Breeding Methods for Geese to Lay More Eggs in Winter

1. Cold protection and warmth. Close the doors and windows of the goose house, plug the gaps in the house, add curtains at night for cold protection or pile manure at the back wall of the goose house for insulation, appropriately increase the stocking density, and keep the laying nests soft and warm. Where conditions permit, a plastic greenhouse should be built to use solar energy to increase the room temperature.

2. Provide sufficient nutrition. In the cold season, the feeding standard needs to be raised, and the proportion of grain feed rich in carbohydrates and fats should be appropriately increased to ensure the supply of energy, protein, vitamins and inorganic salts and enhance cold resistance. The reasonable composition of the daily concentrate ration is: corn 60%, bran 20%, cakes 18%, growth hormone and eggshell powder 2%. Each goose is fed 150-200 grams of mixed concentrate per day, divided into 3 feedings, 1 of which is arranged in the evening. Winter nights are long, so feeding an extra portion of pelleted feed at 10-12 pm, just before turning off the lights, is beneficial for increasing the laying rate. In cold weather, geese tend to eat more feed, so prevent them from becoming too fat; therefore, the increase in feed amount should also be kept moderate. Generally, the feed intake of geese in winter increases by about 10% compared with the warm season.

3. Supplemental lighting. In winter, natural light is only about 10 hours per day, so electric lights should be installed in the house and artificial supplemental lighting should be provided by turning on the lights in the morning and evening. Generally, starting from November, the actual daily light should reach 13 hours, then increase by half an hour every 1 week, gradually extending the supplemental lighting time until the light reaches 15-16 hours per day and night. The light intensity should be about 3 watts per square meter of floor area. Feed troughs and drinkers should be placed as close as possible below the lights. During the lighting period, there must be feed in the troughs and water must not be cut off in the drinkers.

4. Strengthen exercise. In winter, female geese shift mainly from grazing to housed feeding, and their activity decreases. Frequently stirring the flock to make them move in circles inside the shed can prevent the geese from becoming too fat and promote more egg laying. You can also scatter some chopped grass on the ground and sprinkle grain on it, or hang several Chinese cabbages in the house to encourage the geese to move and strengthen their physique. On sunny days, around noon, the geese should be driven to a suitable area for exercise and more sun exposure to promote the synthesis of vitamin D, which is beneficial to the growth and development and egg laying of female geese.

5. Release to water at the proper time. In winter, the temperature difference inside and outside the house is relatively large, so the flock should be released late and shut in early. Every morning before releasing the geese, open some windows first, and release the geese from the shed only after the temperature inside the house gradually drops. In winter, reduce the number of times they enter water and shorten the water release time. Generally, it is suitable to bathe them once each at 10 am and 2 pm on sunny days, with each water play lasting 10-15 minutes. On cloudy and windless days, let them enter the water once in the morning and do not let them enter water in the afternoon. Do not let them enter water on snowy days; let them enter water after the snow stops. Before entering water, clear the snow along the way to prevent snow chunks from freezing onto the geese.