JennaLee
Hatching
- May 20, 2016
- 2
- 1
- 9
Okay so I just wanted to hop on here and talk about an experience I had so that maybe someone could gain from me.
So May 4th, 2016 I got 2 buff goslings from Murry McMurry (highly recommend) and they were perfect!
I put them in a Guinea Pig cage I had, attached a heat lamp, 85 degrees, and added a little timothy hay & aspen wood shavings.
They were happy healthy babies and I was in love!
Now here is the controversial thing, I gave them medicated chick feed.
And here comes the shaming, I know, I know it's bad, blah blah blah. Just keep reading.
Flash back to the day before my chicks and geese arrived I went to the feed store. I asked for a 25 lbs. bag of NON- MEDICATED FEED. For some stupid reason I never checked the bag in store or at home. I promise I'm not always a moron.
Okay, so I blindly feed my goslings-precious, adorable babies- Satan food(Medicated Chick Feed) as it is known to the internet in regards to goslings or ducks.
And before you ask; yes, it was the amprollium kind of medication which is apparently not as bad as others.
So the geese are fine.
Okay, now it's Monday. They are almost a week old so I thought they would enjoy a dip in the bathtub.
I ran some warm water.
The Gander, drank and drank and drank the water and the lovely lady just walked around and preaned herself.
At about 10-15 minutes I took them out and wrapped them up in a warm towel, still allowing them to preen, just trying to keep them warm in my house that has the A/C running.
I'm watching youtube, chillin', holdn' my children(the geese).
And suddenly everything went to hell in a handbasket.
My Gander jumped up, wings splayed, legs straight, squawking in pain.
I grabbed him and held him to comfort him.
He calmed down so I set him on the floor to further examine him.
He flopped over onto his back and went back to squawking.
I grabbed him up and brought both babies upstairs where my boyfriend was.
I told him something was wrong with the Gander and to look up a avian vet.
Great, we don't have a avian vet for 100+ miles.
Then he had diarrhea. EVERYWHERE.
I mean EVERYWHERE.
All over me, the floor, everywhere.
I exploded with sobbing.
I have raised poultry for years and have never experienced a sick bird like this.
My Gander's neck flopped to the side.
His legs were incapable of holding his tiny body.
I wrapped him in a towel and cried softly over my passing sweet baby.
He stopped making his little peeps and I thought for sure he had passed.
I pulled back the towel to look at him, to see him delicately sleeping, breathing.
I let him rest.
I asked my boyfriend to bring me water and some crushed up Cheerios.
I offered his little self a sip of water and cheerios.
He wolfed it down.
THANK. GOD.
His neck that had flopped to the side, suddenly wasn't
So pause:
Just so you understand why I gave him more water when he was already having horrible diarrhea: Always if you or an animal is having horrible diarrhea, push fluids. Because if you don't you can become severely dehydrated.
The reason I gave him Cheerios is because it is a safe food in small quantities. The grains would help "clog" the fluids from running straight through him. So it was at this point that I realized that the non- medicated feed that I thought I was feeding was really MEDICATED. Which is also why I decided to go with the Cheerios.
OK resume to the Gander eating and drinking:
So all this time I was worried that their had been tub cleaner in the bathtub that I didn't know was there. I worried that he had a blockage somewhere in his GI. I worried. A lot.
But he made it through the night, somehow.
So the next day I took him to my vet who agreed to look at him.
And right before I loaded them up into the carrier I had prepared, the female had diarrhea.
Now I'm panicking times two.
The vet took stool samples to run for parasites.
Parasites were a negative.
OK.
So the verdict that you've been waiting for.
My vet said...
-Not to worry about the medicated chick feed, that it wouldn't cause it. But to switch to FLOCK RAISER.
-Feed spinach that's been torn up.
-Allow them to graze 30min- an hour a day, but only if it is over 70 degrees. This will also help restore good flora that had been lost during the bouts of diarrhea.
-Lastly, don't over handle them. Even though I just love love love them, it's not good for them to be held all the time.
So all of these problems, dietary.
Moral of the story, don't believe everything you read on the internet, because a lot of it will freak you out for no reason.
And yes, if they have diarrhea after drinking a lot of water it is only to be expected for them to have diarrhea.
He also said that the reason his neck would have been like that is that he may of had something caught in it. What? I don't know. But he said that foul with long necks will have them arched to the side if something is caught in its esophagus.
He said that he may have not been able to stand because his tummy hurt so badly.
LIFE IS A LEARNING EXPERIENCE.
EVEN THE MOST EXPERIENCED POULTRY RAISERS DON'T ALWAYS KNOW WHAT TO DO.
AND THAT IS OKAY.
JUST CONSULT A PROFESSIONAL WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW.
IT IS 100% OKAY TO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO.
BUT WHAT IS NOT OKAY IS TO PRETEND YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING, BECAUSE THAT WILL ONLY HURT THE ANIMAL, AND YOU'LL JUST LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT.
I hope you can gain something from this post, or relate.
Have a beautiful day.
