Tumbledown Farm .9 Acres (give or take an acre or two)

HOW TO DO THINGS
Profits | Ducks and Geese

Profits in Ducks and Geese

A Desirable and Lucrative Business

Green goose culture is profitable, but the industry is not carried on so extensively as that of green ducks. The demand for geese is not constant, although there is a limited demand the year around. The trade is best during the winter months, and especially at the holiday seasons.

Geese are natural grazers; ten geese will eat as much grass as a cow. Geese live to a great age. The females are reliable and productive for many years.

Goose feathers are usually worth about thirty-five cents a pound. It takes the feathers of four geese to make a pound. White goose feathers are more valuable than colored ones.

Toulouse the Preferred Goose

It is claimed that the Toulouse is the most profitable breed to raise. It not only grows larger, but it matures quicker than any other breed. Toulouse geese are not so much inclined to roam, and they grow more rapidly and accumulate fat faster than other breeds.

Ducks More Prolific

Ducks are more prolific than geese, and artificial methods are resorted to in hatching and rearing the young. At eight weeks of age a pair of ducklings will average about nine pounds. They are then known as green ducks, and are in demand. At ten weeks old they will weigh from nine to fourteen pounds to the pair. The best prices are obtained about May 1, but from then until July the price gradually grows less. From July to September prices for green ducks remain unchanged. From September to November they again command good prices.

Ducklings are rapid growers. When a duckling comes out of the shell it weighs two and a quarter ounces.

Possible Profits

The Weber Brothers, in Farm Journal's booklet, "Duck Dollars," claim they make a net profit of fifty cents on each duckling marketed. As they market from 40,000 to 45,000 ducklings a year, their annual income is $20,000. When grain was low they made that profit. When grain is high, as it is now, they get more for their ducklings, so the average net profit of fifty cents a duckling has remained the same.

One way of making money with ducks is to have a lot ready to sell when the season opens. The first essential is to start with good breeding stock. Birds that have been inbred until their constitutions are weakened are not fit for use as breeding stock.

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HOW TO DO THINGS
Best Breeds | Ducks and Geese

White duck feathers sell for thirty-seven to thirty-nine cents a pound, while colored feathers run from seventeen to twenty-three cents.

Water or No Water

While a body of water affords much needed exercise for both geese and ducks, it is possible to profitably keep water-fowl exclusively on dry land. Breeding fowls will keep down surplus fat and give better fertility to their eggs when allowed to bathe regularly each day; but stock being grown for market should be given as little exercise as possible for the best and quickest results.

A point in favor of water-fowl is that they do not require very elaborate houses, but these should be dry and well bedded.

Six Breeds of Money-Making Geese

The leading market breeds of geese are the Toulouse, Embden, Wild or Canadian, African, Brown Chinese and White Chinese. The first two are probably the most popular. The Toulouse, the African and the Canadian are gray in color; the Embden and White Chinese have white plumage; the other breed is brown.

An adult Toulouse gander weighs twenty-six pounds, the adult goose, twenty pounds; the young gander, twenty, and the young goose sixteen pounds. An adult Embden gander weighs twenty pounds; adult goose, eighteen; young gander, eighteen; young goose, sixteen pounds. The weights of Wild or Canadian adult

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HOW TO DO THINGS
Ducks and Geese | Best Breeds

gander, adult goose, young gander, and young goose, are twelve, ten, ten and eight pounds, respectively. The adult birds of the African breed have the same weight as the Embden adult birds; but the African young gander and young goose weigh sixteen and fourteen pounds, respectively. The Chinese geese have the same weights as the Canadian. The African and Chinese breeds show distinctive knobs or protuberances on their heads, while the heads of the other breeds are plain.

Toulouse geese have massive bodies of medium length, broad and very deep, almost touching the ground. They are good layers producing from twenty to thirty-five eggs a year; they are docile, grow rapidly, and are excellent birds for the market.

Embden geese are considered only fair layers, the egg yield varying greatly among individuals. As market birds, they mature early, grow rapidly, and on account of the white pin-feathers are popular with market-men. They furnish more attractive carcasses than Toulouse.

Wild or Canadian geese are rather poor layers and are often difficult to breed successfully in captivity. They are crossed with other breeds to produce the so-called mongrel type, which is much prized for market purposes, but is usually sterile.

African geese are good layers as well as good market geese. They grow rapidly and mature early.

There are two standard varieties or the Chinese goose (the Brown and White) and both varieties mature early. As layers, they are prolific, and as market poultry are rapid growers. The Chinese geese are naturally shy, and therefore rather difficult to handle.

Geese can be raised in small numbers where there is low, rough pasture land, with a natural supply of water. Grass makes up the bulk of their feed. While they can be kept without the use of water to swim in, it will be all the better, especially during the breeding season, if a body of water is available, as it affords exercise which the geese could not obtain otherwise.

The period of Incubation of goose eggs varies from twenty-eight to thirty days. The first eggs are usually set under hens, while the last eggs which the goose lays may be hatched either under hens or under the goose, if she becomes broody.

The broody goose plucks off more or less down from her breast, with which to line the nest and cover the eggs whenever she leaves them. A goose can conveniently cover eleven eggs, but a hen should not be given more than five.

Year-old geese are not mature enough for breeders. The females lay fewer eggs of smaller size, and usually more of them are infertile than is the case with females two or three years old.

The bill of the goose is provided with sharp, interlocking, serrated edges, designed to cut and divide vegetable tissues easily. The tongue, at the tip, is covered with hard, hair-like projections pointing toward the throat, which serve to convey the bits of grass and leaves into the throat quickly and surely.

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