Help! Predator Attack and Open Neck Wounds!

[RugenerGooser]

Sorry to hear your goose was attacked. Per my vet (avian certified & waterfowl specialist), the best way to clean a fresh wound on a goose is with betadine, diluted with water to the color of light iced tea. He also does not recommend Neosporin as it is greasy and attracts dirt. If necessary, he prefers to prescribe silvadene crème, a topical antibiotic.

There is a product I use called Gentle Iodine that I buy by the gallon for about 14.99 and keep it on hand. I have donkeys, cats, dogs and birds, so I liked to keep well stocked. It is more dilute and you can still dilute it a bit more like Utah said if you want to. I get mine from Tractor Supply. It is in the section where they have the meds and stuff for livestock. I would also suggest using screw worm spray. Flies are a big problem for open wounds. I have never had a problem using it on the birds. I now own five Great Pyrenees and one Anatolian/Pyrenees cross. Nobody messes with their critters. The geese and ducks love the dogs and the geese keep the dogs in line. LGD's submit to their charges. I agree with the Neosporin...if you cannot bring the bird in on an enclosed porch or indoors, it is a real pain to use.

January

 

[RugenerGooser]

My whole flock gets FF and it does take time for them to adjust but they did. The geese being the last ones, but it's hilarious now to see them with FF all over their bills from pigging out. I found they like it drier than most do theirs. It takes trial and error to get it just where you like it and the flock will eat it. I haven't been on those 2 sites in a long time. I spend way to much time here and duck thread.

Okay Miss Lydia...You have again intrigued me. Can you send the link to me for those? Also on an unrelated topic...are you going to be selling any scovies or eggs in the spring?

Is Missy done yet?

January

 

[wlhtx]

That's a great article - thanks! Both of my girls that do have it, do not have severe cases. They just have some white drainage staining their fluffy butt feathers right now - nothing super gross or smelly yet. I just want to treat them before it gets any worse! I do add ACV to their water (though probably not as often as I should) and have just this week switched to feeding fermented feed, which I have also read has been shown to help get a bird back to optimal overall health. We haven't clipped the butt feathers yet because we are waiting on some nustock to arrive for topical application to the vent area (had to order it since I couldn't find any locally). I had never really known about it until recently when I was reading another thread about a flock that had gotten severely unhealthy and the owner was trying to bring them back to complete health using all natural means. The cool thing about it was that she counseled people on really going out and EXAMINING their animals. I did that, which is when I found the white draining for the first time. I just had never noticed it before...

I would love to have some working dogs to help with the herding process! Right now, it's just me, my husband, and oldest son with long sticks and usually a bucket of food, trying to get them where they need to go. I know that an outsider looking on would find this absolutely hilarious.

We have a couple of dogs - a Boxer and a South African Boerboel - but they are meant more for protection of the house rather than assistance with animals. (We live pretty far away from town and it would take local law enforcement 20 minutes to get to us in the event of an emergency...) The Boxer is old and crotchedy and has earned her right to sleep most of the day. The Boerboel still acts like a puppy at two years old, and we really have to watch him around the birds. When we got our first flock of chickens last year, we got 10 laying hens and a rooster. I let them out to free range and so long as we were out there, the dog was mostly fine - but if we turned away for just a couple minutes (and unfortunately we did), he figured out he could chase them and pick them off. We lost 5 birds before we decided to relocate their coop to the other end of the pasture where it is wide open. The dog stays around the house and I'd rather take my chances with wild predators at this point. Of which we've had none until a raccoon stuck his arm through my goose pen and tried to snatch the poor goose baby that is the subject of this thread! The funny thing is that the goose pen was right beside the house (which is admittedly beside a thicket of pine trees) where it was easier to care for them while they were still only 6 weeks old. Since then, we've relocated (and re-fortified) the goose pen down where the chickens are located. Our goats are down there too.

 

[wlhtx]

The two threads we were talking about are:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-horrors-anyone-want-to-follow-their-progress and

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/644300/fermenting-feed-for-meat-birds

They are both really long (I'm trying to read them both from the beginning), but entertaining and very informative!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Okay Miss Lydia...You have again intrigued me. Can you send the link to me for those? Also on an unrelated topic...are you going to be selling any scovies or eggs in the spring?

Is Missy done yet?

