The goose was domesticated in ancient times, presumably in the central and northern parts of Europe, from where it spread throughout this territory. V North America the Canadian goose is domesticated and is widely distributed, and in Asia - knobby Chinese geese.

In Greece, domestic geese were kept and cared for as early as 1000 BC. e. In Rome, as the legend says about the geese of the Capitol - "the geese that saved Rome", they were highly respected. In the same place they were engaged in their fattening, and their fluff, with which pillows were stuffed, was widely used. Large herds of geese were brought to Rome from Central Europe through the Alps. With the intensification of agriculture, an increase in the level of plowing of land, the introduction of cultivated pastures, goose breeding in Central and Northern Europe was gradually curtailed, losing its original significance.

The domestic goose, despite its many thousands of years of history, has undergone few changes, mainly in live weight and color. Through targeted breeding and creating favorable conditions for keeping geese, certain successes have been achieved in the direction of increasing their egg production and feather collection, improving maternal qualities for incubation and preserving offspring.

In this regard, a number of foreign authors tend to believe that in goose breeding one can talk about offspring, and by no means about the names of goose breeds, but their classification is nothing more than the names of the area where they come from. Yes, in the area former USSR Kholmogory, Tula, Ural, Chinese, Romny, Toulouse (and a number of other names) geese were bred.

Big gray geese.

The birds are bred in Ukraine. This breed of geese was created by the method of reproductive crossing of Romensky geese with Toulouse geese and subsequent selection and selection of crossbreeds with a large live weight, good meat and high egg productivity. The live weight of one-year-old ganders is 9.5 kg, geese - 9.0 kg.

Egg production averages 60 eggs (record - 85 eggs) with an average weight of one egg - 175-220 g. The safety of the adult population is close to 100%.

When describing this breed of geese from the exterior features, a medium-sized head with a short orange beak with a pink tip should be noted. The neck is of medium length, somewhat thickened towards the base. The body is wide, deep; two skin folds are often found on the abdomen; medium length red legs; head, top part the neck and back are dark gray, the chest is light gray, the belly is white.

Reproducibility: the average fertility of eggs is 90-92%, the average hatchability is 76-88%, the average yield of goslings is 66-70%.

The breed is common in the European part of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

Rhine geese.

This breed was bred in Germany on the basis of one of the varieties of local Eden geese through targeted selection.

White Rhine geese belong to the heavy type of geese of the meat direction of productivity.

As you can see in the photo, this breed of geese has a massive body, a wide and deep chest, legs and beak are orange, plumage is white:

The live weight of Rhine geese at one year of age is: males - 6.5-7.0, females - 5.3-6.0 kg. The safety of an adult bird is 95-98%; egg productivity - 55 pcs. eggs weighing 170 g per year of oviposition.

Reproductive ability of this breed of domestic geese: egg fertility - 86-89%, gosling yield - 65-70%.

The breed was bred by complex reproductive crossing of local white, Chinese gray and large gray geese.

The main characteristic of this breed of Obroshinsky geese is high egg production and precocity, the meat is characterized by excellent palatability. Live weight of ganders - 7 kg, geese - 6.5 kg. Egg productivity - up to 50 eggs per year of oviposition with hatchability of young animals up to 80%.

Geese are well adapted to grazing conditions.

This breed of geese originated from a wild knobby goose that lives in Northern China and Siberia.

The head of the geese is large; the neck is very long, "swan-like". Body of medium length; well developed chest and cone-shaped growth on the forehead. The plumage is white or brown. Chinese geese are used mainly for crossbreeding in order to increase egg production. They have a relatively high egg production (up to 70 eggs) with a small live weight: ganders 5-6 kg, geese 4-4.5 kg. Geese are able to find a lot of food on their own, after fattening they give good quality meat.

These photos show the breeds of geese described above.

This breed is bred in Ukraine (in Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkov and other regions).

The head is medium in size, without a bump and a "purse", the beak is short, the neck is short and thick; the chest is wide. The body is compact, wide. There are one or two folds on the abdomen. Legs are low. The beak is orange, the end of the beak is black or covered with black dots.

Look at the photos - this breed of geese has pinkish legs, sometimes turning into red; black eyes:

According to the color of plumage, three varieties are distinguished: gray (more common), white and pockmarked.

