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Raising
Your
Yuletide
Goose
By
Jack Cox
Forget about the Christmas turkey unless you are going to get one from the butcher. They really are not suitable for small scale production. I am sure most
Finca Forum readers keep hens even if they have no other livestock on their land. The problem with turkeys is that they can catch a fatal disease called “blackhead” if they mix with hens. You can even carry the infection on your boots!
For the self providing finca owner it is much better to revive the old tradition of the Yuletide Goose!
Geese are very easy to raise and have the added advantage of security. They are big powerful birds and guard geese are quite aggressive to strangers. In many ways they are far better that guard dogs! They will make an awful noise if anybody trespasses near them and can give a very painful peck!
Being self reliant grazing birds they will look after themselves very well on any grassland pasture. If you have a pond or lake so much the better. Although this is not absolutely necessary geese are much happier when they can get themselves into water.
A very good way of getting started is to beg, buy or barter some eggs around February or March. Put them under a hen. Goose eggs take a month or more to hatch so make sure you act quickly as soon as your hen goes broody.
From about the third week it’s a good idea to dampen the eggs
regularly. Goose mothers swim and hen mothers do not, so wet the eggs to simulate the natural conditions of their own species.
Protect the young birds well against rats and foxes or you will loose them. These two predators are a real nuisance here in Spain. If they can get in, under, over or through they will.
For the first two or three weeks feed the goslings well on bread soaked in milk. Then start cutting down their food and they will happily subsist on grass until next Christmas. However if you want a good fat bird for the festive table, give it a liberal supplement of grain.
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