7 week old goose wont eat greens

[spcmoken]

My 7 week old goose barely grazes and wont eat other greens either . shes fixated on the starter crumbles. Barely eats anything besides this . what can i do ? Anyone have this happen? I been supplementing with vitamins and niacin in water ... And keep greens available at all times.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Does she have any other geese to learn by? Just keep doing what your doing hopefully eventually she'll give the greens a try and like them.

 

[spcmoken]

Does she have any other geese to learn by? Just keep doing what your doing hopefully eventually she'll give the greens a try and like them.

Honestly, we hatched her ! She wasn't even supposed to be a fertile egg! There was a yard sale and they also sold goose and chicken eggs to eat. I homeschool and we have hatched and raised ducks and quail before. This was supposed to be the, what happens when you incubate a infertile egg... 2 days later when we candled the egg THERE WAS LIFE LOL!!! Don't remember the house we got it from ... We choose to hatch and raise and then find a farm/ranch .. Well we fell in love , learned everything we could and still do, and shes now our 7 week old baby who is part of our family!i'm mom, hubby is dad and my kids her siblings she was a premature hatch... Didn't walk at all for days.. Couldn't swim for the first 2-3 weeks.. Now she walks & swims just fine. I been feeding her non medicated starter. Always offering grass and veggies incl lettuce! She bites and even chews grass/ lettuce sometimes, but then shakes head with beak open to fling it back out ??

 

[Miss Lydia]

I never raised a single goose even when we had a gosling he was raised by a Muscovy duck so he had others to learn by but they didn’t graze so he never learned that skill. When I brought home a 4 month old goose for him when he was 5 yrs old he’d been a duck for so long it took him a while to learn to be a goose. He still doesn’t forage like his mate. So I am thinking this it probably a learned trait to some extent? I believe at 7 weeks she should be moved on to a different feed. And one that more appropriate for water fowl An all flock feed like Purina Flock Raiser would be a good one or another brand of all flock but it’s made for all poultry where chick starter is mainly for chickens. And doesn’t have the adequate amount of niacin the waterfowl need to have strong legs. Have you tried floating shredded lettuce an grass in a bowl Of water?

 

[bluemerle]

Are you putting her out on grass to forage? I've found mine don't care much for the grass I clip for them, but they will pick their own grass when they're out on the lawn.

 

[spcmoken]

Are you putting her out on grass to forage? I've found mine don't care much for the grass I clip for them, but they will pick their own grass when they're out on the lawn.

I take her out side every day to graze and she has a (never used, newly purchased)med size cat litter in whichni gream'ch

 

[GEESES Peanut Butter Cup]

I believe at 7 weeks she should be moved on to a different feed

I second this if the gosling's diet consists of mainly the feed.

 

[spcmoken]

How do i switch her without starving her if she wont eat anything else ? She kind of grazes outside ... Since hatched i've been mom ,taking her outside , tapping the grass and shed try it / not like it lol. Now im getting REALLY WORRIED because well, i been trying to switch her to the poultry feed by mixing it in , slowly, BUT now whenever she relaxes or sleeps ive noticed she lets her left wing hang. NEVER when shes awake or walking or standing. I suppliment niacin and miltivitamins in her water. She swims, goes on grass and runs every day. Im just worried shes starting early signs of angel wing .. The left dropped wing... I feel like when i first had my son (first baby) i was always so scarred i was messing up or doing wrong. Ugh ... I love her , we all do. We are waiting on hatchlings to get her a companion btw. Don't want her to feel alone.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Start by mixing starter with her next feed which I’d go with an all flock like Purina Flock Raiser or another brand but all flock is made for all poultry. If you find her some flock mates maybe that will be her incentive to graze.

 

[Brayjj]

So we have a loan gosling that hatched and is 7 weeks old. We used to have 13 geese and slowly had to downsize. The last found a new home in the spring due to the gander attacking my children.

Anyway ours is outside all day. At this point we only feed her grain in the morning. She wanders the yard with our livestock guardian dog and the chickens grazing all day. We taught her how to eat greens by having tiny bits of clover on our fingers. But what you describe sounds like what she did in the beginning.
Our situation is different currently than what is recommended but it's working.

As for angel wing you can correct it by using wrap on their wing. One of our past ones had it. They go through stages with wing feather development so maybe they are just getting a different feel. I remember worrying a lot.

We homeschool too so I left our kiddos hatch these out but only one hatched out of 4 eggs, 2 were infertile and one died along the way.

Goslings sure are fun. Ours is a little girl because we had auto sexing geese so hoping to find her a another girl then.