Goose with a swollen hind end

[The goose girl]

A friend of mine has a pair of Embden-type geese, 3 years old. They both seem perfectly healthy and active. This spring, however, the goose suddenly developed a very large rump. It happened in the course of three days after laying about 70 eggs. It looks very dramatic, but other than being a bit disabled from dragging the load, the goose seems fine.

I don't have any experience with laying geese, so I don't know if it's normal or not. My own geese have always been on the Christmas table before laying was an issue.

Can anyone help? Is it just how laying geese look? If not, what could it be?


It's Mother Goose on the right


From behind


Photo bomber!

 

[jenjscott]

I don't know what it is, but I don't think it is normal. It does not appear to be the normal "egg Belly". So she has had this thing for several months now? I was thinking abscess, but if has been there that long, There is someone asking about a chicken with the same problem. I would worry about a egg caught in there or something.

 

[The goose girl]

Quote:
That was my initial thought, too, but all I've read about stuck eggs says that it's very painful for the bird, she stops eating and moving around, and she will die quickly (within 24 hours) if nothing is done. And none of that seems to fit. She's looked like that for more than four months now, no better, no worse. She did stop laying after it developed, though, but after 70 eggs that could have happened anyway.

The area didn't seem tense, inflamed or sore when I examined it. She did have a golfball-sized bald spot underneath her belly that looked like a hernia, but she didn't react to me pushing it in.

 

[Goosehaven]

The one "from behind" definitely looks odd but if she's been that way for four months without problems it doesn't seem like it would be something serious. I wonder what will happen during laying season next year though and how it will affect her?