HELP! Sick gosling?

[JasmineFlores]

So recently I’ve purchased two goslings at my nearest Atwoods probably a week or so ago on the same day . The employees did not specify or know how old they were but looked to be a few days I assume. I bought a African Chinese swan and a regular white Chinese swan goose. A few days went by and they were drinking and eating fine until one day the Chinese gosling (white but in this case yellow since it’s a gosling) seemed very drowsy and refuses to eat or drink. I’ve been paying closer attention to them as days have passed and so far he shakes his head an awful lot, rarely eats and drinks occasionally. His brother on the other hand seems very very energetic and just fine. Today I was shocked to compare their sizes and come to find they are very very different. The Chinese has very droopy wings, half shut eyelids, wobbles on his two feet and doesn’t walk around much and has his head tucked in all the time. The other one is almost twice his size and doing great! I’ve been feeding them chick starter with grit and regular water deep enough for them to stick their entire bills in to clean them out etc. I have no idea what happened to him? It’s been days and hasn’t gotten any better, in fact seems to get worse. I can tell he’s fighting for his life as he forces himself to eat and drink but he usually ends up shaking his head violantly or just stopping. I have no idea what’s going on but I’m looking for some feedback ASAP as I’m really rooting for his life and willing to try anything to save him. Please help

 

[Cadence A Waller]

I wish that I could be more helpful but I know nothing about goslings. If you don’t get a lot of answers on this forum then made you should try posting in the goose forum. I hope that your goslings get better.

 

[Pyxis]

I got tagged on your Intro thread and responded there, but I thought I'd copy and paste it here too so you'd definitely see it

Hi, and welcome to BYC! I'm very sorry to hear your gosling isn't doing well.

Chick starter isn't really made with waterfowl in mind, so it is definitely possible that it could be a vitamin deficiency. I would pick up the Nutri Drench and add it to their water. You may also be able to find something called Vitamin B Complex. I know Tractor Supply carries it, I don't know if Atwoods does. That can be given right to the little guy, a few drops a day right into his beak, being careful to let him swallow it on his own so he doesn't aspirate. You could do the same with the Nutri Drench, but the B Complex is more powerful.

Additionally, if you can find a Flock Raise or All Flock type food, I'd switch them to that. Or if you can find Naturewise Meat Bird, that is what I feed my ducklings and goslings and they do very well on it.

Can you also give us more info on their brooder? What temperature you are keeping it, what you are using for bedding, etc, just in case?

Also, just as a little note, the feed store told you the wrong names for the breeds The yellow one is probably a white Chinese. The other one, well, there's no such thing as an "African Chinese". He is probably either a brown Chinese, which is the same as the white Chinese, just a different color, or an African, which is an entirely different breed.