Help! I'm a new duck and goose mommy!

[Lovinducky]

So I have a gosling that I happened across and fell in love. The problem is that when I found him/her, I thought it was a duck so i got a baby duck to keep him company. I've had them now for almost 3 weeks and they grow ridiculously fast! Below are my concerns.

1.) My duckling has recently started limping. I have some pretty excited dogs so I'm not sure if maybe one of them toppled him or something or if the gosling is picking on him or if he just pulled a muscle. Nothing noticing wrong with his foot or leg but he has been playing down a lot more. I've also noticed he has been making different noises instead of the basic cheep cheep. It almost sounds like he has anxiety. I'm not sure if hes just growing up and his noises are changing or if he is in pain.

2.) I had them both outside earlier and noticed that the gosling grabbed the duck by the neck. I scolded him and he stopped but it makes me nervous that he is bullying the duck. They've been fine every other time and the duck follows him around constantly and they lay together. I'm really hoping that I don't have to separate them. I have been keeping them in a large storage tote since they were small but will be upgrading this weekend to a large outdoor chicken coop.

3.) Can geese be family friendly once grown? I'm concerned because i don't want my goose attacking my neices or dogs.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Pyxis]

1. I'd keep an eye on the limp. If it's an injury it should heal up. Have you been adding niacin to the feed? You might want to start that because niacin deficiency is a common cause of leg problems in ducklings.

2. I would watch that. The gosling is probably already much larger than the duck and they do tend to chew on each other a little. Other goslings can handle that just fine but with a size and weight difference it might cause problems. If it starts to get bad you'll want to split them up.

3. Yes! Mine are. Ganders can get aggressive during the breeding season so you might have to deal with that. But otherwise they can 100% be docile, friendly animals. Breed plays a factor here along with gender and of course each bird is an individual, but generally speaking, yes, geese can be friendly once grown.

I also wanted to add that you should think about getting each of them a friend of their own species, the gosling especially. While they are good company for each other now, they would vastly prefer a friend of their own species. They don't speak the same language as each other, and both are highly social species. This is coming from experience, not just something I read - my goose was my only goose for nearly three years and though she had chickens and ducks to keep her company, she was much happier when I bought two juvenile geese for her and quickly took to them.

 

[Lovinducky]

Thank you so much for your quick response! I've done so much research since I've had them but it's really nice to talk to someone about my specific scenario. I haven't been adding niacin to the feed but I did buy some powder to mix in with their water and will be implementing that this weekend with their transition outside. It has a high niacin content so hopefully that will be sufficient. My vet sees ducks so if i don't notice it getting any better, I'm definitely going to take him in. It breaks my heart to see him limp. So of course I pick him up and cuddle him. Lol! I can't help it!

Thank you again soooooo much!!!

 

[Sristi]

Definitely add the niacin to the water. I would consider that the first thing to do with an apparently uninjured, limping duckling. Last year I raised a batch of 20 ducklings and didn't add niacin because I got starter labelled as appropriate for ducklings. Two of mine died and some others were limping before I wised up and started adding tablets to their water. If you buy tablets, the dosage is 100 - 150 mg per gallon of water. Good luck and I hope your duckling gets better soon.