Roman geese have an average live weight of 4.5-5.0 kg; ganders - 5.5-5, geese - 3.5-4.7 kg; egg production averages about 10 eggs per head. They hatch and feed well.

The breed was bred in France from a domesticated gray goose in a mild climate and plentiful feeding when selecting a producer by weight and ability to quickly fatten. The bird is inactive, not adapted to grazing. The weight of Toulouse geese is 9-10 kg, ganders - 12-15 kg.

Egg production 30-40 eggs. The average egg weight is 170-200 g. The body is very massive, the neck is thick, the head is large with a massive beak. Plumage color: gray head, dark gray neck and back, light gray body and chest, white belly. Tail feathers are gray and white. Some species have a large fat fold on the abdomen and a "purse" under the beak.

This is one of the best breeds of geese for obtaining liver, which goes to the preparation of goose liver pates.

The gray color of their plumage somewhat reduces the value of downy raw materials.

Growing young animals is relatively difficult due to the greater sensitivity of goslings of this breed to drafts, high humidity, and cold.

These photos show the breeds of geese, the names of which are given on this page:

Birds are bred as a result of blood rush to local breeds of Chinese goose blood geese and directional selection under favorable technological conditions. The plumage is white, the legs and beak are orange. In appearance, it is a large, strong bird with slender forms, but much smaller than the Toulouse geese, the live weight of ganders is 7.1 kg, geese - 6 kg.

Italian geese have a fairly high egg productivity (47-60 eggs per year), the hatchability of goslings is up to 70%. The breed is characterized by late incubation of eggs by geese and underdeveloped maternal instinct, which makes it difficult to get a business offspring from them.

The video "Breeds of Geese" shows representatives of poultry bred in backyard farmsteads:

Rules for keeping geese for beginners: indoor conditions

In the homestead, any available room can be adapted for keeping geese. You can build a barn from boards, reeds, clay or other improvised building materials.

The room for keeping geese should be dry, well ventilated, but without drafts. The floors in the goose house are made of boards or adobe. They are raised 20 cm above ground level so that soil water does not enter the goose. Keep the bird on a deep ground litter with walking. Sawdust, shavings, straw, peat, crushed corn cobs are used as bedding. V winter time use a warming litter: straw, peat, shavings, and in the summer - sawdust, sand. Before laying the bedding, the floor is sprinkled with slaked lime at the rate of 0.5-1 kg per 1 m2 of the floor.

When keeping geese, it is important for beginner poultry farmers to take into account that in winter, if the weather permits, these birds are released for a walk in the walking yard, if there is an unfrozen pond, then they are released and swim. Geese can pinch snow-covered grass or plant rhizomes. In the summer, keeping geese indoors is optional. They can spend the night on the street, but for this it is necessary to separate a special paddock, install feeders, drinkers in it, and if there is no reservoir, install a container of water for bathing.

Drinkers in the goose house are installed in wooden or cement troughs. You can use buckets or other suitable utensils. So that the water does not splash, the litter does not get wet, the drinkers are installed on pallets. In winter, hot water is poured into the drinker to prevent it from freezing.

One of the rules for keeping geese is to install feeders in the goose so that all birds have a simultaneous approach to them. Feeders are made of wood or other materials.

Nests are installed on the floor of the goose coop along the walls. Do this a month before the start of oviposition. The litter in the nests should be the same as in the goose. Nest size: width 0.4 m; length - 0.6; height - 0.5 m. Nests are specially made from a board or a box of a suitable size is adapted.

Watch the video "Conditions for keeping geese" to better understand how to equip a room for growing them:

How to raise geese and how to keep them properly

When caring for domestic geese, their planting density is taken into account. Geese do not like excessive crowding, which, moreover, affects their productivity. The adult population of geese is kept at the rate of 3 heads per 2 m2. Nests are installed one for every 2-3 geese. For 4 geese they keep one gander. The walking area is equipped at the rate of at least 5 m2 per head. It is good if geese can use the pond in winter and summer - this improves their physical development and improves the quality of eggs.

Under normal conditions, geese lay their eggs in late February or early March, but if they artificially increase daylight hours with the help of electric lighting, they can start laying eggs as early as late January - early February.

