Despite the fact that geese are rather unpretentious poultry, for the normal development of the organism of newly hatched chicks, it is very important to correctly build a diet and choose quality products, because it is the first month of life that is crucial for their health.
Nutrition from birth
There is a certain feeding procedure, and the amount of nutrients necessary for birds is strictly verified based on their needs. Such a feeding system is suitable for incubator and goose chicks hatched.
There are three ways to feed the chicks - wet, dry and mixed. Best for geese is a combined diet that includes plant foods such as grass and vegetables (carrots, cabbage, potatoes, rutabaga, pumpkin). In addition, the birds are given grain, legumes, fresh fish meat, milk back and whey.
Drink only boiled water, which add vitamin solutions, such as Chiktonik. They are necessary to strengthen immunity and prevent the lack of proteins, fats, valuable nutritional components.
First feeding
They give food for the first time when the goslings hatched and dried out. This must be done as soon as possible so that they do not die. To do this, a hard-boiled egg yolk is lightly diluted with water and thoroughly crushed. It should be borne in mind that large pieces (more than 2-3 mm) of the caterpillar may not be swallowed. Based on the fact that about ten days of feeding are carried out from 6 to 8 times a day, excluding night, the amount of food should be such that the chick can digest it before the next meal, that is, in about an hour or two.
There is an opinion that on the first day of daily goslings you can add greens, finely chopped corn grits or grains to the yolk. Some owners in good warm weather release them into the pen almost immediately, where they can peck the weed on their own.
Feeding from 2 to 10 days
Starting from the second day, the arrangement of chicks in an open-air cage is fully justified. In addition to eggs, finely chopped green onions, unpeeled, chopped grain, clover, and dry milk powder are mixed with them in food. Since goslings can trample food, food is poured into a low pan. It is believed that these birds do not need to offer fermented milk products, like chickens, however, cottage cheese, milk can be part of mixed, moist foods and provide them with calcium and other important substances. But they should always have fresh water in the drinker.
From the third day, they no longer give eggs, alfalfa, young nettles, grasses of cereals and legumes, carrots can be added to greens from greens. From the fourth day, boiled beets and potatoes, cottage cheese and crushed peas, previously soaked in water, are introduced. To supplement the menu with vitamins, yeast is added to the feed.
From the age of one day to 5 days of life, an approximate diet for a gosling for a day is:
- grain - 15 g;
- greens - 5 g;
- wheat bran - 3 g;
- carrots - 5 g;
- milk - 25 g;
- lime - 0.3 g;
- dry feed - 2 g.
From 6 to 10 days of life, food can be supplemented with vegetables, and then the diet will look like this:
- grain - 15 g;
- greens - 30 g;
- wheat bran - 5 g;
- animal feed - 7 g;
- milk - 50 g;
- chalk, crushed shells - 0.5 g;
- raw cake of root crops - 4 g;
- boiled potatoes, beets - 20 g.
Sunflower meal, and even better, rapeseed, you must first soak it, and then finely chop. Also, boiled cereals from millet, wheat and corn may be included in the bird menu during this period. When they turn 7 days old, they are transferred to six-times feeding. The next stage is characterized by rapid growth, and the chicks require more protein food, and crushed peas are suitable for this as well as possible.
Feeding from 10 to 21 days
After the tenth day, it is important to introduce more high-calorie foods into the diet of birds, however, their amount should not exceed 15% of the main feed. Regarding potatoes, giving it more than 10% of the usual food per day is not recommended.
Beans, beans, and peas are soaked before cooking, and then they are ground and combined with porridges, tartar, grated carrots and bran. Two-week-old young animals are transferred to a five-day diet, specialized feeds - PK-30 or chicken feed - PK-2, PK-5 are added to food.
As practice shows, during this period, the best food for young goslings is greens. For some time, birds can eat grass in the pen, which they themselves find, and they look for plants and roots that are useful to themselves. Experienced farmers at this time, in general, stop giving them food, with the exception of mineral additives and clean water.
As soon as the amount of grass in the pasture is reduced, crushed grain, cereals, and legumes are used. Goose mass gain also occurs due to the consumption of root crops and pumpkins, which, at the same time, allows the body of the bird to be saturated with B vitamins, carotene and ascorbic acid. Raw cereals and goslings grain are easily digested, but they should not be more than 20% of the usual feed.
Food goslings after 21 days
From the age of three weeks, birds should feed no more than four times a day. They need a lot of green food, which is up to 70% of their daily intake. This can be a dandelion, sorrel, euphorbia, sow thistle, alfalfa, knotweed, other plants and root vegetables. Up to 200 grams of grass should be produced per gosling per day.
In addition, the following products should be included in the daily diet of the gosling during this period:
- bran - 40 g;
- grain - 35 g;
- vegetables (beets, carrots, potatoes) - 120 g;
- ground shell rock - 3.5 g;
- oilcake - 25 g
- animal feed in the form of meat and bone and fish meal - 30 g.
Young geese are also mixed with a little salt, half-eaten leftovers and bread crumbs, of course, these products should be fresh.
With a large population, the purchase of grain waste directly from the mill will be cost-effective. Despite the very high price, this grain contains a sufficient amount of flour and calories, so geese will gain weight well.
When feeding with grain crops - wheat, barley, millet, products should contain a minimum amount of harmful impurities, 0.1% of chaff, 0.25% of cockle and 0.05% of ergot are allowed.
Within three weeks, the young goslings are covered with fluff, but after 10 days you can notice how their tail feathers begin to grow, and after another week the wings are plumaged. Fully bird feathers by three months. It is believed that until this time geese should not be allowed to reach natural reservoirs.
