Help with a gosling

[zazouse]

I have about a month old Chinese gosling hatched and raised with it's parents , about an hour ago i heard the parents honking in distress but when i went to look where they were i figured they were just fussing at a turtle or something so i went about my business, when i got off my tractor i still heard them , went and took a look to find them in the same place, then i saw the baby, it was layed out like this,


It is drooling, beak shaking like a tremor, feels very hot on his feet and beak and it can't get his feet under himself to get up even if i tuck his feet under him he still goes right back in the same position, i am thinking mabe a snake bit but with all it's fuzz i can't find a bit mark.

Has anyone seen this happen before? could it be a snake bit, they work the ponds and mud puddles are totally free ranged
They get flock raiser free choice but mostly eat grasses and whatever they find in that mud.
there are no poisons for them to get into.
they were wormed a week ago for 3 days with safe guard.
The baby was fine all day so what ever happened just happened, it is very alert not in distress , just having tremors.

I have put him and my others in the green house so they will stop freaking out over the baby

Thanks for looking.
ZAZ

 

[Gatsbysmum]

Oh my god.... My Indian Runner duck is going through the exact same thing right now. :/ I wish I could give you more advice, but I'm looking for advice myself.

 

[zazouse]

I just went and checked on the little one and he has passed but i would still like to know if any of you have seen this before and have you ever had a goose or gosling surcome to a snake bit so fast and do you know what kind it was.
we have copper heads, water moccasins and Coral snakes, not bad i have only seen a hand full of copper heads, a few coral snakes and a few water moccasins in the 40 years i have owned this land but my dogs have killed 5 chciken snakes in the last month so snakes are on the move.

 

[Gatsbysmum]

I'm sorry for your loss.

Anyway, I don't live in an area with poisonous snakes and have never kept geese. Just ducks and chickens (though I've always wanted geese). My duck is just having similar leg issues and this is the third day since we found him injured. Still no clear leads to what happened. He still doesn't have any obvious feeling or movement in his legs, and we found him with his legs out behind him just like your gosling, but today he has started shifting his weight from side to side and try to push himself up using his beak, so we are hoping he is at least gaining feeling..

 

[zazouse]

I'm sorry for your loss.

Anyway, I don't live in an area with poisonous snakes and have never kept geese. Just ducks and chickens (though I've always wanted geese). My duck is just having similar leg issues and this is the third day since we found him injured. Still no clear leads to what happened. He still doesn't have any obvious feeling or movement in his legs, and we found him with his legs out behind him just like your gosling, but today he has started shifting his weight from side to side and try to push himself up using his beak, so we are hoping he is at least gaining feeling..

glad he is doing better, mine went very fast, with him trimbling and all i a thinking snake for sure, i am going to process him in the morning and see if i can locate a bite.

 

[Gatsbysmum]

Thanks. Yeah, from other accounts I've read with birds losing control of their legs has usually ended in death within the first day, so I'm really scared for my little guy. :/ hopefully he continues to improve.

 

[zazouse]

I haven't lost a goose ever so seeing this kinda threw me off, been doing alto of cleaning and was moving railroad ties about 150 foot away so with the dogs and my nosie peafowl with me and the ties between me and the geese i could see a copper head making it across the yard without being noticed, come to think of it my peafowl were rubber necking around the utility pole and it is pretty growed up so perhaps that is what they saw, all i know is when i called my dogs to that area i found the gosling they did not alert on anything so the baby musta got bitten elsewhere .

My Annie was very concerned about her charges, she loves keeping an eye on them even tho mam and dad will goose here if she gets to close.



Funny how the geese new their baby was passed they walked right out of the greenhouse and left it, which they would never have done had it been alive, wouldn't even leave it where i found it, just made a terrible fuss till i finely listened to them.

 

[Gatsbysmum]

Aw, they sound like such good parents. They must be heartbroken. My animals are very much the same way with my duckies, and I'm sure one of my dogs would have alerted me sooner if they had been outside. The rest of his flock were quacking like crazy at the front door, and that's what originally made me realize that Gatsby was missing.

 

[Gatsbysmum]

Also, I really can't blame you for not noticing earlier. My neighbors down the road have peafowl and we can hear them from a half mile away!

 

[zazouse]

I was caught up in the moment, trying to get a fence up, i really should have known better but i could not hear them after i got on the tractor so i did not know they were still upset, it would not have mattered he passed and i figured he would or i would have had to put him down. my geese are wonderful parents, i only let them sit a few eggs and sold the rest as i do not want my flock back up past 30, way to many to have when we have a hard winter cause i have other kinds of fowl also and i got the feed bill 1/10 of what it was a year ago and plan on keeping it that way till the market comes back up for fowl in my area. very easy to get into the 100's in one season

these are guinea eggs collect in 4 days time, 346 i believe