Gosling Can't Stand Up **EDIT** Cure for Goose Leg Problems - Nutritional Yeast!

[Yazzo]

This, is Bobby. Bobby is a three-month-old gosling, who has three parents (two geese and a gander are raising him/her right now). Anywho, 'Bobby' has been just fine in life so far (albeit a bit smothered by the excessive parenting caused by first-time parents and being an only-gosling

), but a few days ago, he/she started sitting down and either can not or will not get up and walk at all. It's almost certainly not a broken leg. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the gosling, except (s)he is pretty light (1 lb 3 oz). I haven't had goslings in a while, so I'm not sure what an ideal weight at this point is, but that does seem a little too light.

Bobby does eat - right now, been offering apples and raw oatmeal, which is gobbled up. I'll probably offer some fresh greens tomorrow. I've kept Bobby indoors for the past couple days, out of the wind, to offer food, and because (s)he rolls over when pushed, and isn't able to get up. However, (s)he doesn't seem to be getting better. Bobby doesn't seem depressed or too lethargic otherwise, but there is obviously something wrong. (S)he doesn't go to the bathroom much more than the average goose, but enough that it seems to be a bit of diarrhea, and a bit of food was thrown up today.

Anyone have any idea what could be wrong? Input would be greatly appreciated!

 

[RURU]

First off are you feeding a waterfowl feed or chicken food?? If you are feeding chicken food this goslings needs niacin put in it's water to help with the leg issues. You can also put an animal brewer's yeast 1 cup to ten pounds of feed. This will also be good for the adult geese if feeding chicken.

Seems like people who feed chicken feed to geese are having all these kinds of problems. I myself only feed a waterfowl feed! On the goslings I feed gamebird crumbles which has everything in it so do not have to go out and purchase all the different vitamins needed to purchase besides the feed..... I feed the crumbles for 3 weeks and then slowly changes them over to the adult feed so they do not get too much protein to cause angel wing or TWT twisted wing tip.

You can also get some vitamins and put it in their water and some electrolytes and give to the gosling. It looks under feed. Is the gosling getting feed as well as grass and grazing?

 

[Yazzo]

I'm not actually feeding them any kind of processed chicken feed (unless oatmeal and apples are considered 'chicken feed'), but I have been giving them raw wheat, which with many past geese has never caused any problems. The gosling had been eating plenty of that as well as grazing a variety of plants. However, I'll buy some gamebird feed as soon as I can. The parents are somewhat overbearing, and may have been eating too much of the gosling's food, but the gosling did go out and graze alone, and did get wheat.

I don't think I have any brewers yeast...would nutritional yeast work instead? For now, I'm going to crush up some niacin and put it in the water, though the gosling now doesn't seem to be drinking anymore either.

UPDATE: This morning, the gosling seems pretty unresponsive and isn't eating, and there is definitely diarrhea there. Still not sure what's wrong, but something has gotta change fast!

 

[RURU]

I am not sure what is wrong with your gosling? Might be time to call a vet about it. I think the older geese have been keeping it from eating and might be starving to death.

 

[Yazzo]

Alright, so good news and bad news time.

Firstly, the bad news. The morning after I posted last, the gosling had declined very rapidly. Bobby had been eating and drinking fine the previous evening, but that morning there was no eating going on, so I resorted to force feeding some cooked oatmeal mixed with a bit of boiled egg for extra protein. The gosling declined so fast however that (s)he died just as I was about to start feeding! What was worse, is that Bobby's dad seemed to be getting the same affliction. First his right wing was hanging on his side, and then his right wing seemed to get better, but his right leg suddenly went lame in it's place, and he couldn't walk.

Now for the good news. The next day, after doing more research and some careful deduction, I decided it was likely a niacin (vitamin B3) deficiency, though it seemed more serious than a mere deficiency. Even so, I decided to grind up some grain, then mixed some nutritional yeast in the feed, and a bit of kelp powder for good measure. Everyone seems to say you need brewers yeast, but nutritional yeast is ripe with B vitamins as well, so I figured it would do the trick. I sprinkled a spoonful of yeast and a spoonful of kelp on top of a margarine tub full of ground wheat and added water to make a mash, then gave it to the geese. At first they seemed to think it was gross, but couldn't resist the grain and gobbled it up. I left to town that afternoon, and was absolutely astonished when I came back and the gander was walking around with just a tiny bit of a limp. Just a few hours before, he had been unable to get up except by flapping his wings hard and limping very heavily. By the next morning, he was good as new!

