Contents
The Kuban breed of geese was bred in the middle of the twentieth century at the Kuban Agricultural Institute. The institute made two attempts to breed a new breed of geese. For the first time, the Gorky breed was crossed with the Chinese one. The result was birds with the color of a wild goose.
Later, the Kuban Agricultural Institute made a second attempt to breed new geese by crossing three domestic breeds: Gorky, Emdem and Vishtines. This version of the Kuban geese turned out to be white.
Thus, today the Kuban geese exist in two versions: gray and white. The white version turned out to be worse in its productive qualities, and the first gray population of the Kuban geese became widespread.
This color may be due to a mutation of the gray representative of the breed. Or piebald geese are the offspring of crossing two Kuban populations. Since populations are not actually related offspring, due to the effect of heterosis, they can have better productive characteristics than a “pure” line.
But today, usually with the words “Kuban breed” they mean gray geese as the most common. Today gray Kuban breed in the Volga region, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Ukraine. If in 1974 the population of this breed numbered 20,5 thousand birds, today there are already 285 thousand heads.
Description
Kuban were bred as an egg breed of geese. Their live weight is not very large: the gander weighs 5,5-6 kg; goose – up to 5 kg. Due to the size of the meat characteristics of the Kuban breed of geese, attention is usually not focused, giving preference to their egg productivity.
But the egg production of the Kuban geese is very high for this type of poultry: up to 80-90 pieces per year. Eggs have a very good taste and large weight: 140-150 g. The shell is white.
Appearance
The Kuban geese have a medium-sized body with dense muscles. The head is large and long. The eyes are oval, dark brown. In the description of the gray Kuban geese, the bump on the nose, inherited from the Chinese breed, and the brown stripe on the neck are especially emphasized as a distinctive feature. For some reason, special attention is paid to the stripe, although this is the wild color of the swan goose and many other breeds, whose ancestor was the swan goose, also have this strip.
But the bump on the nose, as seen in the photo of the Kuban goose, has differences. It is less pronounced and more regular in shape than the Chinese ones. Due to this, the head of the Kuban goose, although it has a “square” profile, is more accurate than that of the Chinese one. In addition, the purses of the Kuban are weakly expressed, and many of them are completely absent. The beak is thin. The cone and beak of the Kuban are black.
The neck is long, thin, very flexible. The body is egg-shaped, slightly raised in front. The wings are long, tightly pressed to the body. The tail is short, raised. The chest is rounded, with well-developed pectoral muscles. Legs of medium length, metatarsus red-orange.
Starting from the year Kuban actively gain fat, storing it in the lower part of the body. In adults, a “bag” of subcutaneous fat forms between the paws, although the description of the breed indicates that the Kuban geese do not have a fat fold. It is the fold that is present in other geese that the Kuban ones really do not have. The photo of adult geese of the Kuban breed shows that the description is true, but the birds have a supply of fat.
As follows even from the name itself, dark feathers predominate in the color of the gray Kuban breed of geese. But on the rump in the lower part of the body, the plumage is white. Also, the color of the gray Kuban is sometimes called brown because of the very brown stripe on the back of the neck, passing from the back of the head to the body, as well as the brownish color of the lower part of the neck.
Advantages and disadvantages
The breed was bred in order to obtain an unpretentious bird well adapted to conditions. The withdrawal goals have been achieved. The advantages of the Kuban geese, according to the description, include:
- good frost resistance;
- unpretentiousness to feed;
- large eggs;
- high hatchability of goslings;
- good safety of young animals;
- tasty meat, albeit in relatively small quantities.
But the last moment is compensated by the good survival of the young, as a result of which, in mass quantities, the Kuban are not inferior to the meat breeds.
As you can see in the photo, the geese of the Kuban breed perfectly endure winters, calmly walking right in the snow.
The Kuban have a rather docile nature and are easily tamed.
The disadvantages of this breed are rather conditional: a small live weight and a lack of maternal instinct in geese. Whether the second point is a disadvantage depends on the purpose of breeding geese. For some owners of Kuban geese, judging by the reviews, the reluctance to incubate eggs is a virtue. Refusal to incubate allows you to get more eggs from one goose, and the hatchability of goslings in the incubator is 90%.
If the geese were planned for meat, then the small body weight is indeed a disadvantage. In this case, a light Kuban goose is crossed with a heavy goose, getting a large number of meat goslings.
Early maturity
The ideal age for slaughtering Kuban geese is 3 months. By this time, the young growth manages to gain an average of 3,5 kg of live weight. Before puberty, geese will have to grow for almost a year. Ganders mature at 240-310 days of life. Geese before.
After 4 years of life, the goose dramatically reduces egg production, so keeping geese for longer than 4 years is not advisable.
Keeping goslings
Since usually the breeding of goslings of this breed occurs in an incubator, the goose cannot drive them. Like any other hatchery chicks, goslings are placed in a brooder, where the temperature is initially set to 30 ° C. Goslings drink a lot, but do not need a pool. Moreover, if you put a basin of water on them, they can drown in it. Therefore, the chicks are provided with free access to a drinking bowl with fresh water, but the ability to get into the water is limited.
In the first week, goslings are given starter feed mixed with a boiled egg. Later start adding fresh grass. Before feeding, the grass is cut into small pieces.
In free-range fodder grasses, geese find themselves. If there is no grazing, then the birds are fed:
- various cereals;
- bluegrass;
- beans;
- quinoa;
- nettle.
It is better to scald nettles before giving so that the birds do not burn their tongues.
Both adult birds and young birds need to walk. You can let the young go outside on warm days earlier than you let them swim.
Adult geese have many diseases that they carry asymptomatically. These same diseases are very dangerous for goslings.
You can not deprive young and adult birds and winter walks. The cold of this breed is not so terrible that geese can start laying eggs in February right on the snow. In the video, domestic geese of the Kuban breed on a winter-spring walk.
Reviews
Conclusion
With the declared abundance of the breed in our time, the description and photos of the Kuban geese often do not correspond to each other. It’s almost impossible to find a photo of a purebred bird. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the owners of the Kuban breed often cross it with heavier meat representatives of the goose tribe. In any case, Kuban fans need to be careful in choosing the seller of the desired product.