In desperate need of help for my little gosling :(

[Fordblondi]

I received several birds from cackle hatchery on June 6th. Within 3 days I lost a duck unexpectedly. Then within one week my baby goose became unable to walk. I took him to the vet and spent $87 dollars to find out that he has myoplasma, heart murmur and some type of infection or something in his hock.. It has gotten bigger. The doctor told me with all three of these things he has a 10% chance. I have been giving him the antibiotic that the vet gave me along with Tylenol, he has grown and eating/drinking good. His hock keeps getting better.. Ive been so upset about all of this.

I have raised over 20 chickens, 4 guinea hens, 3 turkey and 2 ducks without illness issues and I purchased them else ware. Ive only lost 2 chickens from a predator-So I asked the vet if this is something that I could have done and he swears that the hatchery probably did not vaccinate them and he can guarantee that the first bird that died within 3 days had it.

Despite the doubts I love this little guy and ive been trying to help him get better but I dont think he is going to win this one.. Has anyone ever experienced this??

Also I called cackle hatchery about this issue since it happened within a week after sending them. They will not give me a refund or new birds and they would not let me speak to a manager. I believe this is all caused by them based on what my vet told me.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I am pretty sure most hatcheries do not test/vaccinate for mycoplasma. Which antibiotics is he being given? Hock swelling is one of the signs of mycoplasma. It can be highly fatal, but you can also have plenty of healthy birds that test positive for it. At this point I understand Cackle not offering a refund, because of the time passed and no certainty that it was sent to you with it. It is often transmitted by people (which is why it's good not to buy or handle baby poultry from a feed store that everyone can touch because some people might unknowingly bring the disease from their own flock and infect all the babies).

There are a lot of reasons a 3 day old chick/duckling/gosling might pass, so to "guarantee" the cause without testing is a bit cocky. Mycoplasma can transmit vertically through the eggs and babies can emerge as healthy carriers.

If your goose survives you will then need to decide what to do about your flock. That is, you should not sell eggs or babies or adults from your flock until you have it tested; and if you bring in more birds to a positive flock, be aware that you will be exposing them to the disease. If the gosling dies I would have it examined by the state lab, if possible. I personally would not take it to the second vet nor tell them what he said so you can get a fresh diagnosis.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

The foot deformity does not look like anything I've seen related to mycoplasma, btw.

 

[Fordblondi]

Thats because he has 3 different things going on is what the vet told me. A heart murmur, mycoplasma, and the hock swelling. The swelling of the hock is a seperate issue. All the birds I got from this place were seperate from my flock since day one. And i keep my hands washed when handling the seperate ones.

Ive raised a lot of birds and never lost any to ilnesses or any issues like this. This occured to the goose within the week or recieving them. The is the first time I ordered from this place. All my other birds are from different hatcherys.

I understand it can happen but I have had no issues until i ordered birds from this place. I saw someone elses post about this hatchery with theirs dropping over dead.

I paid $63 for these animals plus $87 for the vet cant do anymore. This hatchery has cost me a lot.

Anyways hes hanging in there eating and drinking well but the vet said that hock may continue to grow... its terrible..

 

[Sarkchick]

Sending prayers for the little one

 

[Miss Lydia]

Did the vet say anything about perosis or slipped achilles tenon? There is info here in this about it just scroll down till you come to it
https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/poultry-podiatry

Does the gosling seem to be in pain? that is what would be my worry is it being painful.
So very sorry your going through this I hope all your doingsbring the lil one through.

If your dissatisfied with this hatchery give them a review to your likely.