Goose with swollen face/throat

[docdubz]

One of my geese has been sitting on a nest in the woods so I've been just letting her do her thing. She just came out to mingle with the flock and her head looks swollen. She seems to be fine otherwise, not hearing any wierd breathing sounds. Thoughts?

 

[Goosebaby]

The picture has some motion blur “uncooperative models, what can you do!” So it’s a little hard to tell, I can see she has some feather loss from breeding or something else, she could have a skin infection starting, she could have mites that are causing an inflamitory response or a secondary bacterial infection.

Some respiratory illnesses can cause facial swelling, sometimes other symptoms can be subtle, look for snicking, head flicking, huffing, runny nose, scratching.

You could some of those symptoms if it’s a skin infection alone too.

You can crush a clove of garlic in a bucket of water for her, garlic can help clear up some skin issues and deter mites, though there are some more serious causes of skin infections like staph or cellulitis which garlic won’t treat so keep a close watch on her, if she worsens consider getting her looked at by a vet or put her on antibiotics.

 

[docdubz]

Alright thanks. The feather loss is from mating I think but it does look more severe than normal I'm not sure if it's because of the swelling making it look worse or if she's actually missing more feathers. I just went to give her a more thorough examination but as soon as I got close she started trying to hiss at me but it didn't sound right. She can kinda honk normal but not loud. And then she immediately abandoned her nest and tried to run away once I was about 10 feet away. So somethings definitely wrong. Chasing her was starting to stress her out more than I wanted to so I'm going to put off trying to handle her til I have a game plan.

The big bulging swollen area on the bottom of her head/throat is jiggly like fat. And she's shaking her head and rustling her feathers a lot so I'm guessing it is mites or something like that. She's certainly been sitting on that nest for a long time so that makes sense.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Does she have fertile eggs under her? could she have been bitten by something? I'd check her over for a bite or wound. sitting out in the woods seems like an easy target for a predator or something that bites or stings. How long has she been sitting. That in itself can take its toll especially if she hasn't been taking care of herself.

 

[docdubz]

I haven't checked if they are fertile. And I'm not sure how long she's been sitting. My geese have been playing musical nests so I stopped paying attention after a while. I will see if I can catch her without chasing her to exhaustion and check for bites.

 

[docdubz]

Well, it's almost entirely gone today so I guess that proves it wasn't an infection. Guess I will have to steal her eggs from her and force her to give up for the year.

 

[Goosebaby]

Well, it's almost entirely gone today so I guess that proves it wasn't an infection. Guess I will have to steal her eggs from her and force her to give up for the year.

That’s good news!

In future it can be easier to get ahold of a hostile goose at night or by having other people help.

If you can leave a bucket of water near her with some apple cider vinegar in it, it will help meep her facial wounds clean and hopefully keep it from swelling back up again “assuming this had something to do with a temporary wound infection.”

 

[docdubz]

That’s good news!

In future it can be easier to get ahold of a hostile goose at night or by having other people help.

I've tried that lol there is no sneaking up on my geese and they are active all night long. The only realistic way to catch any of them is to trick them into a corner and then wrestle with them. Its funny because I have them pretty well trained but they are the nastiest animals that I own for sure.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Gotta be super careful of those wings too. I walk behind mine into their house then catch them.

 

[Goosebaby]

The wings are worse than the bite