I think the brewers yeast is cheaper, but the nutritional yeast may be easier for some people to get (and it's what I had on hand). You can get it by the pound in health food stores, and it's a nice thing to add to food (it's an acquired taste, but a delicious one once you acquire it). If only I had known this in time to save Bobby, but I hope this information will at least help others. If you have a goose with limb problems, nutritional yeast works amazingly well to patch up that niacin deficiency. You can't really OD on the stuff, and it's certainly worth a shot for anyone with a goose that's suddenly gone lame.

I doubt the kelp was necessary, and I'm pretty sure it's the niacin in the yeast that cured him, but I can't test that out now, as he is good as new. I can't quite figure out WHY they had a niacin deficiency seeing as they free-range, but maybe it's because they don't have access to a pond. At any rate, using the yeast in the feed is so ridiculously easy, it makes me want to scream thinking about how easy it may have been to save the gosling. Hope this info helps others though!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Alright, so good news and bad news time.

Firstly, the bad news. The morning after I posted last, the gosling had declined very rapidly. Bobby had been eating and drinking fine the previous evening, but that morning there was no eating going on, so I resorted to force feeding some cooked oatmeal mixed with a bit of boiled egg for extra protein. The gosling declined so fast however that (s)he died just as I was about to start feeding! What was worse, is that Bobby's dad seemed to be getting the same affliction. First his right wing was hanging on his side, and then his right wing seemed to get better, but his right leg suddenly went lame in it's place, and he couldn't walk.

Now for the good news. The next day, after doing more research and some careful deduction, I decided it was likely a niacin (vitamin B3) deficiency, though it seemed more serious than a mere deficiency. Even so, I decided to grind up some grain, then mixed some nutritional yeast in the feed, and a bit of kelp powder for good measure. Everyone seems to say you need brewers yeast, but nutritional yeast is ripe with B vitamins as well, so I figured it would do the trick. I sprinkled a spoonful of yeast and a spoonful of kelp on top of a margarine tub full of ground wheat and added water to make a mash, then gave it to the geese. At first they seemed to think it was gross, but couldn't resist the grain and gobbled it up. I left to town that afternoon, and was absolutely astonished when I came back and the gander was walking around with just a tiny bit of a limp. Just a few hours before, he had been unable to get up except by flapping his wings hard and limping very heavily. By the next morning, he was good as new!

I think the brewers yeast is cheaper, but the nutritional yeast may be easier for some people to get (and it's what I had on hand). You can get it by the pound in health food stores, and it's a nice thing to add to food (it's an acquired taste, but a delicious one once you acquire it). If only I had known this in time to save Bobby, but I hope this information will at least help others. If you have a goose with limb problems, nutritional yeast works amazingly well to patch up that niacin deficiency. You can't really OD on the stuff, and it's certainly worth a shot for anyone with a goose that's suddenly gone lame.

I doubt the kelp was necessary, and I'm pretty sure it's the niacin in the yeast that cured him, but I can't test that out now, as he is good as new. I can't quite figure out WHY they had a niacin deficiency seeing as they free-range, but maybe it's because they don't have access to a pond. At any rate, using the yeast in the feed is so ridiculously easy, it makes me want to scream thinking about how easy it may have been to save the gosling. Hope this info helps others though!

Thank you so much for the info, and great news about your gander recovering, so sorry about the gosling.

 

[Michael Apple]

Wrong thread.

 

[Ourgosling22]

Thank you so much for the info, and great news about your gander recovering, so sorry about the gosling.

This post was very informative! Thanks so much and I am really sorry to hear about Bobby but now you know immediately as well as others who read this will know what to do! I just acquired a 4 day old gosling who I researched last night trying to figure out why he was listing the way he is even though he is eating and drinking. That’s when i read about the niacin deficiency and went to get nutritional yeast. Hopefully it helps. Just wasn’t clear to me in your post if I put in water or mix with the feed. Thanks again for your information!