What to feed geese in winter
Geese breeding is quite a popular activity today. These birds are distinguished by high production rates, and also do not require specific care. Nevertheless, for novice poultry farmers, the question often arises of how to feed the geese in winter.
Feeding and keeping geese at home in winter
Features of living poultry
In natural conditions, flocks of geese settle near water bodies that are rich in aquatic flora, and in fields with lush tall grass. Keeping at home near a pond or in the presence of a massive bath is a guarantee of good health of birds and increases their productivity. Pasture maintenance in summer saves a lot of money on feed.
The house should be spacious and well ventilated. It is necessary to maintain cleanliness in the room. One individual should be allocated at least 1 sq. m. These birds are not afraid of frost, they can withstand temperatures down to -10 ° C, some species are resistant to even lower rates.
The heat is much worse tolerated. With a large population of the poultry house during the hot period, the death of the livestock is possible. They keep poultry on a sawdust carpet. They need to be changed regularly or topped up more so that there is no waterlogging in the room and an unpleasant odor. From the shed, there must be an exit to the walking area and the bathhouse.
Tanks for feed and water should be installed inside the house and outdoors. You also need to install boxes with a mixture of ash and sand so that birds can clean their plumage and get rid of pests. Compliance with these rules guarantees a carcass weighing 4 kg by the age of 2.5 months.
Differences in summer and winter food
Keeping geese at home in winter will be more difficult in terms of feeding. In summer, it is enough to feed the bird with cereals twice a day, she gets all the rest of the food herself when she walks. In order to properly compose a nutritious winter goose menu, it is important to study the characteristics and value of each grain product.
- Barley contains vitamin B in its composition, so its use is indicated not only for sexually mature individuals, but also for slightly stronger young growth.
- Oats contain a lot of fiber, although in terms of energy value it is inferior to barley. It is recommended to introduce it into the diet of geese from the beginning of oviposition.
- The best option is to introduce chopped corn, which is part of all kinds of mash.
- An extremely useful product for geese is sowing from wheat.
- It is not recommended to give rye: it can provoke the appearance of various severe ailments.
- Grain must be given in germinated form.
Bone meal and hay dust is extremely rich in protein and multivitamins. Also, winter feeding should include vegetable protein: legumes, soybeans, meal. Legumes should be boiled before feeding, because it is after boiling that their beneficial qualities increase. Another important point is the introduction of mineral supplements.Today, on the Internet, you can find a video that describes in detail all the herbs that can be prepared for poultry for the winter, and also shows how best to dry them.
How can you replace greens
Keeping geese in winter scares novice poultry farmers that they do not know what can replace the green juicy grass, which geese love so much. You can dry nettles from the summer. When dried, its beneficial properties remain the same as fresh. Vegetable crops should be the main food in the fall.
It is important to remember that in no case should you give the birds sprouted potatoes, because they contain a poisonous substance. Also, you should not give the water in which the potatoes were boiled: this can cause a number of serious gastrointestinal disorders and lead to death. With the arrival of autumn, so that wintering does not hit the health of the geese, it is necessary to transfer them to high-carbohydrate feed. In the menu, you can enter hay. Moreover, it is desirable that it be dried not under the sun, but in a well-ventilated, shaded place.
Hay should be served dry or steamed. The most useful is considered to be hay, dried from various cereals. In winter, you need to increase the number of feedings. The most important thing is that the feed is as balanced and rich in vitamins and minerals as possible.
How to feed goslings
Although keeping geese is not a particularly troublesome business, the goslings still need to pay more attention in order to get high-yielding adults later. Daily ducklings are fed immediately after hatching. In the first 5 days, you need to give food every 2-3 hours, by 10 days the number of meals is reduced to 3-4 times a day.
The best option is to feed the kids with a full-fledged starter compound feed. After a ten-day period, a highly nutritious compound feed is introduced. In the absence of compound feed for feeding young animals, you can independently make feed from improvised components:
- finely grated hard-boiled eggs;
- corn flour, arnovka, barley groats with a small amount of semolina to add crumbling;
- tricalcium phosphate.
The last ingredient plays an important role in the proper formation and growth of goslings.
In winter, geese are allowed to drink water with the addition of calcium chloride. In the future, the birds are transferred to a fine-powder medicine or chalk. It is necessary to add tetravit multivitamins (in feed) or chiktonik (in liquid) to the goose's diet during winter keeping.
Keeping geese in winter requires drinking these vitamins for 7 days in order to avoid vitamin deficiencies. When keeping geese in winter, 20 minutes later, after the young have been given wet food, it must be removed, otherwise eggs decomposed in a warm, humid environment can lead to poisoning of the entire population of ducklings. From the fifth day, cottage cheese is added to the diet, replacing or supplementing boiled eggs.
How to feed adults
Keeping geese in winter requires special attention to be paid to the arrangement of the poultry house so that the geese do not freeze their legs. Pedigree geese, which will be kept in the autumn-winter period and at the end of egg-laying, are fed with grass, root crops, roughage rich in fiber. The diet includes:
- greens;
- corn stalks;
- pumpkins, zucchini;
- roots.
In winter they feed with hay, silage and hay dust. A small amount of cereals is introduced into the rations for winter feeding of geese to compensate for the lack of vitamins. During this period, it is important to monitor the health of the birds: if the geese eat poorly and begin to lose weight, the amount of grain should be increased. Also, if possible, you need to introduce oilseeds or processed products from them. Feeding geese in winter at the beginning of laying should be balanced so that the geese do not become obese, otherwise this will negatively affect the properties of the eggs. It is necessary to feed the geese during the laying period in winter with a balanced feed with the addition to the diet:
- meat and bone powder;
- acidified milk;
- return;
- tricalcium phosphate or chalk.
Rejected for any reason, geese in the winter in a greenhouse are fed with wet mash of root crops with pumpkin, potatoes, bran and grain. Before slaughter, the bird is fattened for 3 weeks. Highly nutritious mash is recommended to give three times. At the end of fattening, the keel will not be felt, and the carcass will become round, with an impressive layer of fat.
Conclusions, generalizations
Keeping geese at home in winter is not as difficult as it seems at first glance. If you have any doubts, you can watch a video that will tell you how to equip a poultry house, a nest for birds in winter. Geese fascinate with their beauty and look simply amazing on white snow. The well-known company Dimenshens produces many variations of embroidery patterns depicting the wintering of geese.
The main conditions for the correct keeping of poultry in winter is the observance of elementary rules for caring for geese. Care should be taken to keep the bedding in the house constantly dry. To do this, it is not necessary to remove it every time, you can simply add dry sawdust. Feeding in the fall should include mostly high-carbohydrate foods so that birds can fatten enough to survive the winter chills.
In winter, birds should be transferred to a 3 or 4-time feeding regimen. Bird health should be monitored carefully prior to laying. Obesity should not be allowed, otherwise it will negatively affect the egg.
In general, birds hibernate safely. They can withstand temperatures down to -10 degrees or less. Having given proper care to the birds in winter, in the future it will be possible to get a good, highly productive economy.