Help...I seem to be losing my whole flock. :(

[toletiquesbysam]

1st thing I'd do is switch feed, get them some greens -lettuce, grass, chicken feed if you've got it. I don't know if it's the feed, but it would be the 1st thing I would do to try to help them. Obviously something is not right.

 

[DuckLady]

If it is not chilling, then I would say it could be something injested.

Feed is the first thing.

Any chance of spraying done where their pen is?

We had to stop our neighbor from spraying weed killer over the fence into our yard where the ducks and geese went.

 

[gottsegnet]

No. We don't spray and this property has been vacant for years. We have a soybean field West of us, but the tractor doesn't appear to be getting quite that close to our land. I can move them further up to be sure, but the first two that died were never that far from the house.

I can switch feed, but it still seems that if they were having problems with it, the chickens would as well. The chickens don't get much of it, but they do get some of it.

Most of their diet is grass and weeds. They love their pasture and the corner of my garden. Actually, they love the whole garden, especially the corn. But that is why they are now penned away from the garden, at least until the corn grows in a little more!

 

[Chickies-duckies-etc]

Geese are very sensitive to mold. Check EVERYTHING!! Feed, ground, bedding, everything. It can kill them.

Another thing - do they run out of water, then when you put more in and a bit later you find them dead? I do not know what the deal is that creates the problem, but both ducks and geese are affected by this. If they are without water for a period of time and then get a chance to "fill up" with water, they can start flopping and tumbling and possibly die. If they do run out of water, give them sips at a time until they get rehydrated.

Getting too wet and cold can also cause the tumbling, and death. Until they have their feathers in they can get wet and chilled even on a hot day. Even 90 degrees is less then their body temp and if they are soaking wet and maybe a breeze they can cool off fast.

I hope you can figure out what the problem is and save the rest of the goslings.

 

[GoodEgg]

Dfirst, I'm really sorry to hear of your losses.

Did you say thefeed is medicated? There are medicated feeds rated as safe for chickens that are not safe for geese. In facti have heard ofonly one type of medication reported safe for geese. I don't keep up with it much and in fact after vaccinating and giving medicated feed to my first batch of chicks, i have since raised them all on unmedicated feed, no vacs. However, as a precaution, I take only eggs or healthy day olds and don't allow in any older poultry or those I have any question about.

But it could be medication in the feed. Also I don't know of it being fatal at that age, but I wonder the protein content in the feed and how much it is "cut" with grass or vegetation? Geese will eat a lot and grow fast. I give a little starter that I prefer to keep under 18% protein but they do better, IMO, on grass asap.

I hope you can prevent any more losses. That is sad, and I'm sorry to hear of it.

 

[gottsegnet]

No, it isn't medicated. The protein is 20%, but they are only fed that twice a day. The rest is free choice on greens, mostly what they collect while in their tractor. Their growth rate seems good. They eat all the feed I give them pretty quickly with only a little left when they lose interest and start to graze.

I have one theory, though.

While I was gone this weekend, my husband said they got loose in the garage. I'm wondering if they got into something. Like the self-clumping kitty litter. How much would it take to kill them, and how long would it take to do so? They seriously looked totally normal an hour before I found them dead, and this was three days after they would have gotten into something, assuming they did. But it is all I can think of.

And no, they've never been without water, except over night. I'll watch that. I don't think they were overly enthusiastic about their water this morning when I gave them their dish, but that will be good for me to watch for.

 

[Puddle Foot Farm]

I'm thinking mold, as chickies-duckies-etc said. Geese are much, much more susceptible to mold than chickens, so check everything. We had two get into some in the chicken coop at about three weeks old and it took approximately 6-8 hours before they died.. They seemed fine before, and then they were just dead. I would also move them somewhere that you KNOW is safe until you find the problem, as Kim said.

I feel that with kitty litter, they would definitely show signs of deterioration as their digestive system started to shut down.

Good luck with your babies. I know how much it hurts to lose them. Keep us updated.

 

[ultasol]

If they are on gamebird starter, which is typically around protein percentage 30%, it is WAY too high in protein to have geese on at this age. Get them on flock raiser or a 16-20% protein food (non-layer) asap.

 

[cracking up]

My chickens get into the kitty litter now and then and it really worries me but so far it hasn't seemed to hurt them. Once we spray painted the litter tray in our chinchillas cage and when the temperature went up they all died - we think it might have been the fumes. We let it dry well for a long time but that's all we could think of.

Hope you figure it out. I know how special geese are.

 

[JROOSTER]

Someone said ants where biting and killing thier geese. Might want to check it.

Sorry for you loss.