Female goose found dead

[bird_nerd]

I found one of my female geese dead this morning. She was one of 3 female Toulouse geese, I also have a Toulouse gander--they are all nearly a year old and have been together for about 7-8 months (we brooded 2 and then got 2 more and brooded them and then they were introduced to each other). They all get along, she was healthy and active yesterday, she was in the process of laying a clutch, she was up to 7 eggs. I felt her and she does not seem egg bound, and she was laying an egg every other day. I found her sitting, with her head/neck arched back resting on her back. When I feel the neck and crop nothing stands out to me however, she had rigor mortis and there is one spot at the very base of her neck that is flexible--I think my gander accidentally killed her ? Any advice anyone can give would be helpful, we are very sad for the loss of our favorite girl. I plan to separate the gander from the geese with a 2x4" wire partition in their 7x24' barn (they free roam on 1.5 acres all day and they have access to a stream that has a few small pools of water). I feed CHS waterfowl pellets with oyster shell and nutritional yeast sprinkled on, and they get 5-way scratch as a treat (I'm worried I'm giving them too much grain?) I see them eating grass most of the day. Thanks for the help everyone, if I am doing anything wrong please let me know.

 

[azygous]

How depressing. It's bad enough losing your goose, but not knowing what killed her can be crazy-making.

I urge you to either refrigerate her body and locate a lab that will do a necropsy or undertake cutting her open yourself. Just this morning I cut open a hen that had died during the night, and it surprised me to find solid eggs in her abdominal cavity.

What you discover in your goose may tell you what killed her. If you see nothing unusual, then perhaps your guess that the gander killed her may be right.

 

[Goosebaby]

So sorry for your loss, wether it’s sudden or from an ongoing issue it’s always hard.

 

[Isaac 0]

Sorry for your loss!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I honestly can't imagine a gander killing one of his ladies, My gander is a perfect gentleman with his. He always waits till she give him the que that she wants to mate. I guess it could happen though. I agree doing a necropsy would be best so you know for sure. Had you ever noticed him being aggressive with her or any of the other 2?
Very sorry for your loss.

 

[Felicia94]

I found one of my female geese dead this morning. She was one of 3 female Toulouse geese, I also have a Toulouse gander--they are all nearly a year old and have been together for about 7-8 months (we brooded 2 and then got 2 more and brooded them and then they were introduced to each other). They all get along, she was healthy and active yesterday, she was in the process of laying a clutch, she was up to 7 eggs. I felt her and she does not seem egg bound, and she was laying an egg every other day. I found her sitting, with her head/neck arched back resting on her back. When I feel the neck and crop nothing stands out to me however, she had rigor mortis and there is one spot at the very base of her neck that is flexible--I think my gander accidentally killed her ? Any advice anyone can give would be helpful, we are very sad for the loss of our favorite girl. I plan to separate the gander from the geese with a 2x4" wire partition in their 7x24' barn (they free roam on 1.5 acres all day and they have access to a stream that has a few small pools of water). I feed CHS waterfowl pellets with oyster shell and nutritional yeast sprinkled on, and they get 5-way scratch as a treat (I'm worried I'm giving them too much grain?) I see them eating grass most of the day. Thanks for the help everyone, if I am doing anything wrong please let me know.

I found one of my female geese dead this morning. She was one of 3 female Toulouse geese, I also have a Toulouse gander--they are all nearly a year old and have been together for about 7-8 months (we brooded 2 and then got 2 more and brooded them and then they were introduced to each other). They all get along, she was healthy and active yesterday, she was in the process of laying a clutch, she was up to 7 eggs. I felt her and she does not seem egg bound, and she was laying an egg every other day. I found her sitting, with her head/neck arched back resting on her back. When I feel the neck and crop nothing stands out to me however, she had rigor mortis and there is one spot at the very base of her neck that is flexible--I think my gander accidentally killed her ? Any advice anyone can give would be helpful, we are very sad for the loss of our favorite girl. I plan to separate the gander from the geese with a 2x4" wire partition in their 7x24' barn (they free roam on 1.5 acres all day and they have access to a stream that has a few small pools of water). I feed CHS waterfowl pellets with oyster shell and nutritional yeast sprinkled on, and they get 5-way scratch as a treat (I'm worried I'm giving them too much grain?) I see them eating grass most of the day. Thanks for the help everyone, if I am doing anything wrong please let me know.

This just happens to us today. I went searching to see if anyone else had this happen. I am sorry for you loss. Our gander is aggressive some time we found her in the corner of the coop legs flat behind her with her neck on her back and she was stiff. She never fight the gander he rips feather off the females and he tends to mate with them at night in the coop. She was the best goose the only one that was very friendly. She also was the healthy no problems.