Geese eating plums

[amynw]

There was a lot of hype over people eating apricot pits back in... oh, the 70s, I think. I'm pretty sure they didn't really cure cancer, but at the same time, I don't think they really had enough cyanide to do more than curl your lip unless you ate a heckuva lot of them. I really doubt it'll hurt the gosling.

Thank you everyone for the responses! It is beyond appreciated. You have eased my worrying mind. I joined this page when I was hatching them and everyone has been so kind and helpful. I just lost 2 of the 5 to a bear attack on Sunday so I have been in absolute panic protective mode on the remaining 3. I will absolutely follow everyone's advice and keep everyone updated. You are all appreciated.

 

[amynw]

Hi, everyone! Happy 4th! I'm back with Another goose question. My babies will be 10 weeks old tomorrow, and I've noticed for about 3 days now that they are losing SO MANY FEATHERS. They look/feel more like their down feathers. Is this normal? It's all of them. They flap their wings and run full speed to "practice" flying and its just a cloud of feathers. I just changed their water and 645 this morning, it's now 8:49 and they just climbed out of the water bowl and it's full of them, our pond also has feathers everywhere. Is this molting? It's only this same type of feathers everywhere. I can kinda see some "fluff" poking out through their adult wing feathers that look like what I'm seeing all over the ground. I noticed more than ever this morning when they got out of their coop. New to this goose momma stuff! Thanks everyone!

EDIT: I also just watched them pulling some of those feathers from each other. A couple stragglers were popping through and they were pulling them from each other while they were drinking water from their new water, which is now covered in feathers again 20 minutes after changing for the 3rd time this morning. I feel like I have toddlers! Lol

 

[CindyinSD]

All poultry molt as they grow in their new, bigger feathers. I'm sure this is what you see happening. Once they're full grown they'll still shed a few feathers (or a lot if it's their molt). Most of my birds seem to molt lightly (so far). Kind of a gradual thing that lasts longer but isn't as severe.