Geese rush, as a rule, every other day and most often in the morning. In winter, eggs from nests should be taken as often as possible and stored in a cool dry place at a temperature of 5-12 ° C in a horizontal position, laying one in a row. Keep eggs no more than 10 days.

There is an erroneous opinion that breeding geese without water bodies does not make sense. Of course, keeping geese on pasture and near water bodies frees poultry farmers from many worries. But experiments have shown that with good feeding, keeping and caring for geese without water bodies, the productivity of poultry did not decrease - the geese laid eggs with high incubation qualities. If it is not possible to release geese to pasture, they are fed with freshly cut grass, and chopped greens are added to the mash. Instead of a pond, bathing containers are arranged, each time adding clean water to it.

Geese have the shortest breeding season compared to other poultry species. Only proper preparation geese for wintering, appropriate maintenance and feeding in winter ensure their high productivity.

Keeping geese: feeding and care during rearing

Geese, more than other types of poultry, require coarse and succulent feed, so from autumn these feeds must be stocked in sufficient quantities, these include: good-quality, vitamin hay, potatoes, carrots, beets, silage, various grain waste. It is necessary to prepare products for feeding geese when keeping birds in a household plot not only for adults, but also for young animals.

The room for geese is kept clean and periodically disinfected. For good care when keeping geese, the room must be ventilated, but drafts are not allowed. The floor is covered with one of the types of bedding: straw, peat, sawdust, dry leaves.

Geese are placed 22-25 heads in one isolated compartment (18-20 geese and 4-5 ganders). Placement is carried out no later than December, as geese create permanent families and it is difficult to get used to new individuals. With the later formation of groups, individual ganders not only do not cover the newly included geese, but even beat them, driving them out of their group. The egg production of geese and the fertility of eggs are reduced.

In winter, in good, sunny weather, geese are bathed in the holes in the reservoirs. To do this, so that the geese, diving, do not fall under the ice, the holes are fenced with a net or a wooden grate, lowering it into the reservoir to a depth of at least 1 m.

For each group of geese, a separate paddock is arranged near the goose house. Geese are very hardy. They spend much more time on the run than chickens. Only in the most severe frosts and bad weather is it better to keep geese in geese. The walk must be cleared of snow. The part of the paddock closest to the poultry house should be covered with straw, on which the geese willingly rest.

In geese, the legs and beak, covered with delicate skin - cere, are most sensitive to cold.

So that groups of geese do not mix, and the ganders do not fight among themselves, the compartments in the goose house and on the paddock are partitioned off with partitions 1 m high. Fences can be wattle, reed, from a wire network.

Geese in the winter should go well-fed. It is impossible to allow overfeeding of producers to obesity, which may adversely affect their reproductive ability. In winter, breeding geese should maintain their normal body weight, which is controlled by periodic weighing. Feeding geese during winter care is done with grain and a wet mash. The best grain feed for them is oats mixed with other grains. Wet mash is made up mainly of bran, turf, clover or alfalfa flour, finely chopped root vegetables and boiled potatoes. Geese are fed at least 2 times a day. In the morning they give a mash, in the evening they feed grain. Feed is laid out in such quantity and order that the whole herd can safely eat food at the same time.

Sand, gravel, seashells or crushed chalk should always be in the feeders, which are placed along the walls inside the goose. Observing the rules for the care and rearing of geese, if the weather permits, they feed and water the birds on the run. Although geese willingly eat snow instead of water, it is necessary to give them water at least once a day so that they can rinse their beaks.

The video "Keeping Geese" shows how to care for poultry:

Slaughter of geese and processing of carcasses

Geese are killed externally, just like chickens. On the left side of the neck, at a distance of 18-20 mm below the earlobe, an incision is made with a knife on the facial branch of the artery and jugular vein without an injection into the cerebellum. The incision should not exceed 1.5-2 cm in length. The carcass is hung up and the blood is allowed to drain.

Feathers are plucked after scalding with hot water (85-90 ° C). Old geese are immersed in water several times. After scalding proceed to plucking.

When processing carcasses, feathers are first removed from the wings and tail, then from the chest, back and legs. With the help of a knife, all fluffs and stumps are removed. Then the carcass is burned on fire.

Geese are members of the duck family. form a separate genus. These birds are excellent swimmers and excellent flyers. They nest in the summer.

