Gosling has curled toes and I need advice

[Kpowers5792]

Hi! I'm glad to be a part of a forum that appreciate the beauty of waterfowl! God's creation is beautiful!!

I have just hatched two beautiful goslings, and overall they seen very healthy, however one of the two came out with both of his feet curled up tight in a ball and they wanted to stay that way. To start with we tried making ot some home made splints, and it did open them up quite a bit, but we are having some issues along the way. I am going to post pictures, and as you should see even though he can now stand on the bottoms of them, they still curve in, and we took the splints off for a while because it was getting straddle legged and we had to put a hobble on it. Also, it's poor toes are knotted at places. Another reason I took the splints off for a while is because the tape was making its feet and webbing raw, and at places it's webbing was dry and crusted and kind of cracking. I am getting very concerned about the little fella.

So, I would really like some advice. First off, I'm concerbed that if I tape them again too soon I will cause irreversible damage to it's webbing and skin. But at the same time I'm worried that if I wait too long it will be too late. Is there any way I can treat it's skin and webbing? And should i wait to resplint it? Also it freaks out while we are splitting them, I'm afraid of over stressing it and giving it a heart attack or something.

Second, given how bad they are, can they be fixed? Or at least mostly?

Third, what is the best way to straighten it's feet and toes out?

I put electrolytes I'm their water and brewers yeast in their food, bit I need alot of help and advice on how to get them straightened out safely. I really appreciate it! I care for the little fella alot and I'm not going to give on on it. Please look at the pictures and tell me what you think. Thanks!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Poor little one. I'd try making a boot use a plastic container and cut the container to fit the bottom of the gosling's feet, wrap in vet wrap [coban] to protect from sharp edges. Then lay the feet out on this boot and use vet wrap to attach to the goslings feet go up around the ankle to make sure they stay on. You could even put non-stickie gauze on the part where the skin is tender from the tape. Veterycin helps heal the tissue that is tender. Hopefully, after a few days, the feet will be working normally.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

I agree with @Miss Lydia that time is of the essence in trying to correct the issue with your gosling's feet. Were the hatching eggs from your own flock?

Best wishes for your gosling's speedy recovery!

 

[RoyalChick]

I would also give vitamin B2 supplements. I don’t know about geese, but in chickens curly toe paralysis is often caused by B2 deficiency and B vitamins are safe to give so no regrets to try.

 

[Ourgosling22]

Hi! I'm glad to be a part of a forum that appreciate the beauty of waterfowl! God's creation is beautiful!!

I have just hatched two beautiful goslings, and overall they seen very healthy, however one of the two came out with both of his feet curled up tight in a ball and they wanted to stay that way. To start with we tried making ot some home made splints, and it did open them up quite a bit, but we are having some issues along the way. I am going to post pictures, and as you should see even though he can now stand on the bottoms of them, they still curve in, and we took the splints off for a while because it was getting straddle legged and we had to put a hobble on it. Also, it's poor toes are knotted at places. Another reason I took the splints off for a while is because the tape was making its feet and webbing raw, and at places it's webbing was dry and crusted and kind of cracking. I am getting very concerned about the little fella.

So, I would really like some advice. First off, I'm concerbed that if I tape them again too soon I will cause irreversible damage to it's webbing and skin. But at the same time I'm worried that if I wait too long it will be too late. Is there any way I can treat it's skin and webbing? And should i wait to resplint it? Also it freaks out while we are splitting them, I'm afraid of over stressing it and giving it a heart attack or something.

Second, given how bad they are, can they be fixed? Or at least mostly?

Third, what is the best way to straighten it's feet and toes out?

I put electrolytes I'm their water and brewers yeast in their food, bit I need alot of help and advice on how to get them straightened out safely. I really appreciate it! I care for the little fella alot and I'm not going to give on on it. Please look at the pictures and tell me what you think. Thanks!

How is your gosling doing?

 

[Kpowers5792]

How is your gosling doing?

