home, this is a difficult-to-digest product.

Due to the fact that feed, which contains a significant amount of fiber, is cheaper than others, it is economically profitable to keep geese. The benefit is that geese use the energy of the food they eat better than other birds living at home. Chickens use energy from feed by 65%, geese - by 70-80%. Because goslings grow quickly and without problems. Please note that geese also eat at night, so they need to put feeders with food at night.

In general, there are no problems with feeding geese, especially in summer period when the geese return home from "free bread" only in the evening. Many bird breeders at home release their pets to the plots after harvesting, as they clean the garden well, eating the remains of root crops and greens. The video for beginners shows in detail how geese live at home and what they eat.

Care

The goose is one of those birds that can feed themselves and provide minimal living conditions. That is why they readily bred at home. However, they still need some care.

If you properly care for geese, even in small areas you can grow an excellent herd. For the bird to gain weight well, don't skimp on food, you also need to monitor the conditions of detention. In this case, by the season of slaughter, you will receive a generous reward consisting of delicious meat, fatty liver and fluff.

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

The principle of choosing breeds for breeding is unpretentiousness, low susceptibility to diseases and rapid weight gain. best meet the given parameters White Italian, Chinese, Kholmogory and Gray domestic geese. You can start several breeds, since crossing will not worsen the performance of the offspring.

Arrangement of a goose coop and walking for birds

It will not cause much trouble, because they are unpretentious and resistant to cold. In winter, they can live in an unheated poultry house, but do not tolerate drafts and unsanitary conditions. For a goose house, a plank barn with carefully sealed cracks, a tight-closing door and a leak-proof roof is suitable.

It is desirable to make the floor rise above ground level by 15-25 cm. and cover with a thick layer of straw. The bedding should be changed every 5-7 days. The goose house must be made 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 goose per 1m2. Fenced walking areas are attached to the poultry house, the territory of which should exceed the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe poultry house by 150-200%.

Keeping geese - care, feeding, grazing

In spring, summer and autumn, geese are kept on open pastures in paddocks. The corral is fenced with a grid, 1.5 meters high and equipped with a shed canopy. It is ideal to have a reservoir in a dedicated area, but in its absence, several mini-baths are installed from old bathtubs or basins.

Feeding geese in summer

In summer, geese feed on a variety of pasture grasses: nettle, plantain, sorrel, dandelions, etc. In the evening, birds are fed with root crops, vegetable waste, and a 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, spruce or pine needles are given.

There should always be sufficient fresh water in the 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 30 cm high and 40x60 cm in size are installed in the goose house.

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

Up to 2-3 weeks, goslings are provided with a warm regime (+ 25С - + 30С) 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.

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

Disease prevention in geese

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

Some will be helpful nuances of increasing productivity breeding geese:

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

Goose breeding expenses and income

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

Expenses

• Construction of a barn and enclosure fencing - 100-120 thousand rubles;
• Arrangement of a poultry house and an 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 - in the year the geese will bring 1480 eggs, 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 - slaughtering half the herd, we get 150 kg. meat for 300 rubles. - profit 45,000 rubles. If you kill all the geese in three years (after technical development), you will get from 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, because young geese shed little, in the future, the volumes will double.
• You can sell goose liver separately - from 200 rubles per 1 goose and bird droppings - about 1000 rubles a year.

Total, for the first year with 50 geese you can earn about 80 thousand rubles.

Goose farm starts to bring stable income starting from the third year of operation, but it is not very profitable to maintain small livestock volumes. The optimal number of goose flocks for an effective one is 150-200 birds.

It is very profitable to breed geese in home gardens, not only because they are unpretentious in terms of feed, but also because of the low breeding costs. They are not afraid of cold weather, and as soon as fresh grass appears, they switch to pasture. But you need to make sure that there is always a lot of bedding on the floor. In winter, its thickness is at least 30 centimeters.

The article presents the main features and recommendations for keeping adult and young birds in summer and winter. Also you will find useful information, photos and drawings for self-arrangement of the goose coop.

The building is divided into zones in which ganders and geese of different ages will be kept separately. They are constantly taken out for a walk to maximize egg production. In order for the fertilization percentage to be optimal, there are approximately five females per male.

