Gosling wont eat and gasping for air!

[OwlTea]

we had a batch of goslings and had incubator problems when transitioning to lockdown we had 1 early pip and it hatched healthy, however another gosling has hatched a week later we assisted it in hatching as it was enveloped but now its gasping and has a raspy voice it wont drink or eat and we're worried its going to starve or die Is there anybody who has encountered similar circumstances? the gosling is 3 days old now

 

[nuthatched]

Is it choking on food? Or is there an obstruction?

 

[OwlTea]

Is it choking on food? Or is there an obstruction?

There's no obstruction or chocking has been doing this since before eating anything for now im trying to give it sofened grain or small crumbs of greens but he will flick anything out if its mouth we gave it some Colloidal silver just a small bit in its water

 

[nuthatched]

There's no obstruction or chocking has been doing this since before eating anything for now im trying to give it sofened grain or small crumbs of greens but he will flick anything out if its mouth

Are you feeding it any duck or chick feed?

 

[OwlTea]

Are you feeding it any duck or chick feed?

We are feeding it chick starter and I am dipping it in water so its not to dry/rough incase it might be too hard for it We have the 1 week old on the same stuff but not dipped in water

 

[nuthatched]

We are feeding it chick starter and I am dipping it in water so its not to dry/rough incase it might be too hard for it We have the 1 week old on the same stuff but not dipped in water

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/categories/geese.31/
Does his bill.look ok?
@Goosebaby

 

[OwlTea]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/categories/geese.31/
Does his bill.look ok?
@Goosebaby[/
[/QUOTE]

his beak looks fine the only outward visible difference is that his legs are thin he will sometimes get a sudden jolt of energy and try to jump he also shakes a lot even when he was in the incubator I have a heater running near him and the incubator was warm enough

 

[Goosebaby]

What kind of bedding do you have them on? Is there anything damp or possibly moldy in their environment?

You need to switch them to flock raiser, chick start doesn’t have enough niacin and other b vitamins for goslings and ducklings and their health will be affected.

My guess with the gosling is a possible respiratory illness, it could be bacterial or fungal. If you have any Baytril or amoxicillin those would be decent broad spectrum antibiotics to try, if it’s a fungal problem the antibiotics will likely worsen the problem.

Edit: it’s possible there might be an internal organ issue also, goslings typically don’t eat for the first day or two as they’re still consuming their yolk which they’ve absorbed into their body cavity. If there was an issue with that there could be an internal infection, or if there was some issues during incubation it’s possible the gosling could have a bad heart.

On the goslings underside does it look like there could be an infection where the yolk was absorbed? Basically the belly button? Could you post a picture?

 

[OwlTea]

What kind of bedding do you have them on? Is there anything damp or possibly moldy in their environment?

You need to switch them to flock raiser, chick start doesn’t have enough niacin and other b vitamins for goslings and ducklings and their health will be affected.

My guess with the gosling is a possible respiratory illness, it could be bacterial or fungal. If you have any Baytril or amoxicillin those would be decent broad spectrum antibiotics to try, if it’s a fungal problem the antibiotics will likely worsen the problem.

right now we have them on dry wood chips I have checked to make sure there is no mold where they are sleeping Ill see if we can get flock raiser right now there is no grass available due to snow, and Ill check to see if we have any Baytril or amoxicillin

 

[Goosebaby]

I wouldn’t try to force feed the gosling anything, it could aspirate any liquid or solids.