- Feb 14, 2012
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Iain how did the vet visit go
Goose lovers – please help!!
- Thread starter Iain Utah
- Start date
- Status
- Thread starter
- #682
I am happy to report that we got blood drawn on all 46 geese today without any issues.
In addition to drawing blood, we assessed the white african females and tagged the best quality ones for Jen.
Then, he checked Shellie's broken foot girl, who is healing great. He also verified sexing on both Cheri and Susan's buff pairs and they are now tagged accordingly.
He examined the deformed adult grey pair and concluded the deformities on both were a result of poor diet/living conditions at former owner's place. He also was troubled at the degree of bumblefoot (now resolving nicely) on the male, which was the cause of the severe lameness before I put him into side yard. They will both have arthritis issues later in life and should be kept on the lean side, but since their condition is not genetic, they should be fine for breeding.
He re-examined Gimpy and changed his diagnosis from fractured leg to a bumblefoot infection had gone into the joint. Fortunately, it is resolving really well now so she (yes, he is a she) will be 100% again very soon.
He gave Spirit a careful once over and was very pleased to see she is doing great and he wants me to double the size of the special needs pen. He felt she should transition to snowy surface without any problems.
And last but not least, he re-checked Chicory (my production toulouse), because I have sworn all along that she was a he, but the 1st vet that vent sexed him swore he was a she. No surprise that my vet confirmed he is a he.
After we finished the round up, we discussed nutrition and enrichment suggestions to improve overall care. He is a STRONG believer in geese living on grass (I got extra gold stars for my set up lol). He felt that a feed program should be 80% grass or grass hay and 20% grain supplement. He felt the 50/50 blend of Flockraiser and whole oats was better than 100% mazuri!! Yes, he said it! He pointed out the 1st ingredient of Mazuri is ground corn, which is crap. All grains should be in whole form. Oats, barley, wheat are all great. Whole kernel corn is a good optional supplement to put on weight or to provide extra calories in winter. He showed me a powerpoint presentation of feeders to recommend for birds in small yards. He felt they should be randomly scattered and filled randomly once per day. I will have to get the pics from him to post, but they basically came in 3 forms, all of which required the geese to think to get small quantities of food at a time. The one is liked the best was a homemade hanging deer feeder. The 2nd one was a box with a lid (and top of sides were cut out for bird safety) that the bird had to lift to gain access to food (then the lid had a hinge to auto close it). The 3rd was a large log with holes drilled into it. He recommended toys for mental stimulation. He prefers digestible toys, like watermelon, cotton rope, paper balls or pretty much anything you can buy for pets that can be digested. For other undigestible toys, he recommended indestructible things like kong toys. He said he does MANY surgeries to remove undigestible items like cheap plastic toys.
Although he was here for four hours, when he arrived the first thing he said to me was.... I know I said by the hour, but I am capping it at 2 hours and we have all day if needed. So, let's take our time and have some fun.
In addition to drawing blood, we assessed the white african females and tagged the best quality ones for Jen.
Then, he checked Shellie's broken foot girl, who is healing great. He also verified sexing on both Cheri and Susan's buff pairs and they are now tagged accordingly.
He examined the deformed adult grey pair and concluded the deformities on both were a result of poor diet/living conditions at former owner's place. He also was troubled at the degree of bumblefoot (now resolving nicely) on the male, which was the cause of the severe lameness before I put him into side yard. They will both have arthritis issues later in life and should be kept on the lean side, but since their condition is not genetic, they should be fine for breeding.
He re-examined Gimpy and changed his diagnosis from fractured leg to a bumblefoot infection had gone into the joint. Fortunately, it is resolving really well now so she (yes, he is a she) will be 100% again very soon.
He gave Spirit a careful once over and was very pleased to see she is doing great and he wants me to double the size of the special needs pen. He felt she should transition to snowy surface without any problems.
And last but not least, he re-checked Chicory (my production toulouse), because I have sworn all along that she was a he, but the 1st vet that vent sexed him swore he was a she. No surprise that my vet confirmed he is a he.