A good male is capable of fertilization for eight to ten years, and with a decrease in fertility, he is slaughtered for meat. When the breeding season comes, the males are separated, as otherwise fights may begin in the herd. However, in winter they are housed all together, but separately from females.

In the spring, when breeding takes place, each family is kept in a separate pen, and after growing up, all families are united.

The breeding season requires the equipment of additional places for incubation. For this, nests with partitions are made so that the process goes smoothly and without fights.

Egg laying lasts from February to March. They are collected daily and stored at a temperature of 7-13 degrees. In addition, they are shifted, but stored for no more than a month. To obtain the maximum number of goslings, they are placed under the hen ten days after demolition. You should take care of the necessary equipment in advance, which will be needed after the hatching of the young. For goslings, special boxes, cages or boxes for keeping are prepared, heating lamps are connected and feeders and drinkers are equipped (Figure 1).

Note: In productive farms, there are not only geese with a good incubation instinct, but also laying hens. This allows you to maximize the number of young animals.

When the hatching period comes, follow some recommendations:

• It will be better if the females sit at the same time. In this case, the entire resulting offspring will be approximately the same age.
• If some sat down before most, they are not disturbed, but all one egg is laid. When everyone else's instincts begin to show, he is taken away and new ones are placed.
• The laying is carried out in the evening.
• Leaves or wood chips must be placed in the nest, which are covered with fluff.
• Eggs that are intended for hatching are stored vertically with the pointed end down and turned over every day.
• The best time for lining is three to five days after planting, but a break of up to ten days is also allowed.
• 10-12 days after the start of incubation, the eggs are removed and carefully examined with an ovoscope. If there are suffocates, they should be removed.
• On the 28th day they are sprinkled with water. Pecks usually appear the very next day, and after a couple of days - and the whole conclusion.
• Usually, incubation begins in mid-March, but this period depends on the conditions of detention and the weather.

goose

For one adult or six goslings, square meter area. When breeding replacement young animals, they are placed twice as densely. In summer, the number of birds is less, and in winter - more.

Note: A large flock will lead to increased mortality, and chicks will experience a delay in sexual development. In addition, crowding and lack of sunlight causes pecking and plucking of feathers.

When choosing a site for construction, preference is given to dry and flat areas with a slope to the south. The slope can be done independently by pouring a little rubble. To prevent the penetration of groundwater inside, drainage grooves are broken around with access to collecting wells.

Features of building a poultry house include(picture 2):

• Material selected depending on weather conditions. For example, the thickness of wooden walls is at least 22 cm so that they do not freeze in the cold.
• The interior of the walls make it smooth (you can use plywood or plaster) for more convenient cleaning in the future.
• Walls and ceiling inside, before planting, they must be whitewashed with lime.
• roof consists of four layers of wood chips and two roofing material and is insulated to prevent heat loss in the winter.
• Overall window size equal to one tenth of the floor area.
• To prevent the window from accidentally breaking, it is sheathed from the inside with wooden slats or metal mesh.

In addition, a solarium is being built. This is a special area with a slight slope for walking. It is surrounded by a one and a half meter fence so that the birds do not fly out. If in climate zone homestead farming is dominated by high temperatures, in the solarium they equip a bathing area with a depth of 30 and a width of 100 centimeters.

For free movement on the paddock, a special hole with a ladder is cut. Near the entrance, a small vestibule is equipped to store the necessary things.

The lining also plays an important role. Its presence makes it possible not to clean the litter daily. In addition, chemical processes take place in it, due to which heat is released and maintained in the room. And thanks acidic environment causative agents of some dangerous diseases die.

To cover, you can take leaves, straw, peat, sawdust or coarse sand, which are scattered a week before planting. For correct placement, it is recommended to do the following:

• The sawdust is first covered with chopped straw to prevent eating. For the same reason, a hungry herd should not be planted on sawdust, since pecking leads to digestive disorders.
• First, a layer of five to seven centimeters is laid out, and as it gets wet, a new one is laid. However, in summer the thickness should not exceed 12 cm.
• To change, the old coating is first removed, and the floor is sprinkled with burnt lime at the rate of 500 grams per square meter.
• Young chicks should not be placed on old bedding to prevent disease.