Feeding schedule
You can feed the bird on time, that is, at certain intervals. However, some farmers choose feeding on demand, when the goslings themselves determine when and how much they eat. In essence, this means the absence of any regime. The downside of this approach is that the chicks very often overeat, and the result is obesity.
The appetite of young birds mainly depends on:
- heredity;
- a certain breed;
- health conditions;
- sex - females eat much less males.
When breeding geese are raised, a special feeding regime gives good results, when one day the chicks are fed with greens and the other with grain crops or compound feeds. During the hot season, the three-week-old goslings give wet feed in the morning and evening, and grain waste or crushed grain at night. If the young, almost all day eat on the pasture, then feeding is carried out only in the evening.
Having chosen a certain feeding regime for chicks, it should be adhered to constantly, and feeding should be reduced as the number of livestock grows, gradually shifting the time boundaries. Proper organization of feeding is the main condition for the geese to grow up healthy and well-fed.
What is strictly forbidden to feed?
The food in the bird feeder should always be fresh - if a certain amount is undernourished, the food must be removed in a timely manner, as soured products lead to mold, which is unacceptable when rearing young birds. The grass offered to the chicks should also be fresh - they simply will not eat sluggish, as well as plants with coarse, stiff leaves and a stem;
It is unacceptable to feed goslings only with dry food, as this leads to intestinal obstruction. A sharp transfer of chicks from one type of feed to another is also undesirable, this can only be done gradually.
Different food can be given to birds, but some products are dangerous for them:
- low-quality additives of plant and animal origin;
- doubtful with an incomprehensible composition of feed;
- the tops of potatoes, its fruits, if the peel on them is green;
- recently harvested rye;
- any moldy food;
- of herbs - ragweed, sedge, lily of the valley, hemlock, cuff, quinoa and crow's feet.
Up to a month, goslings are not given grass with traces of dew or rain, and they do not walk on a wet paddock, as the birds have a weak respiratory system and they can catch a cold and die. Therefore, even water in the drinkers should be supplied so that they do not splatter the breasts. They also can’t swim until 3 weeks, until the fluff is replaced by feathers.
Nursing weak goslings
Despite the unpretentiousness of this poultry, the percentage of mortality of the brood can be quite high. Some chicks eat poorly and uncertainly stand on their feet, this is a reason to sound the alarm and urgently nursing weak goslings. The causes of this condition can be an improper diet, poisoning, the presence of parasites and other factors. Such individuals need, especially, careful care and special nutrition, in addition, they are placed in a separate aviary.
The following remedy will help put the baby on its feet:
- preparing a special mixture of 120 ml of milk, to which add 1/4 of a small spoonful of granulated sugar and fresh egg yolk;
- Having thoroughly mixed the composition, biomycin or penicillin is placed in it.
During treatment, sick birds require a temperature of at least +28 degrees, if the chick has reached a weekly age, it is reduced to + 22-23 degrees.
Many beginner farmers wonder if there is a need to use fish oil for young geese. Do I need to add it to food? It is necessary to give it to the chicks, as it contains vitamins important for the bird. They begin to mix it from the tenth day of age.
You can talk about a healthy brood if the chicks have a good appetite, they drink a lot of water and spend most of their time at the feeder. Sometimes goslings can rest on the litter, while they do not curl up and do not get bored.
Proper care affects your appetite
In addition to a varied menu that provides certain food components and is painted literally by the day corresponding to the age of the gosling, it is important for kids to fulfill other requirements regarding their health and full development:
- For ten days after birth, they are kept indoors, as they can quickly die on the street, because their body is not yet able to retain heat. Therefore, it will be necessary to artificially maintain a temperature of + 28-30 degrees for the first three days.
When the heating is organized correctly, the birds show a good appetite and move freely around the enclosure. The temperature is reduced systematically over the course of three weeks from birth to + 18-20 degrees. With colder air, babies tend to stray together, which is why some of the chicks can suffocate and die. If the aviary is too hot, this will lead to lethargy of birds, lack of appetite, and, as a result, the growth rate of the livestock will noticeably decrease. - No less important is the light mode, so the first 7 days for goslings provide constant lighting. It is muffled only at night - this is done so that young animals can easily get to the feed and water. A week later, a 15-hour daylight is set in the house, but this is done gradually, with a daily decrease in lighting time.
Read more about how to breed geese at home.
Useful Tips
When feeding goslings, attention should be paid to the following points:
- when mixing different components in the feed, you need to monitor its consistency - it should be juicy, moist, and crumbly, but not viscous, sticky food gets jammed in the sinuses, which subsequently leads to illness;
- only clean water is provided for the chicks, it can be taken from the water supply, but it is better to filter;
- next to the feeder you need to keep an additional tray with chalk, sand, dry ground bones, shells or gravel, as goslings need minerals, some hosts add these ingredients directly to the feed;
- it is very important to understand the taste preferences of poultry and take these features into account when preparing a combined stirrer;
- extremely important is the cleanliness of the room and dishes from which the goslings eat, in addition, every two days they need to change the litter;
- put a little potassium permanganate into the water in the drinker to prevent digestive disorders and diseases;
- the weakest and most sick individuals are given a mixture of milk (100 ml) with yolk and biomycin to strengthen the body and recover.
If the geese are choking and coughing, this may mean that dry, powdery components prevail in the feed, and water or wet sand should be added to the food. In this case, the whole day the chicks should be fed with rigid plant foods, as a rule, this time is enough for them to clean the esophagus.
You can understand that the feeding is correct, and the birds are healthy, by the way the chicks look and behave. If they are active and develop well, this indicates that their digestive system is working properly, so you can continue to maintain the same diet and menu according to the selected scheme.