Help Gosling randomly died and one may be sick!!!

[Cynthia51]

I'm new here and need some advice! I had 3 female goslings that are about 3 and a half weeks old. One suddenly died yesterday morning and I don't know why. They are in a 6'x3' water trough with a heat lamp and a hut warmer. I use pine shavings as bedding and clean it ever other day. They have a big waterer that they like to blow bubbles in the clean their beaks and a large trough feeder for their food. I use a dry crumble mixed with ground oats and have givin them a large pile of grass clipings everyday. I dont know what happend to the one as she was acting fine first thing and then about 30 mins later i come back and shes dead! She loved to run around. Did i do something wrong? I don't want to lose my other 2. One is every once in a while sneezing and breathing raspy. I did add raw apple cider vinegar to their water this evening. I also cleaned everything inside their trough after the one died. Please help. Called one vet and they were not helpful.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

They may be overheating what is the temperature in your brooder?

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

@Goosebaby

 

[Cynthia51]

I'm not sure. They have plenty of room to move and cool down from being under the lamp. And they only curl up next to the hut at night.

 

[Miss Lydia]

so very sorry you lost your little gosling.
Overheating maybe one factor another maybe cutting the feed with oats. Your taking away the protein they need from their feed.
Get them on a waterfowl feed or an all flock feed and don't cut it. At 3.5 weeks old they can be outside in a safe enclosure where they can get grass to supplement their diet, and forage for other things.
Try some ACV with mother in their drinking container 1-2 tab per gallon of water.
Do they have a container of water deep enough they can dunk their whole heads into?

 

[Goosebaby]

Congenital heart defects can be a cause of sudden death, at 3 weeks old they could be starting to get their big bird voices and they will sound a bit raspy, but raspy voices with sneezing makes me think there could be illness.

What kind of crumbles are you feeding them?

You might need to try calling around to find another avian vet, you can try treating them yourself with fish or pigeon antibiotics, but without testing there’s no way telling if it’s a fungal, viral, or bacterial issue, and if it’s bacterial what kind it is and which antibiotic would be most useful.
Baytril is broad spectrum, so that would be the best to get if you can’t find an avian vet.

 

[Goosebaby]

On second thought 3 weeks seems way to soon to be getting normal voice changes so this really sounds like a respiratory illness unfortunatly. I’m so sorry.

 

[DucksGeeseHeart]

I'm new here and need some advice! I had 3 female goslings that are about 3 and a half weeks old. One suddenly died yesterday morning and I don't know why. They are in a 6'x3' water trough with a heat lamp and a hut warmer. I use pine shavings as bedding and clean it ever other day. They have a big waterer that they like to blow bubbles in the clean their beaks and a large trough feeder for their food. I use a dry crumble mixed with ground oats and have givin them a large pile of grass clipings everyday. I dont know what happend to the one as she was acting fine first thing and then about 30 mins later i come back and shes dead! She loved to run around. Did i do something wrong? I don't want to lose my other 2. One is every once in a while sneezing and breathing raspy. I did add raw apple cider vinegar to their water this evening. I also cleaned everything inside their trough after the one died. Please help. Called one vet and they were not helpful.

I read from a professional source (veterinary) that they can sometimes choke on crumble. I'd already bought some after reading a private user say the reverse (they might choke on the small un-crumbled kibble, she preferred a wet mash). I took the second source to heart and threw away the crumble, now use a tiny, un-crumbled starter feed.

I had cut my mix with scratch seeds one day because I was feeding some adult ducks and geese as well (all wild, at a stream). I saw one of the little babies shake his head and cough, like something was stuck in his throat. I could see how even a tiny ground bit of scratch grain could stick in the tiny throat. A day or two later there was one less baby and I greatly feared it was from that one mistake.

It's just one thing to consider.

 

[Cynthia51]

Thank you! I took out the oats and will try the wet mash. I do grind up their pellets into a powder but maybe their was one she choked on! I also put acv in their water just in case! I have them in the basement in a large area so I know their not over heated with the lamp. Other 2 are doing fine been watching them like a hawk. Just feel bad not knowing what could have happened!

 

[Cynthia51]

so very sorry you lost your little gosling.
Overheating maybe one factor another maybe cutting the feed with oats. Your taking away the protein they need from their feed.
Get them on a waterfowl feed or an all flock feed and don't cut it. At 3.5 weeks old they can be outside in a safe enclosure where they can get grass to supplement their diet, and forage for other things.
Try some ACV with mother in their drinking container 1-2 tab per gallon of water.
Do they have a container of water deep enough they can dunk their whole heads into?

Yes they have a feeder they can dip their heads in. I had the 2 outside yesterday as the weather was nice enough for them. I pull grass for them because our weather has still been a bit cold for them to go out. Yesterday was the only nice day. I did take out the oats and added acv to their water. Thank you