They are doing good, however I'm a bit concerned because the one with the curled toes doesn't seem to be growing near as fast as the other one. He is able to get to food and water just fine and from what I see he eats like crazy. Is it normal for some goslings to grow faster than others? I love the babies and take very good care of them, I give them electrolytes and vitamins, brewers yeast, and recently started giving them prebiotic. I also like to give them some grass and a bit of grit at times as a supplement to go along with the chick starter. As far as his toes, I left his feet unwrapped for a few days to let his skin/webbing heal, but it still looks rough. But I can't keep putting it off if I want his feet to be straight. When I am walking them around he/she has trouble keeping up with his/her brother/sister(I haven't sexed them, obviously lol), and he gets discouraged and plops down and starts screaming for us. I really don't want it to have to deal with that when it is older, so I really want to get it's little feet fixed. And now, I'm also getting concerned that I am going to cut it's circulation off and do damage if I keep it wrapped too long. It has been a process. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Ourgosling22]

They are doing good, however I'm a bit concerned because the one with the curled toes doesn't seem to be growing near as fast as the other one. He is able to get to food and water just fine and from what I see he eats like crazy. Is it normal for some goslings to grow faster than others? I love the babies and take very good care of them, I give them electrolytes and vitamins, brewers yeast, and recently started giving them prebiotic. I also like to give them some grass and a bit of grit at times as a supplement to go along with the chick starter. As far as his toes, I left his feet unwrapped for a few days to let his skin/webbing heal, but it still looks rough. But I can't keep putting it off if I want his feet to be straight. When I am walking them around he/she has trouble keeping up with his/her brother/sister(I haven't sexed them, obviously lol), and he gets discouraged and plops down and starts screaming for us. I really don't want it to have to deal with that when it is older, so I really want to get it's little feet fixed. And now, I'm also getting concerned that I am going to cut it's circulation off and do damage if I keep it wrapped too long. It has been a process. Any advice is appreciated.

First off I’m glad he seems to be doing better! I would think as long as you keep doing what you have been doing hopefully he will get better. Some things take longer to heal. You want to correct the feet issue while it’s early and he’s young. Hopefully some more experienced members will see this and give you better advice about your continuing care for his feet. That’s very important to correct now if you can. As for the plopping down when he can’t catch up-is it due to his feet or does he seem weak? If he seems weak you may want to give him vit b complex for his bones and in case of vitamin deficiency. I have 2 young goslings that are bonded. They are probably about 11weeks old now. One had some issues that I had to stay on top of and play nurse. I haven’t had the curled toe/feet issue to deal with. He is on the smaller side. His mate is a bit bigger. Geese grow fast so yes I would say some grow faster than others. Be sure the chick starter is non medicated. I’ve never given mine that but many do. Mazuri waterfowl and purina flockraiser seems to be popular for the ducks and geese. It’s more formulated for them. If I see you haven’t gotten an responses to this I will tag a few members who are quite experienced with waterfowl. The members who did give you help on this are a few of them. Hope this helps a little.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Have you been placing his feet on the shoes like we rec this has to be done while they are still very young? and are you giving the gosling/s Liquid B Complex which is the best thing for leg weakenss which is niacin def.

 

[JRies]

Please take all the great advice you got first. But consider some foot straightening exercise paddling. If he is small enough bathroom sinks work really well with room temp water. By paddling he/she will straighten and if it dosent paddle it will allow the foot to relax while it gets to float.

 

[Kpowers5792]

Thank you so much for all of the great advice! I do have it's "boots" (as we like to call them) back on it, and they seem to be straightening out, but even if I tape them down well they don't want to stay spread out and it seems like it's webbing isn't developing as wide as it should be because of it. Also where the webbing was dried out and shabby looking by it's outter toe is still not looking to be healed. Is there anything I can put on to help it heal and moisturize it's skin on it's webbing? As far as vitamins I put an electrilyte supplement in their water that is supposed to have vitamins in it, and I also put brewers yeast in all of their food. Do I need to put a dedicated b vitamin supplement in along with that? I like the water paddling idea, that's something we have been wanting to do anyway. They are about two weeks old and growing like weeds lol. They are so adorable! As a side note, is it normal for them to sometimes fling fluid out of their nostrils when they shake their head, and also to sometimes wheeze a little bit when they breath, and to sometimes poop nothing but water(only happened a couple times)? These things don't happen all the time only every once in awhile. I have another thread asking about these kinds of things but nobody has responded yet for some reason. Thanks so much for all the help with the sweet little goslings!