With so much love,
-Clover(Gander), Meadow and Jenilee(author)
Us. <3
My handsome Gander, Clover and myself.
Meadow, my lovely lady.
So May 4th, 2016 I got 2 buff goslings from Murry McMurry (highly recommend) and they were perfect!
I put them in a Guinea Pig cage I had, attached a heat lamp, 85 degrees, and added a little timothy hay & aspen wood shavings.
They were happy healthy babies and I was in love!
Now here is the controversial thing, I gave them medicated chick feed.
And here comes the shaming, I know, I know it's bad, blah blah blah. Just keep reading.
Flash back to the day before my chicks and geese arrived I went to the feed store. I asked for a 25 lbs. bag of NON- MEDICATED FEED. For some stupid reason I never checked the bag in store or at home. I promise I'm not always a moron.
Okay, so I blindly feed my goslings-precious, adorable babies- Satan food(Medicated Chick Feed) as it is known to the internet in regards to goslings or ducks.
And before you ask; yes, it was the amprollium kind of medication which is apparently not as bad as others.
So the geese are fine.
Okay, now it's Monday. They are almost a week old so I thought they would enjoy a dip in the bathtub.
I ran some warm water.
The Gander, drank and drank and drank the water and the lovely lady just walked around and preaned herself.
At about 10-15 minutes I took them out and wrapped them up in a warm towel, still allowing them to preen, just trying to keep them warm in my house that has the A/C running.
I'm watching youtube, chillin', holdn' my children(the geese).
And suddenly everything went to hell in a handbasket.
My Gander jumped up, wings splayed, legs straight, squawking in pain.
I grabbed him and held him to comfort him.
He calmed down so I set him on the floor to further examine him.
He flopped over onto his back and went back to squawking.
I grabbed him up and brought both babies upstairs where my boyfriend was.
I told him something was wrong with the Gander and to look up a avian vet.
Great, we don't have a avian vet for 100+ miles.
Then he had diarrhea. EVERYWHERE.
I mean EVERYWHERE.
All over me, the floor, everywhere.
I exploded with sobbing.
I have raised poultry for years and have never experienced a sick bird like this.
My Gander's neck flopped to the side.
His legs were incapable of holding his tiny body.
I wrapped him in a towel and cried softly over my passing sweet baby.
He stopped making his little peeps and I thought for sure he had passed.
I pulled back the towel to look at him, to see him delicately sleeping, breathing.
I let him rest.
I asked my boyfriend to bring me water and some crushed up Cheerios.
I offered his little self a sip of water and cheerios.
He wolfed it down.
THANK. GOD.
His neck that had flopped to the side, suddenly wasn't
So pause:
Just so you understand why I gave him more water when he was already having horrible diarrhea: Always if you or an animal is having horrible diarrhea, push fluids. Because if you don't you can become severely dehydrated.
The reason I gave him Cheerios is because it is a safe food in small quantities. The grains would help "clog" the fluids from running straight through him. So it was at this point that I realized that the non- medicated feed that I thought I was feeding was really MEDICATED. Which is also why I decided to go with the Cheerios.
OK resume to the Gander eating and drinking:
So all this time I was worried that their had been tub cleaner in the bathtub that I didn't know was there. I worried that he had a blockage somewhere in his GI. I worried. A lot.
But he made it through the night, somehow.
So the next day I took him to my vet who agreed to look at him.
And right before I loaded them up into the carrier I had prepared, the female had diarrhea.
Now I'm panicking times two.
The vet took stool samples to run for parasites.
Parasites were a negative.
OK.
So the verdict that you've been waiting for.
My vet said...
-Not to worry about the medicated chick feed, that it wouldn't cause it. But to switch to FLOCK RAISER.
-Feed spinach that's been torn up.
-Allow them to graze 30min- an hour a day, but only if it is over 70 degrees. This will also help restore good flora that had been lost during the bouts of diarrhea.
-Lastly, don't over handle them. Even though I just love love love them, it's not good for them to be held all the time.
So all of these problems, dietary.
Moral of the story, don't believe everything you read on the internet, because a lot of it will freak you out for no reason.
And yes, if they have diarrhea after drinking a lot of water it is only to be expected for them to have diarrhea.
He also said that the reason his neck would have been like that is that he may of had something caught in it. What? I don't know. But he said that foul with long necks will have them arched to the side if something is caught in its esophagus.
He said that he may have not been able to stand because his tummy hurt so badly.
LIFE IS A LEARNING EXPERIENCE.
EVEN THE MOST EXPERIENCED POULTRY RAISERS DON'T ALWAYS KNOW WHAT TO DO.
AND THAT IS OKAY.
JUST CONSULT A PROFESSIONAL WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW.
IT IS 100% OKAY TO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO.
BUT WHAT IS NOT OKAY IS TO PRETEND YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING, BECAUSE THAT WILL ONLY HURT THE ANIMAL, AND YOU'LL JUST LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT.
I hope you can gain something from this post, or relate.
Have a beautiful day.
With so much love,
-Clover(Gander), Meadow and Jenilee(author)
