Gander Loosing Weight

[Dwen]

My 18mo Toulouse gander is loosing weight. He is eating the same as usual, if not more, and otherwise seems healthy, except for a few balance issues (he sometimes uses his wings to steady), and a vague frailty. (He's not as good evading me as before) and as of today, weighs less than my cat! Does anyone have experience with this?

Thanks,
Dwen

 

[livininbrazil]

Hi Dwen, is he having niacin in his diet, and plenty of grass? Niacin/VitB3 is particularly important to waterfowl, and can be found in Brewer´s Yeast.

 

[Dwen]

He certainly has plenty of access to grass, and I have assumed their flock-raiser has the right niacin, but I will check on that, thanks for the suggestion, Brazil.

 

[livininbrazil]

He certainly has plenty of access to grass, and I have assumed their flock-raiser has the right niacin, but I will check on that, thanks for the suggestion, Brazil.

You´re welcome. But if it´s a general flock-raiser for chickens, then you may need to up the amount of niacin. It´s probably worth a try, anyway.

 

[seminolewind]

I read that they also need to be wormed.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I read that they also need to be wormed.

I believe RURU say's they need to be wormed prior to mating season. I did mine early since I wormed my chickens for the end of year. and everyone eats and drinks out of same buckets and bowls.

 

[Dwen]

Which parasite would you worm them for? As far as I know there is no "catch-all". I also read that indiscriminate worming can break down the natural immunity they have toward parasites. That's why I'm hesitant to treat him.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Which parasite would you worm them for? As far as I know there is no "catch-all". I also read that indiscriminate worming can break down the natural immunity they have toward parasites. That's why I'm hesitant to treat him.

I usually only worm when i see round worms then I know its time and always the chickens but like I said they all eat out of same containers so I can't not worm individually unless I do it by mouth but having 32 poultry makes me do it the easy way. When my gander went through molt this year he just seemed puny and I was worried about gizzard worms with him so I did worm him with safe guard paste for horses. He had also lost weight. He is fine now put on weight and looking good.
Some will not worm unless they have a fecal done by a vet

 

[Dwen]

The symptoms match gap worm, but I don't think its parasites. He seems to be getting better and gaining back some weight with the new diet and supplements. If he plateaus, I will look into meds again. I'm not sure exactly how much he weighs since our scale is broken, so I just compare him to his girls. Gives me an excuse for "goose hugs".

 

[Miss Lydia]

The symptoms match gap worm, but I don't think its parasites. He seems to be getting better and gaining back some weight with the new diet and supplements. If he plateaus, I will look into meds again. I'm not sure exactly how much he weighs since our scale is broken, so I just compare him to his girls. Gives me an excuse for "goose hugs".

Glad to hear your seeing a turn around with him, I think your right about worming, I think where we live makes a difference too warmer climates make for more parasites here I worm 3X a year mostly for the chickens I've never seen worms in any of my water fowl. Gape worms is not something to ignore though, I lost a lil bantam rooster to gape worm even though i wormed him 2X for it I was using the wrong wormer even though when I researched the one I used was recommend. I like goose hugs too just don't get them very much anymore.