brown chinese gosling with a twisted neck?

[fowlobsessed1]

Hi everyone. About two weeks ago, I bought some day old brown chinese goslings and I thought I would give them a go. I cleaned out their brooder pen with bleach, then super hot soapy water to make sure the last of the bleach was washed away. It then sat empty for a little over a week before I brought my little guys home. I feed them a chick starter, and its always stored in a dry place, the waterer and the feeder are both off of the bottom, the pens get washed in hot water and scrubbed every other day. ( just hot water and some elbow grease)

Now, this morning I went down to fill their feeders, my one gosling has a twist in his neck. He was fine last night when I checked them at 10pm, and this morning, his neck is twisted. I didn't but him that way, he just started it. I called the buddy that I got him from to make sure he didn't hatch late or anything strange, and he said they all hatched within the first day of lockdown and were completely fine. He offered to give me another one, but If it's something that I am doing, I don't want to harm any others. I felt his neck and it doesn't feel like there is anything broken in there. Could he have fallen and hurt himself? The more I look around for answers, the more scared I get. Should I separate him? I still have them on a light, but they have plenty of space to get away from it.

 

[Speceider]

Looks like a vitamin deficiency. I would add one of the poultry vitamin mixes.

Clint

 

[The goose girl]

He could have fallen from something; he could have got his head stuck in something and sprained his neck getting it loose; one of the others could have stepped on him. Sometimes accidents happen. If it was some kind of accident, and he doesn't have broken bones or dislocated joints, he may recover by himself in a few days. Is he eating and drinking? Does he move around ok?

Separating a gosling is complicated. On the one hand, he may benefit from not being trampled by the others. But it's likely he'll be desperate to get back to his buddies, and he may stress and/or hurt himself trying to reunite with them. Maybe you can separate him with a buddy, so he won't be lonely?

Vitamin deficiency in goslings is usually lack of niacin, and usually they stop walking and standing; their legs get too weak to support them.

I've never heard of a vitamin deficiency that causes a twisted neck in goslings. That said, vitamins probably won't hurt them.

 

[fowlobsessed1]

My local Tsc was out of stock of the vitamins, so the girl recommended poly-vi-sol. I searched around on byc and I read that there are some people that use that.

So, that being said, I bought some and gave him two drops this morning at about 9 am and another two drops at 9pm. When he drank, he put his neck straight up to swallow once, then it went back to the side and stayed that way. Could it already be helping? Should I give all of the goslings some so no one else can get it?

 

[fowlobsessed1]

The goose girl, I have the pen lined in 1/8" chicken wire. Same thing with the bottom. His waterer is on two bricks, side by side, but it's the large gallon waterers. It's high enough for them to be able to fall in, but low enough for them to drink. There isn't any other ledges for him to fall from. I guess another one could step on him. They seem pretty doplic. Is that normal for goslings?

Clint, thanks for the advice!

 

[The goose girl]

I guess another one could step on him. They seem pretty doplic. Is that normal for goslings?

Never heard that word before; had to google it. I like it! But yes, goslings (and geese) may be very clumsy. Mine will walk straight into a big bucket placed in her desired path as if it were too small to notice.

Here's a video of the elegance and majesty displayed by my late goose, Keld:

I hope your little one gets well soon!

 

[fowlobsessed1]

Thanks the Goose Girl! That makes me laugh and feel a little better about mine! I had them outside for a spell today, and they tried thier hardest to eat the grass. The gosling was ironically named slinky....now his neck looks like one. He drank twice with his neck straight today, but then it bent right back over. Do you think there is a chance he might get better? I tried to separate him from his little buddies, but they all were worked up and kept pacing/tumbling screaming for each other. I didn't want to stress him out anymore so I put them back together, and they all cuddled and fell asleep.

 

[allieb]

I just signed up here to ask the same question. I have 2 geese I bought in March and 1 of them has a twisted neck also. She is growing fine, no leg problems, she just holds her neck funny. She also holds her tail crooked to one side. Could it maybe be a genetic thing?

 

[Iain Utah]

I had a duckling that hatched healthy but got twisted neck around day 7. I treated her with poly visol (without iron). It took about 3 days to see improvement and after a week of treatment, she was back to 100% normal. She is almost 2.5 years old now and has never had a problem since.

 

[allieb]

Awesome! Thanks so much. She is so sweet. The thought of loosing any of them just makes me blue. They still sit in my lap. I will try the baby vitamins.