Hello fellow bird people!
I am fairly new to the life of raising birds. My wife and I currently have 4 chickens(hatched in July), 3 broiler chickens(also hatched in July whom we were supposed to harvest before winter, but we've since become attached and they started laying), 13 quail and 3 geese(hatched May of this year).
We are concerned about our one goosie, Giselle. For the last couple of weeks she has been losing feathers around her eyes and her chest, hasn't laid an egg in a week now(the last couple she did lay were very elongated and misshapen), spends a lot of time nesting as if she has perhaps gone broody but isn't sitting on any eggs, and, most concerning of all, she has these massive explosive runny poops every morning(see attached video). She comes out of the barn for a drink in the morning and just explodes! It smells so awful, she manages to stink up the outside. I'm grateful she always holds it in until she has left the barn.
The geese are free range geese for the most part, but since we are in the dead of winter in Alberta, there is not a single shred of grass for them to eat. They are getting primarily chicken food and grains that are soaked overnight, but we do supplement almost every day with vegetables(romaine lettuce, cabbage, and other greenery we can find). I am going out between 5 and 8 times a day to change out their water and make sure everyone is comfortable. They do share the barn we have with the chickens, but they are separated by a fence because the geese like to bite the chickens.
The other 2 geese seem fine, they have normal poops, and our other girl, Grace, is consistently laying an egg every other day. I took a sample of Giselle's “poop” into a local vet here who doesn't specialize in bird but offered to look for parasites and such under a microscope. He didn't find anything and we are considering taking her to a bird vet, but we would have to drive 2 hours to the closest Avian vet and I think the drive would stress her out quite a bit, not to mention if she had one of her poops in the truck it would be a very awful experience. We're very concerned and don't know what to do!
Has anyone had a similar experience? If she has gone broody (?), is this type of poop "normal"? Any input would be much appreciated!
Thanks!
I am fairly new to the life of raising birds. My wife and I currently have 4 chickens(hatched in July), 3 broiler chickens(also hatched in July whom we were supposed to harvest before winter, but we've since become attached and they started laying), 13 quail and 3 geese(hatched May of this year).
We are concerned about our one goosie, Giselle. For the last couple of weeks she has been losing feathers around her eyes and her chest, hasn't laid an egg in a week now(the last couple she did lay were very elongated and misshapen), spends a lot of time nesting as if she has perhaps gone broody but isn't sitting on any eggs, and, most concerning of all, she has these massive explosive runny poops every morning(see attached video). She comes out of the barn for a drink in the morning and just explodes! It smells so awful, she manages to stink up the outside. I'm grateful she always holds it in until she has left the barn.
The geese are free range geese for the most part, but since we are in the dead of winter in Alberta, there is not a single shred of grass for them to eat. They are getting primarily chicken food and grains that are soaked overnight, but we do supplement almost every day with vegetables(romaine lettuce, cabbage, and other greenery we can find). I am going out between 5 and 8 times a day to change out their water and make sure everyone is comfortable. They do share the barn we have with the chickens, but they are separated by a fence because the geese like to bite the chickens.
The other 2 geese seem fine, they have normal poops, and our other girl, Grace, is consistently laying an egg every other day. I took a sample of Giselle's “poop” into a local vet here who doesn't specialize in bird but offered to look for parasites and such under a microscope. He didn't find anything and we are considering taking her to a bird vet, but we would have to drive 2 hours to the closest Avian vet and I think the drive would stress her out quite a bit, not to mention if she had one of her poops in the truck it would be a very awful experience. We're very concerned and don't know what to do!
Has anyone had a similar experience? If she has gone broody (?), is this type of poop "normal"? Any input would be much appreciated!
Thanks!
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