Why are my male Chinese Brown goose's feathers like this???

[joya250]

Good morning,

My male goose is approximately 8 years old. For the last several years, he has had spine-y and splinter-y sticks where his feathers used to be. I am attaching a pic to show it best. What can I do for this?

I thought it was just because he was a male and more "rough and tumble"... but I recently saw other male geese in the areas who didn't have this. My female goose has beautiful feathers ... so I don't know if it their diet (which is mainly corn and ground plants... less grass and bamboo as before due to the new location.)

I thought it was stress (because I moved and was in a toxic relationship for several years)... and I thought his feathers would grow back. But nothing seems to be resolving.

Thoughts??? Other than this, he seems to be fine -- he is not acting any different.

Thank you in advance for advice. I want Luz Goose to be as healthy as he can, because I love him (of course!)

 

[Goosebaby]

Good morning,

My male goose is approximately 8 years old. For the last several years, he has had spine-y and splinter-y sticks where his feathers used to be. I am attaching a pic to show it best. What can I do for this?

I thought it was just because he was a male and more "rough and tumble"... but I recently saw other male geese in the areas who didn't have this. My female goose has beautiful feathers ... so I don't know if it their diet (which is mainly corn and ground plants... less grass and bamboo as before due to the new location.)

I thought it was stress (because I moved and was in a toxic relationship for several years)... and I thought his feathers would grow back. But nothing seems to be resolving.

Thoughts??? Other than this, he seems to be fine -- he is not acting any different.

Thank you in advance for advice. I want Luz Goose to be as healthy as he can, because I love him (of course!)
View attachment 3815645

Brittle feathers can be a symptom of a poor diet/nutritional deficiencies. Feathers are mostly protein and it takes a lot of effort and nutrients to grow new ones. Geese can have differing metabolisms so you can have one that’s fine and another that struggles on the same diet. Ratty feathers can also be a sign of mites, damage from fighting, or cancer affecting the skin, but usually with cancer or polycystic feathers it will affect one part of the body and not all of the feathers.

His feathers look damaged all over so my guess is nutrient deficiencies, I strongly suggest getting them a waterfowl or all flock feed, something like nutrena all flock, purina duck feed or purina flock raiser, or mazuri waterfowl feed.

 

[joya250]

Brittle feathers can be a symptom of a poor diet/nutritional deficiencies. Feathers are mostly protein and it takes a lot of effort and nutrients to grow new ones. Geese can have differing metabolisms so you can have one that’s fine and another that struggles on the same diet. Ratty feathers can also be a sign of mites, damage from fighting, or cancer affecting the skin, but usually with cancer or polycystic feathers it will affect one part of the body and not all of the feathers.

His feathers look damaged all over so my guess is nutrient deficiencies, I strongly suggest getting them a waterfowl or all flock feed, something like nutrena all flock, purina duck feed or purina flock raiser, or mazuri waterfowl feed.

Thank you. I don't have access to any of those suggestions, as I am in Panama. It is extremely limited here. I have a general powdered vitamin that I could use ... it is for all livestock, not just waterfowl... not sure if that will be good enough. Sometimes it is frustrating being here without access to resources.

Edited to add... I do have the high-protein crumble that I currently give to my baby duck... maybe adding some of that in the goose food?

 

[Goosebaby]

20% crumble is fine, if you can find a 20% chick start that will also work, added vitamins are good also, especially added B vitamins. You can also add nutritional yeast or brewers yeast to their feed if you can find it. Meal worms or soldier fly larva are also great sources of protein.

 

[JRies]

Adding protein see if you can find these things locally.
Flax seed (after they extract the oil)
Sunflower seed shelled
Safflower seed shelled
Feed during molt.

 

[joya250]

Thank you for your replies. I got some liquid vitamins at the Pet Store for him, and I am adding some high-protein crumble to his corn food. I know it will take some time, but I am dedicated to helping him return to full health.