For this, the Northern Hemisphere, temperate and subarctic latitudes are chosen. They fly south for the winter. They hibernate in areas where the temperature does not fall below 0-5 degrees Celsius. They fly away in groups, sometimes they line up in lines, sometimes in a wedge. They fly preferably at night. In the daytime, geese settle down to rest. They always live near water bodies, while spending most of the day on land.

Appearance of geese

Adult individuals weigh from 1.2 to 4.5 kg. The largest representative of the family is the gray goose, whose body weight can be from 2.2 to 4.5 kg.

The smallest species is the Ross goose, which weighs 1.2-1.6 kg. Neck of medium length. The legs of geese are colored orange or pink color and are of medium length. They have an orange, pink or black beak, depending on which species the goose belongs to. The width of the beak is greater than its length. The edges of the beak are decorated with small teeth, thanks to which water is decanted, and food, even the smallest, remains in the beak.

Listen to the voice of the goose

The body of the goose is covered with thick plumage and down. The plumage combines several colors: white, gray, black and dark brown. Outwardly, there are practically no differences between males and females, except that males are slightly larger and have a small growth on their beak.

Goose food

The basis of the diet is plant foods. Prefers to eat grass, berries, cereals. They also eat aquatic plants. In the spring, when the first young grass and winter crops appear, geese actively eat them. During the nesting period, most of the diet is made up of aquatic plants and those growing very close to water bodies. In other periods, geese feed mainly on berries, agricultural vegetation, seeds, and rarely on small vertebrates and various insects. These birds pluck grass and plant leaves with the teeth of their beaks.

Reproduction and lifespan

These birds are monogamous, pairs are created for them once and for life. Nests are made right on the ground, in a place where there is dense vegetation. Make it near water, but in a dry place. A nest is built from branches, stems, leaves. Inside it is a litter of fluff, which the female plucks from her chest. The clutch usually consists of 4-12 eggs. While the female incubates the eggs, the male guards the nest. A month later, chicks hatch from the eggs. From the next day after birth, the offspring can go down with their parents to the water and look for food. If the chicks are in any danger, then the female protects them. The males hide during this time. Sexual maturity occurs in geese at the age of 2-3 years. The life expectancy of geese in the wild is 20 years. In captivity, these birds can live up to 35 years.

Species of wild geese

There are 2 large groups of geese: domestic and wild. The largest representative of the wild is the gray goose. It has a grayish-brown plumage. The plumage of the back has a light border. Their beak is pink or orange. The nesting period takes place in Asia and Europe, in the temperate climate zone. It is also arranged for wintering in European and Asian territories. The white goose lives almost in the far north, in polar conditions. It nests in the northern part of Canada, on Wrangel Island, northeastern territories Yakutia, Chukotka, in the northwestern regions of Greenland. Winters are spent in California and Colombia. An adult weighs about three kilograms. White geese owe their name to the color of their plumage. The base of the beak and the edging of the wings are black.

Another representative of the geese is the bean goose. This bird has large sizes. The plumage has a brown-gray color. An adult weighs up to 4.5 kg. They chose the tundra for nesting. They spend the winter in the southeastern part of China, Central Asia and the Mediterranean.

Sukhonos also represents the genus of geese. Its weight averages 4.5 kg. Birds have a long black beak, the base of which is edged with a stripe. white color. The back of the neck is painted dark brown. The body is white. There are brown transverse stripes along the body. The legs of the dry nose are red.

One of the small representatives of the genus is the lesser white-fronted goose. These birds weigh a maximum of 2.5 kg. For nesting, they chose the tundra of the Eurasian continent. For the winter they go to the Caspian and Black Sea as well as the Balkan Peninsula. These birds have distinguishing feature – White spot on the forehead. The Lesser Piskulka has a brown plumage color.

The mountain goose also belongs to the wild. The weight of these birds ranges from 2 to 3.2 kg. Their legs and beak are colored yellow. They arrange nesting in mountainous areas, usually central Asia. You can meet them in the Altai Mountains of Russia. Nests are located at an altitude of 1-5 thousand meters. Spends the winter in India. Birds fly very high, sometimes they cross the mountains of the Himalayas. The flight altitude in this case often exceeds 10 thousand meters.

