Angel wing with my heart duck.

[hunterjumper999]

Luci goose is my heart duck. He/she is just so personable and has really brought me out of a rough patch in life.

I am new to waterfowl and got Luci at the feed store. she was being fed medicated chick starter.

I changed her to non medicated food and when she was big enough put her in the run with the pullets and smaller chicks. She did fine. She's ALWAYS had funky wings tho.

Also, Luci was hatched in May. Any guesses as to male or female yet?

Is angel wing a harmful condition or can she live happily with this ? I free range from 8 am - 9 pm and Luci co habitates with a large group of chickens and two other ducks. I dont really have the money to put her in her own run right now but if its what she needs I will. She is eating the chickens pelleted food, and grasses and free ranging.

 

[BlueMoon]

Uh, your heart duck looks tremendously like my Toulouse/Chinese crossed geese.

I'm new to this as well, but what I remember seeing on many commercial chicken feeds was to NEVER give them to waterfowl. I think that was because there is a cocciodostat in them.

Anyhow, we give ours turkey grower and still had one goose turn up with angel wing.

Good luck!

 

[jojo@rolling acres farm]

I'm glad this little goose has helped you through your rough patch.

I'm not sure about the male/female question...sorry.

 

[Windchyme]

Quote:
This condition might cause her arthritis now and again I am just guessing but birds live long lives with this so don't worry about it now. If she is fine the way she is then I don't see a need to change anything. If you remove her from her friends it will distress her deeply and has no benefit that I can see. She can eat the chicken food without it hurting her. Just love on her. I have one just like her that is my heart goose too named Gretchen.

 

[Badhbh]

I"m not sure on the angel wing, but she's a brown Chinese. *Looks* like a female to me, but you'll really not know until she lays an egg

Mine started laying when they were less than a year, so you should know by spring

No eggs, it's a boy.

 

[Biddieacres]

I love her too! Just by her picture.

 

[hunterjumper999]

do you think that I should get her another Goose? I have two ducks ( soon to be five) and I'm afraid the ducks will buddy up and she'll be alone.

 

[Shanay235]

One of my brown chinese has angel wing to and she gets along just fine. Guessing from the pictures and the size of her knob, yours looks like a female. Another thing that may help identify the sex is how much she talks. My ganders are much louder than the girls and chatter nonstop when I'm spending time with them.

She would probably enjoy another goose friend. They are very smart birds that need the social interaction. It won't make any difference if the goosie friend is the same breed or not. I'm fairly new to raising geese so I'm not exactly sure what the benefits/drawbacks would be to same/oppposite sex friend. I'm sure there are enough, more experienced goose people on here that can help answer that one.

 

[Windchyme]

Quote:
Unless you want to deal with a pumped up male at breeding time I'd reccomend getting her a girlfriend. They don't care about sex as long as they have a buddy and like Shanay said, they don't care about breed.

 

[aGooseNamedMay]

Hey hunterjumper999-- I have exactly the same problem with a goose who looks just like Luci goose. I got it on May 22, 2009. I have been reading a lot on the internet about "angel wing" (also called "slipped wing"). I think since our geese are so young, the problem can be corrected easily and the goose can live out a normal life-- after a few days of re-training the feathers...

Straighten the wing out gently until the feather fall into place-- even with this problem, the feather can still be "layered" correctly and bound into place-- sort of "re-taught" where to lay correctly.

This was the most helpful description I found for repair.
(from http://www.longshadowfarms.com/FAQ.html)
Please see picture on web page:

Angel Wing
> Angel wing is a condition that occurs in young birds as
> the wing feathers are coming in. As the primary feathers start coming
> in they turn out away from the body instead of folding in under the
> secondary feathers.
> To correct this problem I just tape the wing in place the way it ought
> to be just as the wing feathers are coming in and are showing signs of
> growing the wrong way. I use waterproof 1" medical tape and wrap it
> around the wing with the feathers in the position they should lay if
> they were normal. I basically tape the end section of the wing that is
> growing out to the middle section of the wing. They won't be able to
> un-bend that part of the wing for the time that the feathers are
> growing into the correct position. Some people tape around the whole
> duck but this method seems to work for calls.
> If it falls off, I just tape it in place again. A lot of people use
> duct tape but I find it kind of sticky and hard to cut off once the job
> is done. That is why I prefer the waterproof medical tape. It still
> sticks pretty well but it is not so wide and therefore easier to put
> on, easier to get off, and doesn't stick out like a sore thumb. I take
> it off after a week or less and see how it looks. If you catch it at
> just the right time, it only takes about 4-5 days. If it doesn't work
> the first time, try it again.

I taped my goose up last Sunday...it wasn't hard and it didn't seem to hurt or even really bother the goose.
First, I tried taping one wing at a time-- thinking the goose would be more free to clean itself and stretch in a normal manner...however, the "casts" soon fell off-- since the goose could stretch, it stretched the "casts" right off....So, I taped the goose's body just in front of the legs. This seems to be working well...they said to leave it on for 4-5 days-- but another entry online said two weeks...

Good luck!