Our year-old African geese laid eggs and hatched two successfully for the first time! After the babies hatched, we brought them inside to be hand raised. Baby number one, a male named Dumpling, hatched 2 days before the other. Dumpling was doing wonderfully until he hit about a week to a week and a half old. He seems unwilling or unable to walk. He was doing fine, walking and running like a pro, and overnight all he wants to do is lay down. He'll stand, wobble, one or both legs will splay to the side, and he'll sink into a laying position. He used to enjoy swimming, but now his legs splay to the sides and he panics, unable to swim. He will only take a few wobbly steps at a time before falling or laying down. Even if I (who he has imprinted on) walk away from him, he wont walk very far to follow me. He'll take a few wobbly steps, fall over, and start crying. He used to chase me all around without any problems. He's eating and drinking fine. I don't know for sure what he's being fed - my mom is in charge of that, but I know its the same thing we feed our adult geese and adult chickens - I would assume its something to promote egg laying. Its not pellets, its small pieces. The word "crumble" comes to mind. Mom and Dad are pretty sure the fact that they've been providing adult food as opposed to baby waterfowl food that has caused this problem, but they want me to get opinions of people who know more about raising goslings. Baby number two is a female named Pudding. We believe she hatched prematurely. After she was completely out of the egg, she was still attached to the bloody egg membrane by her umbilical cord, which we cut as per instructed by a website. Her egg tooth was barely developed, the yolk sack seemed to be barely absorbed into her (she had a very large pink lump on her stomach that took up most of her stomach that got smaller over the next few days) and she has a very slight underbite (her lower beak is longer than her upper beak - very slightly, but noticeable if you look for it, even moreso if you compare her beak to Dumpling's). We don't think the underbite has anything to do with hatching early, though. She was much smaller than Dumpling when he hatched. It seems like she isn't growing much, but that might be because Dumpling is two days older than her and much bigger. Does it sound like she hatched prematurely? Their temperature was kept at 90 degrees F for the first week, and mom instructed me to keep their temp at 80 degrees now that they're a little older. Thanks in advance for any help! Hopefully little Dumpling's problem is something that can be fixed
Quote:I'm not sure about Pudding and if she hatched early since she was under a goose right? but there might be some help for Dumpling, heres a web site that shows how to correct splay legs and other leg issues. If you could post some pictures of pudding that may help. Let us know how they are doing and yes you need to feed them feed thats for their age, laying feed has too much calcium in it and can cause all kinds of problems. Get them either chick starter grower, or Purina Flock raiser crumble, Do not get medicated feed. Also try and get a good poultry vitamin that you can add to their water.
I am not sure I understand this, so maybe you can explain it better...Is your gosling, Dumpling being fed Adult food and not chick starter? If she is being fed an adult layer ration, this will hurt your baby. So she needs to be on sort of chick crumbles. As far as Pudding is concerned, many times "premature" born babies don't always survive. Your Pudding hatched pretty early and as you described, still had her yolk sac unabsorbed. However that doesn't mean that she won't make it. Give her some time and love. Don't over do it with her as she will need more rest and maybe more heat in the brooder than Dumpling did at her age. Keep her warm, let her get a lot of rest and make sure she too is on starter food. They need all the extra protein and vitamins as growing babies that adults don't need. Good luck with your 2 babies!
Thanks for your help, but Dumpling passed away last night We had gotten the babies baby waterfowl food the other day. Pudding seems to be doing fine...fingers crossed that nothing's wrong with her too...
