Goslings act fine, but can’t walk...

[oldhenlikesdogs]

@oldhenlikesdogs @Miss Lydia
Day three of the treatment, and I’m seeing improvement! While Alfie and Faye are still a bit wobbly, they’ve retained their ability to walk. And Iris, the gosling who didn’t walk for two days, is now standing and stepping on her own. This is certainly improvement, and I hope it continues! I’ll continue the Vitamin B Complex, as well as regular swimming to relieve the discomfort of supporting their own weight.

Credit goes to @Miss Lydia . I'm still learning about geese myself, and she has taught me a lot. I'm so very happy you are seeing improvements.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I am just so happy to hear the b complex is working. Thank you for letting us know and please keep the updates coming!!

 

[albertthegoose]

I have an update, bringing both good and bad news...
The gosling who couldn’t walk is now back on her feet, stronger than ever! She‘s running, foraging, and has a voracious appetite for grass. Not to mention that she’s growing like a weed, and is developmentally on track for her age! I think the Vitamin B Complex addressed whatever deficiencies she had, and is facilitating a speedy recovery!

Alfie was not so lucky. Two days ago, he was very active- following me around and eating copious amounts of greenery. Yesterday morning he seemed a bit tired, but grazed and swam normally. By the evening, he had grown a bit lethargic, and was hesitant to move. He still had the ability to walk, unlike the gosling who first fell ill. Unfortunately, I woke up this morning to find that Alfie had passed away. His legs were strong until the end, so his deficiency must have manifested itself in a different way. And -while he was receiving Vitamin B Complex- I had never known he was sick.

My final gosling, Faye, was fine until yesterday morning. Then, like the first gosling, she stopped using one of her legs. She continued to eat and drink normally, but wouldn’t walk. While her condition seems more hopeful than Alfie’s -as she retains her energy- I’m still quite worried, given her previous health problems.
(I’m an inexperienced poultry owner, and, during hatch, she became shrink wrapped in her shell. Forty-eight hours post-pip she had still failed to rotate and zip, and so I assisted her. All went smoothly; the membranes I cut were dead, and there was no breakage of any vasculature.
I decided to make a large-enough hole for her to slide from. I assumed that only once she had absorbed the remaining blood and yolk would she would kick off the eggshell herself.
Not so. Instead, she kicked it off immediately, tearing her umbilical cord and leaving part of the shell with active veins. She bled quite a bit, and it appeared that she had yet to completely absorb her yolk sack. We applied pressure, heat, and antibiotic ointment, then wrapped her up in gauze. We didn’t expect her to survive the night.
Fortunately, she did, which led us to discover that she had an upper respiratory infection. She regularly shook her head to clear her nose from mucous. Her breathing was raspy, her chest crackled, and her eyes were swollen.
By some miracle, she made it through all this. She continues to be the most vivacious of the goslings, but is half her sibling’s size. At over two weeks old, she looks barely a week.
For this reason, I’m worried about how she’ll fair in her newest battle. She’s really tiny.)
I maintain hope for her, but am lacking in confidence. For now, Faye eats and drinks actively, and has recovered enough to stand on her knees. Still, given all she has already fought, I do not know how much strength she possesses.

I’ll continue to update you all, and want to thank you again for your helpful advice and experience. I’m starting to suspect my goslings have a predisposition for illness, but your input has certainly made one gosling well, and will hopefully do the same for little Faye! I’m continuing the Vitamin B Complex and increasing their grass intake for now. With Alfie, I did not realize he was truly sick until if was too late. I’m keeping my eye on Faye. If her condition declines any further, she’s going to the vet.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You can only do so much. The loses are heartbreaking. So sorry. Geese especially are so personable.

 

[albertthegoose]

Thank you, @oldhenlikesdogs.

We suddenly lost our second gosling, Faye, after an apparent streak of improvement- she passed while outside, grazing. We corresponded with an avian veterinarian and brought her body in for a necropsy, later setting an appointment for the final remaining gosling.

The veterinarian combed through her autopsy and could not find any evidence of parasites or infection. He was stumped, and ultimately concluded that their ailments were either viral or genetic.

Meanwhile, we spoke with another bird expert, who ran an exotic bird sanctuary. Looking at the nutritional information of their chick starter, he believed that nutritional deficiencies were not the answer, but rather aspergillosis. I was hesitant to accept aspergillosis then -knowing how difficult and fatal it is- but am growing to accept it now. Our poor gosling, Iris, has since lost her voice, another symptom of brooder pneumonia. She, once again, can no longer walk.

We are going to contact the veterinarian, to ask whether any evidence of aspergillosis was present in the autopsy. Unfortunately, we have a compelling list of symptoms that all point to the disease.

From embryos, the goslings experienced respiratory distress, including nasal discharge, wheezing, rasping, and popping. Later, they lost use of their legs, characteristically favoring one leg while being unable to move the other. I have read that aspergillosis, in advanced stages, can cause neural symptoms and/or paralysis.

Towards the end, the goslings suddenly developed drooling behavior, tremors/shaking and severe lethargy. These symptoms usually manifested themselves abruptly, only hours before death.

When we received the eggs from EBay, some were quite dirty. It's possible that the eggs were exposed to aspergillosis spores while in shipment or the nest/pasture. However, if my goslings do have aspergillosis, I suspect it's my fault. We hatched out a duck ten or so days before hatch, and I ignorantly thought that thoroughly cleaning the incubator would disrupt the incubation of the eggs, and cause them harm. I could not have guessed that the egg remnants could affect the growing embryos. I've paid the ultimate price for my inexperience, having lost most of my goslings, with little hope for recovery.

Our final gosling is faring well, but has lost her voice. She still cannot walk, and must be carried to her food/water. She's now eating Mazuri waterfowl starter feed, accompanied by grasses and the occasional leaves of romaine, kale, or swiss chard. We're doing our best to keep her exercised by bringing her to local lakes and ponds, and swimming in short intervals. Her appetite is good, but she's become depressed since losing her siblings. We keep her with us as much as possible but do not yet wish to get another goose, as we expect her illness to be fatal.

We're going to check in with the veterinarian, who I sincerely hope can dispute our theory. I'll continue to keep this thread posted, but thank you all for your support and guidance.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I am so very sorry. It sounds like you are doing everything you can. Unfortunately when we keep poultry stuff happens that makes us feel like failures or that we didn't do enough, or do the right thing. Something things are out of our control. Life does what it wants, and death comes whenever it feels like it.

Your geese are lucky they have you caring for them.