Help! 4 Week old Gosling can't walk anymore!

[dianneS]

I have two four week old goslings that I got from someone else about one week ago. Both were doing fine until I noticed one of them getting clumsy all of a sudden and spending a lot of time sitting in the grass instead of walking and standing. The other one is still doing great.

I checked out old threads on here and have started to supplement Niacin as well as all the B vitamins and Vitamin E. I have their drinking water treated as well as their food. I have not gotten brewers yeast yet as I'm just crushing pills and adding it to their feed/water. I have also dripped some vitamins into her bill to be sure she's getting it.

I started supplementation yesterday, and I see no improvement yet. Actually, she's worse today. They are outside on grass during the day, in the chicken coop at night. They were being fed Dumor finisher crumbles 15% protein, but seemed to prefer grass. I have since switched them to Dumor grower crumbles 24% protein, and I'm making sure that they eat plenty of grower feed before and after putting them out on grass. It's non-medicated feed and the bag indicates that it can be fed to geese.

Any advice? Is it possibly just too soon to tell if the Niacin is helping?

 

[Ducks4us]

I beleive 24 % protein is far too high for this age.
The 15% is better. And all the access to grass they can have
How much niacin are the getting?
Its too soon. It will take a couple days but its important to make sure they are getting the proper amounts.
And not too much as well

 

[dianneS]

I beleive 24 % protein is far too high for this age.
The 15% is better. And all the access to grass they can have
How much niacin are the getting?
Its too soon. It will take a couple days but its important to make sure they are getting the proper amounts.
And not too much as well

I thought the 24% might be too high, but was worried the 15% was too low! They've only been on the 24% for one day, so I don't think it woul do too much harm yet.

I'll head out to a different feed store today and see if I can find a waterfowl specific starter feed. And I'll get to the healthfood store for brewer's yeast.

Honestly I can't really say just how much niacin. I've been crushing one of my husband's niacin tablets, along with a dropper full of my own liquid b-comlex with niacin. A few drops of vitamin E oil too. I put that over the feed and the same amount in their water. I also put that mixture in a dropper and dribbled a few drops into her bill.

I also have injectable B-complex for livestock. I thought about adding that to food/water too? It has 100 mg's niacin/ml.

 

[Ducks4us]

Okay , yeah 15-17 % are good levels for this age.
If your going to the health food store i would pick up nutritional yeast instead. It has higher niacin content.
And then add 1 tablespoon per cup of feed.
If your adding to water they need 150 mg per gallon of water
Be careful because you dont want to give too much.
Once you get everything on track you should see some form of improvement within a few days.
My goslings will eat grass all day and not eat their feed at all, till locked up at night where the grass isnt available.
What kind of goslings do you have?

 

[dianneS]

They are Toulouse goslings. I got these two locally, they're supposed to be females.

I got 8 Toulouse goslings last spring from Stromberg's hatchery and they did great, I had no issues with any of them. They're all adults now but I didn't think any of my girl's were going to go broody, now one of them has! I may have several more goslings in a few weeks!

 

[Ducks4us]

They are Toulouse goslings.  I got these two locally, they're supposed to be females.

I got 8 Toulouse goslings last spring from Stromberg's hatchery and they did great, I had no issues with any of them.  They're all adults now but I didn't think any of my girl's were going to go broody, now one of them has!  I may have several more goslings in a few weeks!

oh that will be fun!

 

[dianneS]

I got nutritional yeast at the health food store. I stopped at the feed mill for waterfowl starter. They didn't have anything like that. They had gamebird starter but it was 28% protein! They had other starter crumbles, but they were also above 24%.

I ended up getting a bag of waterfowl food that is 17% protein. It's not technically "starter", but it's formulated for waterfowl.

She's out in the grass today, not trying to walk much at all, just sitting down eating the grass around her. I'll keep supplementing her and hopefully see some improvement in the near future.

 

[Ducks4us]

I got nutritional yeast at the health food store.  I stopped at the feed mill for waterfowl starter.  They didn't have anything like that.  They had gamebird starter but it was 28% protein!  They had other starter crumbles, but they were also above 24%.

I ended up getting a bag of waterfowl food that is 17% protein.  It's not technically "starter", but it's formulated for waterfowl.

She's out in the grass today, not trying to walk much at all, just sitting down eating the grass around her.  I'll keep supplementing her and hopefully see some improvement in the near future.  

17 is good. Thats what mine are eating too.
Its okay if its not starter as well.
I have to wet my food a little so that it would stick to the food and actually get eaten.
I think as long as it gets the nutritional yeast it needs you will see improvement sooner rather than later. Keep us updated

 

[dianneS]

Thanks, I really hope I see improvement soon.

I will post her progress.

 

[Ducks4us]

Thanks, I really hope I see improvement soon.    I will post her progress.

I hope you do too!!!