- Jul 26, 2009
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The youngest male Pilgrim gosling, "Jack" is dirty underneath roughly from a few inches in front of the legs to a few inches behind.
The problem seems to be that he doesn't bathe like the other two, who are pristine underneath.
Jack has NEVER to my knowledge gone into the two cement mixing troughs I am currently using as pools for them -- cold fresh water, warm water, nothing. They certainly aren't two deep, for those unfamiliar with them they're about six inches deep and probably about 18 x 30 inches I'm guessing. It is roughly knee high to them, so they can easily step in and out. The bottoms aren't that slippery, either. One was used for mixing cement previously, so its bottom is very scratched and non-slip, the other was new but isn't really slippery.
The other two climb right in all of the time. He goes to the edge, dips his head and neck, splashes some water on himself, and preens, but just won't climb in. He preens the feathers underneath, but I guess without a good bath to soak the dirt out of them it's not doing the job.
Any thoughts on how to encourage him to bathe and clean himself?
I'm going to wash the dirty spot this afternoon with some "whitening" type dog shampoo -- I did this last weekend and it looked a little better for a couple of days.
The problem seems to be that he doesn't bathe like the other two, who are pristine underneath.
Jack has NEVER to my knowledge gone into the two cement mixing troughs I am currently using as pools for them -- cold fresh water, warm water, nothing. They certainly aren't two deep, for those unfamiliar with them they're about six inches deep and probably about 18 x 30 inches I'm guessing. It is roughly knee high to them, so they can easily step in and out. The bottoms aren't that slippery, either. One was used for mixing cement previously, so its bottom is very scratched and non-slip, the other was new but isn't really slippery.
The other two climb right in all of the time. He goes to the edge, dips his head and neck, splashes some water on himself, and preens, but just won't climb in. He preens the feathers underneath, but I guess without a good bath to soak the dirt out of them it's not doing the job.
Any thoughts on how to encourage him to bathe and clean himself?
I'm going to wash the dirty spot this afternoon with some "whitening" type dog shampoo -- I did this last weekend and it looked a little better for a couple of days.
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