The Ross goose has the smallest dimensions. The plumage is white. Wing tips are black. For nesting, polar regions are preferred - Wrangel Island, Alaska, northwest Canada. For wintering it goes to the south of the USA and the north of Mexico. Sometimes some individuals fly to Western Europe, but such cases are few.

domestic geese

Among domestic geese, groups are distinguished by size: large, medium, small. Domestic geese are different from wild counterparts. They are predominantly white in color. Permanent couples do not create, they are polygamous. Herbal food is eaten. Males and females are almost the same in size.

Large geese are the most widespread. For commercial purposes, the Emden and Toulouse breeds are chosen. The largest goose was bred in Toulouse, its weight reached 11.5 kg. Young individuals weigh about 9 kg. Females are smaller, their body weight reaches 7.5 kg. When I sell these geese, they do not have time to gain the most weight. The second largest are representatives of the Emden breed. An adult weighs 9 kg, and a young one weighs about 8.2 kg. These birds have white plumage. The iris of the eyes is colored blue.

The rest of the breeds are smaller, adults weigh from 8.5 to 6.6 kg. These include breeds such as Sukhovskiy, Reinskiy, Adlerskiy, Pereyaslavskiy, Chinese, Pskov goose. There are breeds that are considered fighting - Arzamas and Tula geese. Their offspring have high stamina and strong immunity. When the chicks are 3 weeks old, their body begins to regulate its own temperature and warm the body. In the summer, they do not need special shelter, a simple canopy is enough. Clover, bluegrass, alfalfa are eaten. Such unpretentiousness made it possible to grow these birds at home.

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For several millennia, geese have been living next to humans. In the countryside, one can observe every day how these unpretentious large birds peacefully nibbling grass near village houses. But also in wild nature the geese are doing great. On the territory of our country, the most common are the white-fronted goose and the gray goose. From wild gray geese, modern domestic geese have gone.

Geese are large birds. They are larger than ducks but smaller than swans. Their neck is of medium length, orange paws are equipped with membranes for movement in the water. The beak of these birds at the base is quite high, and at the tip of the beak there are small and sharp teeth, with which the geese nibble on plant food. These birds communicate with each other with the help of a cackle, and when in a bad mood, they hiss menacingly.

As the legend says, the ability of these birds to cackle loudly at one time saved the famous city of Rome from conquest. When at night the enemies tried to sneak into the city unnoticed, the geese awakened by them made an incredible noise, and the attackers were rebuffed. Since that time, the expression “Geese saved Rome” has become entrenched in our everyday life.

Wild geese return to their nesting sites in early spring, when the first thawed patches appear on the ground. The arrival of geese in spring is an unforgettable sight. Sometimes it seems that the whole sky is filled with cackling birds. Arriving, the birds settle in pairs in places where they will build their nests. Geese, like swans, form stable family pairs.

The nest of geese is very simple. Usually it is a hole covered with some kind of bush. Last year's leaves of nearby plants are pulled into this hole, and then the goose plucks fluff from its abdomen and completes the nest with it. Incubation of eggs lasts about a month. All this time the gander is nearby, guarding the nest from dangers. But while searching for food, the geese leave the nest. They fly away to river floodplains or shallow swamps, where there is a lot of grass and satisfy their hunger there.

When goslings appear in the nest, the whole family moves closer to the water, where there is food and at any moment you can escape from land predators. Goslings know how to get their own food from the first day and swim perfectly.

At the end of summer, young geese begin to master the art of flight. First, they make a long noise, flap their wings, and then rise into the air and begin to randomly fly above the surface of the water. Some of them quickly complete the flight, while others continue to climb higher and higher. During such training, young geese learn to fly in a wedge. With the onset of autumn, wild geese, lining up in a wedge, fly away to distant lands until next spring.

Geese are a large bird, the mass of individual individuals in the adult state reaches 7-8 kg. The female lays from 15 to 60 or more eggs weighing 150-220 g. By crossing wild gray ganders with domestic geese, you can get hybrid goslings with good productive performance.

Geese are able to consume pasture vegetation, digest fiber better than other birds (by 56.9%). Valuable meat, fat containing almost no cholesterol, which is used in medicine and pharmacology, delicacy liver, soft fluff and feathers are obtained from geese. However, geese also have a number of disadvantages.

