Geese are dying

[RURU]

We have a large kiddie pool in the outer pen for them and a large water tank which the goats also use to drink from. I kept adding fresh water to both every couple of days depending on if it rained or not. I thought perhaps the pool might have gotten to 'swampy' for them. We have a large homemade pond in the inner pen so the two that are left are enjoying that a lot.

I double checked and the geese were only 3 years old.

Were any of them laying eggs? The reason I ask this question is when female geese lay eggs through the breeding season the calcium is taken from the bones and if too much calcium is taken out of the bones this can cause a female goose to just drop dead for no reason!!! They need calcium through those periods. That is why I give and mix into the feed a Porch Patio and Deck bird feed that has nothing but shelled nuts which gives calcium back to them so they do not just drop dead after laying the eggs or while they are on nests. Because some females sit so tight on their eggs they do not come off the nest to eat. We have to kick them out off the eggs so they can go eat, drink and poo....
This is just another idea.

Do you dump the pool out and refill it? Or just refill what has been splashed out? It needs to be cleaned out daily to keep the water fresh for the geese....
I kind of put it this way would you drink out of their containers or pools? If not they need cleaning.

 

[spikennipper]

It may be botulism, quite common in the summer warm weather caused by a toxin definitely clean out all water troughs as the other poster said and don't put their feed in there they need fresh water to drink, the toxin multiplies rapidly in hot weather if you do soak their feed be sure to remove it in a few hours.

 

[Haunted55]

I highly doubt this was a case of botulism. Botulism is a neurotoxin and they die with seizures and paralysis.