Help needed with my new goslings! Bumblefoot!

[Aty439318]

Hello Everyone!

This is my first time raising goslings. I’m currently located in Puerto Rico and since I don’t have to worry about the cold weather from MA I decided to embark myself on this adventure. I have done everything I’ve seen online on how to care for my new babies. I got them two weeks ago from Texas and everything was great until today. I noticed they may be starting to get bumblefoot. I clean their brooder everyday and always make sure they do not lay on wet bedding. I do not know what to do and I am freaking out! Hope you guys can help!

Meet my babies!!

 

[Goosebaby]

Hello Everyone!

This is my first time raising goslings. I’m currently located in Puerto Rico and since I don’t have to worry about the cold weather from MA I decided to embark myself on this adventure. I have done everything I’ve seen online on how to care for my new babies. I got them two weeks ago from Texas and everything was great until today. I noticed they may be starting to get bumblefoot. I clean their brooder everyday and always make sure they do not lay on wet bedding. I do not know what to do and I am freaking out! Hope you guys can help!

Meet my babies!!

Beautiful goslings!

Could you post a picture of their feet?

Also what feed are they on?

It’s unusual to get bumblefoot in a clean environment but not impossible because the bacteria that causes it “Staph” is pretty much everywhere and unavoidable. Usually how birds get bumblefoot is from a crack or injury betting exposed to the bacteria, the odds are greatly reduced in a setup as clean as yours but s**t happens as they say.

 

[Aty439318]

Beautiful goslings!

Could you post a picture of their feet?

Also what feed are they on?

It’s unusual to get bumblefoot in a clean environment but not impossible because the bacteria that causes it “Staph” is pretty much everywhere and unavoidable. Usually how birds get bumblefoot is from a crack or injury betting exposed to the bacteria, the odds are greatly reduced in a setup as clean as yours but s**t happens as they say.

Hello! Thank you so much. Indeed, it happens. Haha.

Since I was unable to find any waterfowl specific feed here in PR I opted for chick starter. Currently, I’m mixing nutrional yeast with their feed so they don’t lack on those essential vitamins. Also, I take them on little excursions around our property so they can eat grass and do what goslings do.

I was thinking maybe they got injured on our walks or maybe the concrete on the driveway was too hot for them and I did not noticed. Idk I feel terrible. Thanks for your reply!

Attached are a few pics of their little feets!!

 

[Goosebaby]

Hello! Thank you so much. Indeed, it happens. Haha.

Since I was unable to find any waterfowl specific feed here in PR I opted for chick starter. Currently, I’m mixing nutrional yeast with their feed so they don’t lack on those essential vitamins. Also, I take them on little excursions around our property so they can eat grass and do what goslings do.

I was thinking maybe they got injured on our walks or maybe the concrete on the driveway was too hot for them and I did not noticed. Idk I feel terrible. Thanks for your reply!

Attached are a few pics of their little feets!!

It doesn’t quite look like bumblefoot has developed yet but it does look like some nasty callouses were forming that may or may not be infected. The last photo looks the worst.

It could be from the hot pavement, if they end up with staph it probably did come from dry skin cracks contacting pavement. It isn’t always a big worry but having soft skin because of their age and possible deficiency it can predispose them more to problems.

Nutritional yeast is a good decision and is probably covering a lot of their nutritional needs that the chick start isn’t, chick start definitly lacks enough B vitamins but it also can lack enough protein and possibly other vitamins so that may be an issue, for large breed geese it’s more urgent, for smaller breed like chinese it may not be as obvious. You could look into supplementing with meal worms or soldier fly larva and a multivitamin mix that includes the Bs, A, E, and zinc.

As for the feet, if it is bumblefoot it’s at a score 1/grade 1 stage, it hasn’t gotten bad and you caught it early which is great! If you have Epsom salt use it as a soak for their feet. I’m not sure what’s available in Perto Rico but Triple antibiotic ointment is often what’s applied to the feet after.
Applying oral baytril to the wound(s) is also effective in place of the ointment.
If it’s just rough skin that isn’t infected Neosporin would do fine.

 

[Aty439318]

It doesn’t quite look like bumblefoot has developed yet but it does look like some nasty callouses were forming that may or may not be infected. The last photo looks the worst.

It could be from the hot pavement, if they end up with staph it probably did come from dry skin cracks contacting pavement. It isn’t always a big worry but having soft skin because of their age and possible deficiency it can predispose them more to problems.

Nutritional yeast is a good decision and is probably covering a lot of their nutritional needs that the chick start isn’t, chick start definitly lacks enough B vitamins but it also can lack enough protein and possibly other vitamins so that may be an issue, for large breed geese it’s more urgent, for smaller breed like chinese it may not be as obvious. You could look into supplementing with meal worms or soldier fly larva and a multivitamin mix that includes the Bs, A, E, and zinc.

As for the feet, if it is bumblefoot it’s at a score 1/grade 1 stage, it hasn’t gotten bad and you caught it early which is great! If you have Epsom salt use it as a soak for their feet. I’m not sure what’s available in Perto Rico but Triple antibiotic ointment is often what’s applied to the feet after.
Applying oral baytril to the wound(s) is also effective in place of the ointment.
If it’s just rough skin that isn’t infected Neosporin would do fine.

Hopefully, it doesn’t develop into anything more serious. Definitely, will be more careful when out and about on our daily walks. I do have Epsom salt so I will look into that. I’ll make sure to swing by Walgreens or CVS tomorrow for the ointments. A few days back, I noticed PetSmart carries meal worms for poultry so I’ll make sure to grab that next time. Thank you so much for all your suggestions. Will definitely take them all into consideration!

What multivitamin brand would you recommend?

 

[Goosebaby]

Rooster booster poultry cell is what I’m currently using, though my birds won’t willingly drink it because of the strong taste, poultry nutri-drench is another brand but it’s lacking a few things, I’m not sure if petsmart carries those brands, anything in a powder or liquid form that has a lot of vitamins is what you want to look for.
Dissolvable multivitamins for humans are just fine also. EmergenC can also work, it has some caffeine in it though which birds really shouldn’t have.

 

[Aty439318]

Rooster booster poultry cell is what I’m currently using, though my birds won’t willingly drink it because of the strong taste, poultry nutri-drench is another brand but it’s lacking a few things, I’m not sure if petsmart carries those brands, anything in a powder or liquid form that has a lot of vitamins is what you want to look for.
Dissolvable multivitamins for humans are just fine also. EmergenC can also work, it has some caffeine in it though which birds really shouldn’t have.

Perfect! I’ll make sure to check my local store. I’ll post updates further on. Hopefully, it all clears up real soon. Thanks!

 

[Goosebaby]

Perfect! I’ll make sure to check my local store. I’ll post updates further on. Hopefully, it all clears up real soon. Thanks!

I forgot to ask! What is the protein percentage of your feed? For goslings it should be between 20 to 22%.

 

[Aty439318]

I forgot to ask! What is the protein percentage of your feed? For goslings it should be between 20 to 22%.

I believe is 20%. As soon as they reach the three weeks mark I’ll be changing it to a 15%-16% protein percentage.

 

[Goosebaby]

I believe is 20%. As soon as they reach the three weeks mark I’ll be changing it to a 15%-16% protein percentage.

16% is a very low percentage for geese. It’s fine though when they aren’t laying, molting, growing, or stressed. Geese will continue to grow for the next few months but won’t be filled out for a year so I would not switch them to that.