2yr old Toulouse gander missing feathers on the "elbows" of his wings?

[DawnB]

Hi...I have a question...are the wing joints on a gander supposed to be sparse of feathers or down? My guy is a little over 2yrs old. We adopted him last fall with a mixed flock. He came with these little bare patches and I thought he had been plucked over a bit (all the birds were sporting bare patches).

The chickens went through a molt and everything grew back...I'm not sure if he went through a molt...but these weird bare patches on his wing "elbows" (for lack of a better description) remained. When do geese normally molt? Should I be concerned?

It doesn't seem to bother him much...I was just curious. He has no other signs of any problems...do geese get lice or anything? I'd be more concerned if this was a recent issue, but it's been like that since August. I was hoping stuff would grow back after a molt. Could it just be him? Goose pattern baldness?

Thanks,
Dawn

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hi...I have a question...are the wing joints on a gander supposed to be sparse of feathers or down? My guy is a little over 2yrs old. We adopted him last fall with a mixed flock. He came with these little bare patches and I thought he had been plucked over a bit (all the birds were sporting bare patches).

The chickens went through a molt and everything grew back...I'm not sure if he went through a molt...but these weird bare patches on his wing "elbows" (for lack of a better description) remained. When do geese normally molt? Should I be concerned?

It doesn't seem to bother him much...I was just curious. He has no other signs of any problems...do geese get lice or anything? I'd be more concerned if this was a recent issue, but it's been like that since August. I was hoping stuff would grow back after a molt. Could it just be him? Goose pattern baldness?

Thanks,
Dawn

Goose pattern baldness, thats a good one, I had to go look at my gander but he has all his feathers, not sure about your guy but if it's been this way since Aug. it's most likely nothing to worry about, my gander molts in June I don't know if that normal but thats when he molts. I got a goose last Aug who is 1 yr next month It will be interesting to see when she molts. And if your geese have plenty of bath water they most likely won't get external parasites. My chickens had mites last fall and none of my water fowl had them.

 

[DawnB]

Thanks...that makes me feel better. He has these chest feathers that extend over his wing joint so you don't always see the bald spots. He's not picking on the spots that I've ever seen. And he has been getting more regular baths now that it's above freezing out. So, I'm not particularly worried about buggy pests.

My new goose I got in Dec doesn't have the same problem, but she's a different breed. I'll just chalk it up to goose pattern baldness and call it good!