January

Do you mean spring of next year RG? have you not noticed it's almost summer. Are you planning a trip out east if so stop by I have plenty of eggs to share and I have 4 new ducklings hoping for all girls

 

[RugenerGooser]

The two threads we were talking about are:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-horrors-anyone-want-to-follow-their-progress and

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/644300/fermenting-feed-for-meat-birds

They are both really long (I'm trying to read them both from the beginning), but entertaining and very informative!

Thanks for that. I appreciate that. If you ever decide you want a Livestock Guardian Dog or dogs, let me know. Mine were taught from the time they were little to leave the birds alone. They also protect two donkeys. Pyrenees and Anatolians keep predators away from the flocks they are in charge of, but do not herd. I use a staff to herd the ducks and geese. I would have no problem helping you out with a dog or two in the future. I don't know where in east Texas you are, but the company my hubby is a project manager for is out of Denton and San Antonio.

Have an awesome day! Priveledged to make your acquaintance from one Texan to another!

 

[tillyita]

Sounds like you have a great setup - I've just ordered some new cages/runs for my dogs that are going to be used for the geese during breeding season. I hope the dogs don't mind the smell of geese when they finish!

Boxers are great gaurd dogs - but you do need to be very careful around livestock. My neighbours had one, until they came home one day to 5 dead lambs. Then they discovered they were bred for pig hunting! They were very lucky and managed to rehome her (they were going to put her down and the vet nurse adopted her - on a property with no stock).

How is your goose going? BTW what is Nustock - I don't think we have that here?

and yes - if the neighbours could see they would probably be rolling around on the floor - i've done a bit of that whatching people trying to move sheep without a dog, it can be most entertaining!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Sounds like you have a great setup - I've just ordered some new cages/runs for my dogs that are going to be used for the geese during breeding season. I hope the dogs don't mind the smell of geese when they finish! Boxers are great gaurd dogs - but you do need to be very careful around livestock. My neighbours had one, until they came home one day to 5 dead lambs. Then they discovered they were bred for pig hunting! They were very lucky and managed to rehome her (they were going to put her down and the vet nurse adopted her - on a property with no stock). How is your goose going? BTW what is Nustock - I don't think we have that here? and yes - if the neighbours could see they would probably be rolling around on the floor - i've done a bit of that whatching people trying to move sheep without a dog, it can be most entertaining!

http://www.nustock.com/

 

[wlhtx]

Thanks for that.  I appreciate that.  If you ever decide you want a Livestock Guardian Dog or dogs, let me know.  Mine were taught from the time they were little to leave the birds alone.  They also protect two donkeys.  Pyrenees and Anatolians keep predators away from the flocks they are in charge of, but do not herd.  I use a staff to herd the ducks and geese.  I would have no problem helping you out with a dog or two in the future.  I don't know where in east Texas you are, but the company my hubby is a project manager for is out of Denton and San Antonio.

Have an awesome day!  Priveledged to make your acquaintance from one Texan to another!

Yay! Always nice to meet a fellow Texan! We are pretty deep in east Texas, almost verging on the Louisiana border close to Shreveport - but my husband and I were up in the metroplex for years. The breeder we got our boerboel from is in Denton County.

I'm thinking after our boerboel is gone that I would love to get a livestock dog - like you say, something trained to guard the animals but that I don't have to always fear will decide to have a tasty chicken nugget snack one afternoon when I'm not looking... He isn't really open to other dogs coming around, but our boerboel is wonderful at keeping predators (and potential intruders) away. We have a reputation in the community for having the biggest, meanest looking dog around, which was my goal.

I think my nustock has finally arrived at the post office. I'm hoping that it lives up to the high praise I've seen others give it here on BYC... My goose's neck is healing - thankfully the flies seem to have been kept at bay (I'm assuming because they do spend their days out on our pond and all the head dunking seems to have kept it fairly well washed). But she's going to have some nasty scars if I can't find something to help her a little...

I keep calling her a "her" but really I have no idea of the sex of this bird... Being this is my first go round with geese, do you really have to wait until they reach sexual maturity to figure this out? It doesn't really matter enough for me to want to try to vent sex them...

 

[RugenerGooser]

Do you mean spring of next year RG? have you not noticed it's almost summer. Are you planning a trip out east if so stop by I have plenty of eggs to share and I have 4 new ducklings hoping for all girls

Yes ma'am, Miss Lydia. Next spring. Almost summer? Not here, my friend. It is in the nineties here. Fortunately, with the way we have things, the birds do not have problems with the heat. They have plenty of shade and lots of water to play in. And since they like their mud puddles to play in, I make their mud puddles for them. When are these girls gonna stop laying eggs?