How to raise meat goose in summer
In the hot summer, both meat ducks and geese experience rapid breathing, reduced appetite, and are constantly disturbed by mosquitoes and flies, which significantly affects their growth. To ensure healthy development, it's essential to improve feeding practices and management.
One of the top priorities during summer is preventing heat stress. The temperature inside the goose house should not exceed 26°C, and the stocking density for meat geese should be kept at 6–7 per square meter. Effective cooling measures include ensuring good ventilation, sprinkling a 1 cm layer of fine sand on the floor, setting up shaded areas with pergolas or nets about 2 meters above the ground, planting vines like grapes or pumpkins around the house, and spraying cold water or mist over the area where the geese are located when temperatures rise. Painting the outer walls white and covering the roof with reflective materials can also help reduce heat absorption.
For goslings, maintaining a controlled temperature is crucial. Newly hatched goslings have weak thermoregulation abilities and need careful brooding. In the first week, the temperature should be around 30–28°C, decreasing by 2°C each week until reaching 16°C. Humidity control is equally important—keep it at 55–60% in the first week, then increase to 60–65%. The initial stocking density should be 25 goslings per square meter, reducing by 5–10 per week. Separating strong, weak, large, small, and sick goslings ensures even growth.
Feeding should start 24 hours after hatching. Place a plastic sheet on the floor, slightly warm the area, spray some warm boiled water mixed with glucose or vitamins, and let them drink first to clean their stomachs. Offer small amounts of cooked rice, washed and cut into strips, along with green feed. Guide them to eat by tapping the ground, and after a few days, introduce commercial feed with 20–22% crude protein and 2700–2800 kcal/kg of metabolizable energy.
By the time they are 2 weeks old, goslings can begin grazing. Choose sunny, windless days and let them graze on nearby grasslands for about an hour, gradually increasing the time as they grow. From 30 days old, when their primary wing feathers start growing, they enter a critical growth phase. Use early morning and late summer cool periods for grazing, while keeping them in captivity otherwise, supplementing with bran, rice, and corn two to three times daily.
When the main wing feathers appear, it's time to fatten the geese. Keep them indoors, feed them a balanced diet of easily digestible carbohydrates like corn, wheat, and rice, supplemented with protein and roughage. Crush the feed, mix with water to make it semi-moist, and feed 4–5 times a day, including one night feeding. Allow free access to food and water. Clean the housing daily, disinfect feeding equipment every 3–5 days with 5% lime water, and sterilize the area with bleach or caustic soda every 7–10 days.
Preventing disease is vital. Goslings that haven’t been vaccinated are at high risk of outbreaks. Administer anti-goose sera to newly hatched goslings to prevent diseases like gosling plague. Also, monitor and treat other common illnesses such as duck flu and paratyphoid. Maintaining cleanliness and hygiene is key to raising healthy, disease-free geese.
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