How To Breed Domestic Goose
Similar to other poultry, you can either incubate the eggs or let a broody goose sit on a clutch if you want to hatch out goslings. Another choice is to use a broody chicken to sit the eggs. This chicken will raise the chicks just like it would its own, but you will need to coax them to drink.
In particular, if you leave a lot of eggs in the nesting area, geese will become broody. Once the geese have laid their eggs, you should close off the nesting areas to discourage them from becoming broody. Additionally, you should remove the eggs daily.
Incubating Goose Eggs
According to the manufacturer’s recommendations, the temperature on an incubator should be set between 37.2 and 38.4oC for the 28 to 32-day sitting or incubation period for geese. Prior to incubating the eggs with the pointy end down, you should allow them to sit for 24 hours at room temperature. You should also try to avoid using eggs older than 7 days.
To check the development of the embryo, candle the eggs at 7 and 21 days. At these points, discard any eggs that are blown or infertile. To ensure the best hatch rate, do not move the eggs from the broody or incubator after 21 days.
Breeding Geese and Goslings
Here’s a guideline on how to breed domestic goose
Brooding Goslings
If raised by a goose hen, a broody will lead the goslings to food and water once they have hatched; however, if raised by a chicken, you will need to lead the goslings to water after the third day. In order to prevent the goslings from drowning, this should be extremely shallow.
When keeping goslings in a brooder, the temperature should be kept at 38°C for six weeks, then should be lowered by one degree each week for another six weeks, and finally by two degrees to the outdoor temperature before releasing the animals outside.
For the first three to four weeks, goslings should be fed a starter diet. Then, they should transition to growing mash or pellets and begin including wheat and grain in their diets until they become goose.
Breeds of Geese
In general, Toulouse, Chinese, and Embden are the sources from which the majority of commercial breed strains have been developed. While the Toulouse offers increased body weight, the Chinese offers a higher rate of egg production. Along with white feathers, the Embden contributes a healthy amount of body weight. In Britain, white-feathered birds tend to outnumber grey-feathered ones in terms of table goose production.
There are also classifications for heavy, medium, and light domestic breeds.
Breeding Geese For Meat
After roughly 23 to 25 weeks, geese that are being raised for meat should be ready to eat. The final 4-6 weeks before culling should be spent transitioning the birds to a finishing pellet and grain diet in order to fatten them for the table. A properly raised meat goose, like an embden, should produce a table weight of 10 to 15 pounds.
Breeding Geese for Egg Production
Goose eggs are excellent in many dishes and a gourmet item, but because of their low rate of production, they are not as economically viable as hens or ducks for just producing eggs. The Roman and Sebastopol breeds will lay 30 eggs per season, but the Chinese are the most productive, producing 40 to 80 eggs annually, depending on the strain. Most breeds only lay between 10 and 20 eggs per season.
Summary – How To Breed Domestic Goose
Ideally, eggs should be turned three times daily. A broody will take care of this for you, and while the majority of incubators have automatic turners, if yours is a manual turn incubator, be sure to turn it at least three times daily—a broody will turn up to once per hour—always in the opposite direction from the turn just made.
