My geese look awful!

[Gooseypoo]

We have two Embden geese. This is their first year, they started laying in February or March.

They look awful. Their feathers are tattered and constantly dirty looking (last year they always looked clean, even when they got into dirty water), their breasts are plucked with a big "V" of down showing, and they have pluck marks on their heads from mounting each other (we just have the two, no gander).

They sleep in a protected horse stall in our barn at night, next to the stall housing our three ducks. They have a fenced-in area that they share with the ducks, but once the grass started growing we let them out to roam the property. They only get let in when they want to use their nest (which is behind the barn door--they won't nest anywhere else). We don't have a pond, but they have access to a wet area that is deep enough to bathe in. When it gets too dry in a month or so we will go back to filling up their kiddie pool daily. The fenced-in area was grassy last year but muddy this year (since the ducks destroyed it). We moved the fence the other day to encompass some more grassy area so they aren't constantly in mud (they had two large islands of matted hay that they sat on to keep dry before we moved the fence).

They eat Purina full flock pellets with the ducks, to which we add some brewer's yeast. They get egg shells for calcium, which they eat greedily when they need it. They also get treats of kale, broccoli stems, cabbage, apple and veggie peels, melon rinds and other kitchen scraps. They spend most of the day wandering around the yard eating grass and messing with anything they can find to play with.

As I said, they look awful (to me). I had been thinking that it is the season, but I went to a farm the other day and watched a flock of pristine Embdens grazing around the property, so it seems it's just ours. And the patchiness of their feathers seems to be getting worse, not better. I noticed some patchiness around the eyes of one of them that I didn't notice last week. And all their body feathers are old and are constantly dirty.

I suspect this is nutritional as last year they looked great even when they were splashing in mucky water (the dirt and mud would just roll off them). Am I missing something here? Is there something we should be giving them that they're not getting? Why do my goosies look so bad??

I'll try to get some pictures to give you an idea of what I'm talking about...

 

[Gooseypoo]

Here's some images of their feathers:

Dirty goose. No matter what, they're always dirty now, even with clean water and lots of grass.

No feathers, just down.

Head feathers ripped out from mating behavior.

Ratty, tattered feathers. They don't seem to be molting (neither do our ducks, for that matter...)

 

[Gray Farms]

Its just breeding season. Everybody's geese look rough right now. My Sebastopols look like they got in a fight with a lawnmower. The next molt will fix that. If you'll keep their pool filled and clean they'll stay much cleaner. Are you sure they are both females? The feather pulling on the chest is normal. But two females pulling head feathers off each other sounds odd.

 

[Gray Farms]

They need to molt that's for sure. The breast looks normal for geese that are nesting/laying. The wing feathers look chewed. I've seen a lot of chewed feathers like this with chickens that have been chewed by mice.

 

[Gooseypoo]

@Gray Farms They are definitely females. We get two eggs a day (though it has slowed down lately; the ducks too). They mount each other and the mounter grabs the head/neck feathers of the mounted like I assume a male would. Our ducks do it to each other too, even though they have a gander. I don't know if it's learned behavior from them or just natural mating urges in absence of a male.

Feathers chewed by mice?? I didn't know that was a thing! It is certainly possible. We also had a pretty rough winter and they still wanted to bathe every chance they got, even when the water froze on their feathers. I figured a lot of the tattering came from them chewing ice bits off their feathers.

When should they be molting?

 

[Gray Farms]

A male duck is a drake not a gander. No offence meant just my OCD lol. I've never heard of two geese mounting each other but chicken hens do it in the absence of a rooster. So why not in geese as well. The chewed feathers could very well be from them chewing the ice off as well. But it very much looks like mice chewing to me. The mice chew in the night while the bird is asleep and make nests with the feathers. I suppose if you really wanted to be sure you could put a camera on them at night.

Molting should be coming soon depending on what area/climate your in. It generally closely follows breeding season. My Sebastopols just finished molting so they are just starting to get their new feathers is. Thus the "battled a lawnmower" look lol.

The dirty feathers could also be a problem with the oil gland. If she isn't producing enough oil to coat her feathers then the dirty water will stain her feathers. You might check that her oil gland isn't plugged. Its on her back at the base of the tail. Give it a gentle squeeze and see if you get some oil.

 

[Gooseypoo]

A male duck is a drake not a gander.

Yes, I know. I flaked and wrote the wrong thing as I have geese on the brain. It's a gander that we don't have for the geese. We have a one drake for the two ducks.

It wouldn't surprise me if it's mice. What HAS surprised me is that, for all those feathers that are missing, there are very few lying around anywhere, so that would make sense. I had wondered where the heck they could have gone! We have mice, shrews, red squirrels and chipmunks in the barn.

I am in Maine. It only just started getting warm here. Is there any extra nutrition that would help them? I try to keep them out as much as possible during the day so that they can fill up on grass rather than pellets. Unfortunately they demand to be let back in when they want to use their nest (they won't build one anywhere else) and will sometimes stay in there for hours taking turns.

I'll go out and check on the oil gland now. I was actually wondering about that.

 

[cottontail farm]

Don't feel bad, the ladies of my African trio look terrible too! Everything you described with your Embden is happening with my gals. I am hoping this will pass soon.

 

[Gooseypoo]

I caught one and checked her oil gland and it was oily. So I guess maybe it's just that their feathers are so worn and tattered?

 

[Gray Farms]

Sounds like it. Its just time for a molt. When you do see them starting to molt some extra protein in their feed will help them regrow feathers as feathers are made of mostly protein.