Female goose calcium deficient and not eating

[LukeN90]

Hey guys I have a female west of England who’s recently been diagnosed with severely low levels of calcium.

She won’t eat and we’re concerned she’s going to die. We’re now giving her a daily dose of ZOLCAL-F to help with the calcium deficiency.

She’s not eating much compared to the other either. She’ll graze here and there. This morning we hand fed her maybe 6 tiny bits of lettuce & cabbage.

She’s also not stable on her feet and walking seems like a challenge.

We’ve put the zolcal-f in their drinking water each day (we have 4 geese total, one of the others has soft eggs so she’s clearly deficient too).

Is there anything else you would do to help her? I’m based in the UK as well for context.

And how long should it take for her body to get back to normal calcium levels?

Thank you

 

[Debbie292d]

Calcium should start helping almost immediately, and for egg improvement, a couple of days. Do you have some type of All Flock or nutritional feed for them? Regardless I'd try get some poultry vitamins for them you can put in their drinking water too. Kale would be good for greens if they'd eat it and has calcium too.

 

[Jenbirdee]

“Your body needs several other nutrients in order for calcium to be absorbed and used properly, including magnesium, phosphorous, and especially vitamins D and K. Many factors, including age, disease states, and medications, can affect calcium absorption.“

the above is about humans, but I know that animals like ducks and geese also need vitamin D to help them absorb calcium.

“rooster booster poultry cell “ liquid vitamins would be very good for her
there are other liquid vitamin D products for animals on the market as well .. the poultry cell is a multivitamin mineral supplement that comes highly recommended,
@Goosebaby will know which is the best

 

[Jenbirdee]

i’m tagging @Miss Lydia too
I was just thinking
you may need to tube feed her if she’s not eating
has she lost weight
tube feeding may help her get through until the calcium levels come back to normal, and she starts eating on her own again

 

[Miss Lydia]

Tube feeding would help a lot a vet can help you get started or if you can get the supplies yourself we have the info, https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/tube-feeding-ducks-updated-5-7-2020.1211994/ tube feeding can help get them stabilized until they are able to eat on their own. Please follow directions .
I hope she is feeling much better soon.

 

[Jenbirdee]

is this the supplement you have ? https://www.thebirdloftshop.com/product/zolcal-f-liquid-calcium-d3-supplement/
it says calcium and d3 thats excellent! did the vet tell you the dosage?
How is she doing tonight? I hope you are able to tube feed her if she is still not eating.
@LukeN90

 

[LukeN90]

Hey everyone thanks for your responses…they were very reassuring and encouraging.

We’ve been giving her the zolcal every morning and night + had a shot of calcium at the vets.

Today for the first time in weeks we saw her eating spinach from her bowl voluntarily and quite a lot of it. She’s also found her voice again so fingers crossed she’s getting back to full fitness which is a relief.

@Jenbirdee yep vet told us the dosage. Our vets been amazing. There’s a chance we need to learn how to tube feed but fingers crossed we don’t

Thanks again to everyone

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hey everyone thanks for your responses…they were very reassuring and encouraging.

We’ve been giving her the zolcal every morning and night + had a shot of calcium at the vets.

Today for the first time in weeks we saw her eating spinach from her bowl voluntarily and quite a lot of it. She’s also found her voice again so fingers crossed she’s getting back to full fitness which is a relief.

@Jenbirdee yep vet told us the dosage. Our vets been amazing. There’s a chance we need to learn how to tube feed but fingers crossed we don’t

Thanks again to everyone

Since your goose is low in calcium right now you might want to read this
https://learnpoultry.com/chickens-eat-spinach/
I typed in should egg layers eat spinach and since geese are egg layers I'd say this goes for all poultry.

 

[Jenbirdee]

oh wow so perhaps you’ve been feeding spinach often? that could be why she was having calcium problems. cut out the spinach she will like some nice green lettuce such as romaine instead

 

[Miss Lydia]

Mine love Romaine.