After we finished the round up, we discussed nutrition and enrichment suggestions to improve overall care. He is a STRONG believer in geese living on grass (I got extra gold stars for my set up lol). He felt that a feed program should be 80% grass or grass hay and 20% grain supplement. He felt the 50/50 blend of Flockraiser and whole oats was better than 100% mazuri!! Yes, he said it! He pointed out the 1st ingredient of Mazuri is ground corn, which is crap. All grains should be in whole form. Oats, barley, wheat are all great. Whole kernel corn is a good optional supplement to put on weight or to provide extra calories in winter. He showed me a powerpoint presentation of feeders to recommend for birds in small yards. He felt they should be randomly scattered and filled randomly once per day. I will have to get the pics from him to post, but they basically came in 3 forms, all of which required the geese to think to get small quantities of food at a time. The one is liked the best was a homemade hanging deer feeder. The 2nd one was a box with a lid (and top of sides were cut out for bird safety) that the bird had to lift to gain access to food (then the lid had a hinge to auto close it). The 3rd was a large log with holes drilled into it. He recommended toys for mental stimulation. He prefers digestible toys, like watermelon, cotton rope, paper balls or pretty much anything you can buy for pets that can be digested. For other undigestible toys, he recommended indestructible things like kong toys. He said he does MANY surgeries to remove undigestible items like cheap plastic toys.
Although he was here for four hours, when he arrived the first thing he said to me was.... I know I said by the hour, but I am capping it at 2 hours and we have all day if needed. So, let's take our time and have some fun.
Hey Iain, again so glad today went well. Hubby is ecstatic about the drop in our feed bill about to come into play. I have to call tomorrow for a heads up as our feed store over stocks Mazuri for us and doesn't stock FR. He can make the change for the next delivery in 2 weeks! Think I will up our wheat ordering too since I can move to a single food main source going to FR.
We will still feed only Mazuri starter to all ducklings and goslings until 1 month of age though as we discussed.
All I can honestly say we have seen better feather development on the Sebbies using Mazuri, however we have changed additional items to include more whole grains so switching now before breeding season will be a piece of cake even with all of the birds we maintain. If we see a reduction in feather quality I will post it and switch that breed back, but hope to not have to.
Now if these temps will just drop, shipping could start to be arranged here very soon.
We will still feed only Mazuri starter to all ducklings and goslings until 1 month of age though as we discussed.
All I can honestly say we have seen better feather development on the Sebbies using Mazuri, however we have changed additional items to include more whole grains so switching now before breeding season will be a piece of cake even with all of the birds we maintain. If we see a reduction in feather quality I will post it and switch that breed back, but hope to not have to.
Now if these temps will just drop, shipping could start to be arranged here very soon.
Glad to hear everything went well and thanks for tagging the African girls for me! I can't wait to get them all home!!! I am also thrilled to hear what your vet said about flockraiser and whole oats as that is what I feed all my geese.
Thanks for all you have done!
Jen
Thanks for all you have done!
Jen
Janet - I am so glad everything went well today with the vet's visit. Did he have anything to say about the two ganders that I am getting? I hope they are doing well. Your vet sounds like a great doctor for the animals and a terrific person, besides!
I wish it would cool off here, too. It has been hotter this first week of September than it was in August. Go figure!
I have a question for you and Celtic: in building my palatial goose house, I want to put in an automatic door. How big of a door do these gentle giants need?
I wish it would cool off here, too. It has been hotter this first week of September than it was in August. Go figure!
I have a question for you and Celtic: in building my palatial goose house, I want to put in an automatic door. How big of a door do these gentle giants need?
Lightning you wont want an auto door with the geese. We herd ours into their houses nightly, otherwise if the door was auto closing they could be shut out as they dont sleep all night and also dont look for home as sun down like chickens. Ours know the routine and know where they belong, but wait for us to put them there.
Boy genius my high schooler brought home crud from school. He was sick and quickly got better, hubby got it and now the baby and I have it. I would love to breath through my nose again tonight LOL.
- Feb 14, 2012
- 694
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Janet glad to here everything went well with the vet today sounds like it was alot of fun to and thanks for the info on the feed thats what we have been doing glad to here we are doing that right LOL and we are still adding BOSS
- Feb 14, 2012
- 694
- 1
- 100
hope you feel better soon
thanks Jerry. Who knew breathing was cherished. I dont give the dewlaps BOSS, they wont eat it the silly things.
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