Gosling Losing Voice? (Is She Sick?)

[The Dim Side]

Hi, all,

My 5-week-old gosling was fine in the first half of the day, but this afternoon she started sounding like her chirping was slightly...off. I'm not sure how to describe it, like a little weaker than normal, slightly deeper, and more airy, I guess? And just sounds more sad. She still seems to be eating and drinking and active enough.

Though I'm not sure if she may be getting tired more easily (she naps a lot since she's young). But it just seems like she's quieter than she usually is and lying down more.

I'm hoping I'm just being paranoid, but I wanted to double-check with more experienced people.

And I can hear her breathing. It seems like she has mucus inside, so it sounds kind of like a clicking sound with the mucus opening and closing or something (like when you try to clear your nose?). She gets this occasionally, but this seems to be lasting longer than usual. She sneezes occasionally, too.

Is there a way to tell if she's sick? And if she is, is there anything that we can do for her outside of a veterinarian? I don't think there are any goose vets in my area, the closest are potentially a couple hours away.

Edit to add: I'm not sure if she might be drinking more water than usual, too.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Sierra G]

My first impression was that your goose might have stuck its head out of the crate, been scared, and injured its throat by jerking its head back in too quickly. It came to mind because Galaga did that when he was about six weeks old with a chain link fence. His voice hasn't ever come back, but his harem outnumbers him 5 to 1 so he doesn't have much to say anyway.

 

[The Dim Side]

Do you have water deep enough for your gosling to dip her whole head into? She needs to be able to clean out her nares (nostrils) every day.

Yeah, it's definitely deep enough. We let her go for a swim/bath in the bathtub today, too. So she was dunking her head in and cleaning during that.

 

[The Dim Side]

Have you given her any chick grit?

Sometimes, she didn't have any today (just gave her some now though). She was outside in the grass today though, so I figured she might have gotten some out there while foraging.

 

[The Dim Side]

It really sounds like she has a respiratory illness, it could be a bacterial infection or Asper worst case scenario. Unfortunately goslings are much more prone to illnesses and they react to them much worse thsn adults so this should be taken seriously.
You can try giving her VetRX, it can help clear out their respiratory tract, but if may not get rid of the underlying problem.

Thanks! A breeder told me this morning about VetRx! So we're gonna get that. She seems to be sounding better and definitely has a lot of energy today. The voice sounds a little different here and there, but I was surprised that it's fluctuating back and forth. The breeder suggested maybe its voice is just changing while starting puberty. I thought it's a little young since she's only 5 weeks old, but the breeder said it happens sometimes. Is that something you've come across before?

 

[The Dim Side]

Voices do change as they age, could you possibly post a video? The best way is linking to Instagram, Vimeo, or YouTube.

Here's a link to a few clips of her chirping:

I don't know if it sounds strange as a standalone, but her voice is a little lower than usual. Sometimes it has sounded more like distorted, too. Like a chromatic chord in music or something, lol. I'm also not sure if her face looks like she's sick or if it's just because the white is coming in from the yellow now.

Other than that, I don't think she currently has any other symptoms. Her rising butt only seems to happen when she's falling asleep or is asleep (and sometimes she gets over-heated on my lap, so I give her water or move her off to cool off). She's been drinking and eating and pretty full of energy most of the day, though we didn't get to go outside since it was colder and rainier, so she was probably more bored, too.

 

[The Dim Side]

She sounds perfectly normal!

Also don’t feel bad about worrying, every good goose parent has these same concerns, she’s in the best possible care!

So is her voice just changing then? It's just still different than what I'm used to. And it happened so suddenly in the afternoon two days ago, too. So it was just such a noticeable change to me, lol.

And thanks! Yeah, I'd rather over-worry and have nothing be wrong than under-worry and have something unexpected happen, haha. We just got her a second gosling last night to keep her company since she's really clingy to us. But she keeps trying to bite him, so we're trying to figure out how to get them to get along, too!

 

[The Dim Side]

Yeah, she’s more bonded with humans because that’s all she’s used too but in the long run she’ll be healthier mentally by having the other goose, she’ll get used to them eventually, it won’t change her bond with you unless you stop socializing with her “don’t do that” but it won’t get in the way of bonding with the other goose eventually.

We tried putting them together again, and it's working well! I put them in the same pen now, and she's nipping and pecking a little, but overall, they're getting along! However, now I have concerns again with illness but with the new gosling, he came to us with a stuffy nose, so I could hear his breathing. And now his nose is leaking and definitely breathing heavily (butt is moving up and down). I put some VetRx on his chest and under his wings and a drop in the one water bowl. Is there anything else I can do for him? Do I need to separate them again if he's sick?

 

[The Dim Side]

If you can post a video that would be great.
There’s definitely a concern about the gosling having something contagious, but I have no way to know, you’ll have to decide for yourself if they should be separated. If you can try getting fresh thyme and oregano and crushing it it in their water it can stimulate their immune systems, and it’s cheaper than buying the oils which may or may not be dupiluted with vegetable oil anyway.
If the new gosling doesn’t show improvement they probably should see a vet /be put on an antibiotic. That’s assuming it’s a bacterial issue and not fungal, viral, parasitical.

Sorry, I missed this post before!

-- Sorry that it's hard to hear because of how loud the chicks are. If I can get a video of him breathing loudly while away from them, I'll try uploading another one.

The breathing sound seems to kind of come and go, or at least get more apparent and then less apparent. But he's still eating and drinking and active right now. Aside from the sound, heavy breathing, and panting occasionally, I don't notice anything else.

 

[Goosebaby]

Sorry, I missed this post before!

-- Sorry that it's hard to hear because of how loud the chicks are. If I can get a video of him breathing loudly while away from them, I'll try uploading another one.

The breathing sound seems to kind of come and go, or at least get more apparent and then less apparent. But he's still eating and drinking and active right now. Aside from the sound, heavy breathing, and panting occasionally, I don't notice anything else.

It does look heavier than normal, it could be stress that’s causing him to breath heavily or if he’s eaten a lot it can cause similar heavy breathing. If he’s still eating, drinking, and active it’s a good sign, if he worsens, starts acting subdued and tired, stops eating he’ll probably need a vet.