Does my boy have wet feather??

[Leader Bee]

 

[Goosebaby]

If he’s wet because he just took a bath no. If he’s been like that for a long time I’d say he has an issue with not waterproofing his feathers enough. Wet feather is usually something chronically ill and immobile birds get from not being able to preen themselves completly, you’re guy looks like he just got overly soaked.

 

[Leader Bee]

He seems to stay wetter longer than gis brother so ibwas a little concerned, last night i brought him inside because ice had formed on his wings

 

[Goosebaby]

Have you seen him preening, rubbing his preen gland at the base of his tail?

 

[Leader Bee]

Yes they both preen regularly

 

[Leader Bee]

Well i just bathed Norbert and his brother again a couple of hours ago and went to do my own thing while they dried themselves; I've come back and Norbie is still wet and shivering a little bit while his brother is dry and fine - i checked his preen gland which doesn't seem to be swollen or infected in any way and i could feel the oil coming off on my fingertips so it seems like that's working properly...ive just blow dried him dry now but im not sure how to deal with this problem???

 

[Goosebaby]

This sounds like it could be an issue with him not being preventative. Geese preen and rub their oil all over themselves so that water doesn’t soak in, have you noticed him preening less than his brother? That would be my guess.

If that’s the case he just needs to figure it out on his own. I remember two of mine (Parsnip and Thor) once got soaking wet right before nightfall their first winter, after that they must have figured it out because they didn’t do it again and their feathers stayed dryer even if they did take a bath.
Yours are still young so they might be still figuring stuff out.

 

[Leader Bee]

Norbert certainly is the less smart one, Beep beep understands "give me a kiss" and is usually the first to work out problems like how to climb the steps into the house for example but i would have assumed at 6-7 months old they would have gotten preening and waterproofing themselves down properly; Would the mother goose oil her babies in the wild? Is it just that nobody has taught him?

 

[Goosebaby]

Norbert certainly is the less smart one, Beep beep understands "give me a kiss" and is usually the first to work out problems like how to climb the steps into the house for example but i would have assumed at 6-7 months old they would have gotten preening and waterproofing themselves down properly; Would the mother goose oil her babies in the wild? Is it just that nobody has taught him?

They probably get some oil rubbing off onto them from huddling under their mom’s wings but mostly they get it from preening themselves from day one, it’s a natural instinct of their’s, what doesn’t come as naturally is how often and how long to do it, that they seem to learn from their own experiences, hence why really young goslings aren’t always safe in the water, some aren’t waterproof when they’re little and mine “Parsnip and Thor” didn't really understand the importance of waterproofing until they just about froze themselves and that was around six or seven months old for them at the time.
In the wild geese stay with their parents for a year or two, observing them and learning migration routes so I guess they probably do learn some things by observing older birds.