To prepare the room for the translation, it is thoroughly cleaned, washed and disinfected, and tools and inner part rooms are washed with a hot solution of soda ash before disinfection. Ash lye is used for washing, small wooden utensils are also treated with soda, and metal utensils are first heated with a blowtorch and then washed.

After disinfection, windows and doors are closed for three hours, after which they are thoroughly dried and ventilated. A few days before the transfer of new individuals, the room is heated.

Goose house arrangement

Feeding and grooming equipment is made to be comfortable, durable, and easy to maintain for quick cleaning and handling.

In the manufacture of feeders, consider the following(picture 3):

• Each type of feed has its own containers. For wet mixes, it is better to make metal ones, and for dry mixes, gravel, chalk and shells - from wood.
• Feeders for dry mixes are sized to accommodate a daily dose of food.
• To save space, food tanks are hung at a height of 50 cm.
• Roomy drinkers are also installed, since the daily fluid intake is about a liter.
• Do not use melted snow, as this provokes a cold or intestinal disorders. In addition, to prevent digestive disorders, a pale solution of potassium permanganate is poured into the container twice a week, but only on condition that it is made of non-galvanized metal. Potassium permanganate is left for thirty minutes, after which it is poured out and replaced with plain water.
• To prevent contamination with droppings and straw residues, its edge should be at the level of the back of an adult.
• Liquid containers should be placed in free access.

Ash baths are made of wood and filled with a mixture of crushed clay and wood ash in equal proportions and installed in a poultry house or solarium.

Nests must be equipped in the goose house (Figure 4). Their number depends on the number of females. On average, one nest is installed for two geese. Since birds need rest during incubation, nests are installed in the shaded parts of the room.

Geese tolerate frosts well due to their dense plumage, but if it is damp in the goose coop, the legs of the birds begin to freeze, and the feathers do not fit tightly to the body to keep warm.

To keep the birds from getting sick, you need to properly keep the geese in winter(picture 5):

1. In the goose house, it is better to make a plank floor, on which the litter is then laid out, adding new layers as the old ones get dirty.
2. Even in winter, geese need walking, but since the feet of birds are sensitive to cold, the walking area must be cleared of snow.
3. Nests are best made immediately, taking into account wintering. To do this, they must have a wooden bottom. In nests made of metal or without a bottom, eggs will freeze.

The goose house must be insulated so that there are no drafts inside the room, which negatively affect the health and productivity of geese. Feeding also plays an important role in keeping geese in winter. In the cold season, birds are transferred to a 3-4-time feeding regimen. Sprouted or whole grains are given out in the morning and evening, and wet mashes of boiled potatoes and other vegetables are given out in the afternoon. You can also use roughage (such as hay) and brooms made from tree branches.

You will learn more information about keeping geese in winter from the video.

Lighting and microclimate

Health and fertility depends not only on nutrition, but also on the microclimate. If the room is too cold, the body's energy will not be spent on the formation of eggs, but on the buildup of fat mass. However, and too heat leads to a decrease in productivity, the size of eggs decreases, and their shells are thinner.

You can determine how comfortable the microclimate is by observing the behavior of birds:

• Normally, they move normally, eat and drink well.
• With reduced temperature regime feathers begin to spread out to increase the protective layer of air, are placed more tightly, as a result of which some die from suffocation.
• If the room is hot, they also spread their wings to increase the area of ​​moisture evaporation, begin to refuse food, open their beaks and drink a lot. In addition, they often die from overheating after two to three hours.

Humidity is also an important indicator.:

• Excessive dryness accelerates the evaporation of moisture, but if the level is below 50 percent, irritation of the mucous membranes of the eyes and respiratory tract and brittle feathers appear.
• An increased indicator (more than 70 percent) provokes dampness of the coating on the floor and the development of mold fungi.
• To provide optimal humidity, equip ridge and supply and exhaust ventilation.

When equipping a poultry house, not only natural lighting is provided, but also electric. Lamps are placed at a height of two meters from ground level for optimal distribution of artificial light.

On average, one 60 W lamp is installed per 6 square meters of area. Too little light will result in weight loss, and too much light can cause cannibalism and reduced egg production.