Goose injured bill

[2dancingrats]

One of my geese got her bill stuck in the steel strand siding of my barn. She had a large gash on top of her bill which bled profusely.
I put neosporin on it. It is healing but she has a "scabby" spot where it was injured. She doesn't seem to be bothered by it, but I am wondering if there is anything I should watch for with this injury.

 

[Kim65]

Just watch for infection. If the scab stays dry and the skin around it flat (bills are covered with "skin") then it is healing fine, and the scab will fall off when it is ready.

Watch for an juicy, oozy scab, and of course, the goose not acting normally. Then you may need systemic antibiotics and something stronger than neosporin to put on it.

Geese have such a high body temperature that most bacteria can't thrive enough to cause severe infection.

I had a goose get into a box of fishing tackle, and get a salmon spoon hook through his bill. I found him covered with blood (and slobber). It bled like crazy. I put a spot of blu kote on the top of his bill and it healed very quickly.

 

[2dancingrats]

Thank you. It looks dry, but seems to have a crack where the wound was the worst. I guess I'll just keep my eye on it. I was really amazed to see how much it bled and the goose, Janis, was really freaked out. At least she stays away from the barn siding now.
Do any of your geese chew everything?

 

[Kim65]

Everything.

They don't have hands so they use their bills to explore their world. They are curious and like to see the effect they have on things. Does it come off? Does it wiggle? They get MUCH satisfaction from chewing, and put everything in their mouths like a human baby. Their jaws are super strong at a young age and they can chew wires beneath your lawn mower (ask me how I know). They like to jerk things and stretch things and are as big a nuisance as they are a danger to themselves.

Can you tell I loooooooooove geese

I have a rubber tourniquet used when you get your blood drawn that hangs from the side of their playpen. They love to yank on it, their heads snap back like metronomes, and they'll play with it repetetively. They aren't just seeing if it is food, they are playing

I baby proof and try to think what they'll get into.

 

[2dancingrats]

I wonder what other safe chew toys there are for geese. Mine really love to chew my shoes, while I'm wearing them. They also like the hems of my jeans, anything I was sitting on, etc.. I chalk that up to goose affection. Guess I'll have to look for a rubber medical thingy!

 

[jessi]

A few years ago, one of my geese was trying to get to a tasty dandelion leaf on the other side of the chicken wire fence. She apparently got her bill caught in there, and instead of maneuvering it out, panicked. When I came home and found her, she had gotten loose but sustained about an inch of ripped bill and was bleeding.

It was a Saturday, so I took her to a local emergency vet clinic, which quickly cauterized the wound and stopped the bleeding. She healed up wonderfully.

If your bird still has a split spot in the bill, it may need cauterizing. Just as some human wounds only need neosporin and others are so severe they need stitches, it is the same with our birds. Or cauterizing, as the case may be.

If the bill heals but with a split spot, dirt and mud will get into the split eventually, and the goose could get infection very easily. Any infection in the head area is a particular concern, because it can enter the brain and kill them.

I've had my five geese behind a chicken wire fence for fifteen years, and this was the only incident I ever had of one getting injured on it. I think it was a fluke. But I do know how important it is to only graze geese in areas where they can't get themselves into trouble. One kind of trouble, besides those mentioned by other posters here, is tiny sharp objects, like nails, staples, or sharp-edged wood bits. They can ingest these, and it can kill them. When I have handymen work in my yard, I give them a tin can to put all their debris in so it doesn't wind up in the yard as an invitation to curious geese.

 

[Windchyme]

Quote:
They'll also eat any rope like hay or straw binding rope or string and then you have to gently pull it from their crops....if you can, and sometimes it seems stuck hard....if not you have to cut it as short as you can rather then causing damage by pulling and hope for the best....ask me how I know....(groans). Mine like to chew on my nylon hot wire ....when it's not on of course. They are garbage guts sometimes. Worse then human toddlers and teething puppies put together.