They are late maturing, have low fecundity and an increased tendency to incubate (up to 60%), which to a certain extent hinders the development of industrial goose breeding. In goose breeding, three groups of breeds are distinguished: heavy (meat-greasy), medium (decorative) and light (egg).

The first group includes all modern large breeds (Kholmogory, Emden, Toulouse, Landes, large gray), the meat of which contains a significant amount of fat. Fatty liver weighing 600-800 g is also obtained from them.

The second group includes crested, ribbon and Sevastopol curly geese. Typical representatives of the third group are Chinese, Kuban, Adler, Italian geese. The most common domestic breed of geese is the Kholmogory geese, which was bred in the Central region of Russia by crossing local white geese with Chinese ones.

Distinctive features Kholmogory geese - the presence of a bump on the forehead and under the beak of a skin fold, the so-called "purse". Geese lay 25-35 eggs per year, some individuals up to 50 eggs, weighing 160-180 g. The live weight of adult females is 7-8 kg, males 9-10 kg. Young animals are well fed for meat and at 9 weeks of age reach a live weight of 4 kg.

According to the color of plumage, Kholmogory geese are gray, piebald and white. The Lindovskaya breed of geese was bred in the Nizhny Novgorod region by complex reproductive crossing of Chinese geese with local lines and partial blood flow of Solnechnogorsk, Arzamas and Adler geese. Approved in 1993. The live weight of ganders is 8-9 kg, geese 6.5-7 kg, goslings at 10 weeks of age 5 kg. Egg production 48 eggs, egg weight 150-170 g.

Kuban geese were bred in the south of Russia in the Krasnodar Territory by employees of the Kuban GAU. When breeding the breed, Chinese, wild gray and local groups of Gorky geese were used. As a result of long-term breeding work, geese were obtained that make good use of pastures and have high egg production (up to 95-100 eggs) and egg weight (150 g).

At the age of 9 weeks, fattening young animals have a live weight of 3.7-4 kg. The mass of adult males is 5.5-6 kg and females 5-5.5 kg. The breed is distinguished by high reproductive qualities: the output of goslings is 85-86%. Geese are well adapted to local conditions.

The large gray breed of geese was created as a result of crossing Roman geese with Toulouse geese. The geese of this breed have a massive head with a short orange beak. The mass of adult ganders is 6.7-7 kg, geese 5.8-6.5 kg, young animals at the age of 9 weeks, respectively, 4.5 and 3.7 kg.

Egg production 35-45 eggs weighing 175 g. Since not all breeds and breed groups are suitable for the industrial production of goose meat and fatty liver, special attention should be paid to those that can be used as paternal or maternal forms for obtaining hybrid goslings, and on their base to create matching lines.

Breeders have determined the optimal options for interbreeding to obtain hybrid goslings. As a maternal form, it is advisable to use the Kuban, Chinese, Rhine and Italian geese as the most pliable, and as a paternal form - large gray, Landes, Lindov and Toulouse geese, which differ high speed growth.

The collection of the most valuable breeds of geese is collected in the experimental farm of the Vladimir Research Institute of Agriculture. This collection is used for breeding birds of these breeds and as a genotype bank that can be used in breeding work. Now there are 20 breeds and breed groups in the collection: Adler, Arzamas, Vladimir, Vishtines, Italian, Large Grey, Chinese White, Chinese Grey, Kuban, Ribbon, Lindovskaya, Landskaya, Pskov Bald, Pereyaslavskaya, Romenskaya, Tula, Toulouse, Kholmogory, Shadrinskaya , Emden (see color incl.).

The total number of the herd is 1.2 thousand head. It annually increases due to the acquisition of individuals of rare and endangered breeds and breed groups from the population. The productivity indicators of the gene pool flock of geese are given in the table.

Productivity of the gene pool flock of geese (according to the Vladimir Research Institute of Agriculture, 2000).

Since ancient times, geese have been wild migratory birds. After their domestication, they became a favorite delicacy on the table. In some regions, the goose is a sacred bird. Their habitat is quite wide - almost all continents except Antarctica. They like to be near rivers, small lakes, swampy areas.

There are species of mountain geese. And yet, many underestimate the mental abilities of these birds, thinking that they are stupid. However, they have many features that few people know about. Next, the most Interesting Facts about these amazing birds.

