My goose has angel wing- what now???!!!

[moenmitz]

We have noticed that one of the geese had weird looking wings-thought it was kind of odd looking, but didnt seem to be much cause for concern. They are 8 weeks now and NOW it is really noticeable...I looked it up and found out it is angel wing. What do I do? All the geese and ducks were fed duck starter from birth on, never any treats-why is he the only one affected? Is he in pain? Is he too old to correct it now? If not, what do I do? If we leave him be, will it hurt him? We were planning on butchering some of them anyway, would he be alright to just leave until that time? it is pretty extreme formt he description I read- his feathers all stick out like blue straws...here I thought he was getting blue feathers or something...

 

[Omniskies]

Angel wing won't hurt him. I had an old goose that came to me with angel wing who didn't seem to notice it at all.

If he is young enough you can get a strip of cloth and wrap the wing up against his body (don't wrap up the good wing, go beneath it). Make sure you hide the end under the other wing if you can, that way nothing is sticking out for the others to nibble on.

Mix the food with a lower protein feed to gradually change it over. Even letting them eat more grass will help with the problem.

No one knows exactly what causes angel wing. There are sound arguments for it being a high protein diet and/or for it being genetic. To be on the safe side I'd set him aside for butchering. If you decide to do that then treatment isn't really necessary.

 

[lilshadow]

We have a female goose that has angel wings. She came to use a an adult. This is genetic, and if you breed this goose there is the possibility that the offspring will also have this. My reason for saying this is because we have 9 goslings from our female, and out of the 9 three have the angel wings, and 1 has one side that is normal, and the other side is an angel wing. Our geese are doing fine, and so is momma goose. Yes it looks funny, but we just tell people they are special. We feed our gosilings all the same food.

 

[greyfields]

I just live with it, or eat them if they're male. I would not breed one with it, as it tends to be genetic.

It doesn't hurt or harm them.

 

[Broke Down Ranch]

At 8 weeks you can still fix it. Fold the wing under like it's supposed to be then use tape to wrap around the wing just past the first joint to tape and hold the end up in position. I usually use grey tape because it is durable and doesn't come off when wet. I leave it in place for 2-4 weeks at which time the tape is practically falling off anyway but I use a straight razor to cut the fluff that is still stuck to the tape.

All research that has been done suggests that it is NOT genetic but rather overfeeding of high protein food. The main study that comes to mind was done on wild geese. Geese in the wild NEVER have angelwing if they are left to forage and find their own food. But when fed commercial feed most of the babies would mature into having angelwing. They then took these grown geese that have the angelwing and bred them and let them raise their offspring in the wild with no commercial feed - not a single gosling developed angelwing. Therefore I do not think it is genetic but that's just my own opinion...

 

[moenmitz]

Thanks everybody- They have all been grazing all day for the last 2 weeks- they just get a little grain at night, 1 scoop for everybody to share, and that is just chick starter now, not even the duck feed anymore. (It is unmedicated and organic, btw.) If it was the feed it just seems odd that only one would get it-the other ten are just fine. I am glad it isnt hurting him at all-I think I will try taping his wings and see what happens-it is both wings, equally affected. Becuase of his dorky looking wings, we have been making a bit of a pet out of this one, so if he can live comfortably, I would rather NOT eat him....Greyfield, what age do you butcher your geese?

 

[greyfields]

It's not age, it's time of season.

I sell Christmas goose. So, they are born between March and May and the males and extra females get processed the week prior to Thanksgiving (in case someone wants to do their bird for Thanksgiving instead).

In England for all of recorded history, the annual goose sales were on Michaelmas which is at the end of September. People would buy geese to come clean up the fields after teh grain harvest (called the "aftermath). The geese would fatten on the aftermath, then would be slaugthered for Christmas as well as "potted" (stored in their own fat) to last through the winter.

That all changed when the turkey came along. But, I'm selling more and more xmas goose each year, as people are rediscovering traditional ways are often quite tasty.

 

[moenmitz]

Mine were hatched may 12th, and are some sort of African cross I think...so waiting to butcher at Thanksgiving would not make them too tough then?

 

[greyfields]

I dunno. I don't find mine tough and they can be 9 months old by the time I process them. The meat is stringy, like all birds who were afforded a life prior to slaughter. I rejoice in it.

 

[cgjsmith]

I used vet tape to fix mine at about the same age. left it on for a week. wouldn't recomend any longer I did one two weeks and she lost the muscle in her wing, it took 3 weeks for it to get strong enough to fit in the proper place. Crystal