How geese became pet birds

These birds have been known for a very long time. They managed to tame them in ancient Egypt about 4000 years ago. The Egyptians considered one of the geese that lived on the banks of the Nile to be the creator of the world. His nickname was "Great Gagatun". The ancestor of modern poultry is the wild gray northern goose.

Mystery of birth

In ancient times, no one saw how geese mate and lay eggs, so it was believed that they emerge from seashells. Therefore, until the 13th century, the Catholic Church did not prohibit the use of birds during fasting.

The fact is that the goose carefully masks its nest with small branches and leaves, for better heating of the eggs, plucks its own downy feathers. When she needs to go away, the male starts guarding the nest, he always stays nearby and will never let the predator in. It can cripple a dog and injure a person.

Flight Mastery

Geese are great flight masters. They are very hardy and able to overcome long distances at incredible heights. This is no longer necessary for domestic species, but wild, especially gray and mountain species of geese, are able to rise into the sky to record levels. Recently, a flight was recorded at a distance of 10 thousand meters from the ground! A person, without special devices, at such a height, will suffocate, and due to low pressure, he will lose consciousness.

Birds fly mainly in flocks or in the form of a wedge, the latter of the methods, according to the laws of aerodynamics, almost doubles the flight range. Geese, flying to winter in warm lands in a wedge, take care of each other. When the bird flying in front gets tired, another one will surely replace it. A flock can be formed from three individuals, or it can number a thousand birds.

Devotion

Like swans, albatrosses and some other species of birds, geese are also inseparable from their soulmate throughout their lives, and they live a lot, from 20 to 30 years. The choice of a partner takes place in the third year of life, after which, only death can separate the birds. If the domestic gander has several geese, he will still choose one, all the rest will obey her. In the event of the loss of a half, the geese mourn for a long time before choosing a pair again, and some remain completely alone.

The special structure of the genitals

The genital genitalia of the gander are very reminiscent of a spiral in shape, and in length they can reach the size of the bird itself. The goose ovary is formed of the same complex shape. Since a pair of birds is inseparable, but the female can be abused by other ganders, nature has rewarded the goose with several extra pockets in the ovarian cavity, in which unwanted sperm is blocked, and she will not be able to produce offspring from a "foreign" bird.

"Like water off a duck's back"

The well-known expression "like water off a duck's back" came from the fact that goose feathers repel water. Birds secrete a special fatty secret, which they distribute throughout the body from the tail.

Old way of writing

In ancient times, goose feathers were used for writing. In order for the pen to be used, it must be sharpened with a knife, which later became known as the penknife. Later, in the 19th century, steel pens were used for writing.

veneration of the geese

In various ancient cities, geese were revered and considered sacred. Yes, in ancient rome when the geese saved the defenders of the Capitol Hill from the attack of the Gauls with their cry, the birds began to be depicted on the victorious emblem. It is also known that in the Temple of Juno, geese were kept as sexual symbols, ranking birds as a fertility cult. And the monks of Tibet still consider these birds sacred, associating them with the god Shiva.

A very popular delicacy, foie gras is made from goose liver. Few people know that unscrupulous farmers, in order to get a fatter organ, introduce food by putting a hose down the throat of birds. In many countries this is prohibited by law.

Using geese for help

Geese are known to be fiercely territorial defenders, they hiss loudly and can pinch hard. Some people use it for their own purposes. So, in a small town in Scotland, a flock of "defenders" was engaged in the protection of a small factory for the production of alcohol. In addition, it has been scientifically proven that geese have an excellent appetite. Using this fact, the owners of cotton plantations breed geese to weed the fields in those places where technology is powerless. Birds do not like the taste of cotton plants themselves, so they only pluck out unnecessary weeds.

Here are a few more features of these birds:

• Geese love to swim, and they are good at it. After 24 hours, little goslings hatched from eggs swim on a par with their mother.
• Every year, an adult bird begins a molting period, for 2 whole months geese cannot fly. For their safety, they survive this time near rivers or lakes, so that they can get away from predators by water.
• To communicate with each other, geese use a set of different sounds, which are used in accordance with the situation. Scientists estimate that there are about ten of them.
• Most bones in birds are hollow inside. This greatly reduces weight and aids in long distance flights.
• There is a legend that geese flew to the territory of Russia in the 17th century from Germany. Although in Russia itself there are almost twice as many species of these birds.