Please help!

[chickybae]

Ok, so I have a young goose who is not wanting to stand or walk around, when I do get her to stand....well, she limps real bad and falls then stays put. All her buddies got eatin by a bob cat or a fox, could she be getting sick or dying from sadness/depression??? I love her and really want her to get better! I bought a gosling to help her, but she doesn't like it. I guess it's too small for her right now. But, idk what I can do, I felt around on her legs and feet and could feel no broken bones. She is the middle one in the picture with no eye.

 

[Miss Lydia]

She may have injured her leg but I would go ahead and start her on Brewers yeast or nutritional yeast both found at natural health food stores. 1 Tablespoon per cup of feed. Water fowl can have Vitamin B3 dif by showing lameness and neurological issue so get her started asap. and give the gosling and her a bit of time they will be buddies eventually. Keep her enclosed where she doesn't have to run around much until she has been on the BY or NY for a while if it's B3 dif she should show improvement at least by a week. I'd also let her have bath time in some nice warm water supervised so she can get weight off her leg and also strengthen her muscles.

I'm sorry for your loss I hope you have secured your pen or what ever you keep them in better so that bob cat doesn't get another chance.
By being enclosed I don't mean where she can walk but right now running probably won't help and may hurt especially if it a leg injury

 

[jtn42248]

Miss Lydia is right on about niacin. If your goose is deficient it could be causing a lot of what is going on.

Question though. You say in your first post that she is the one in the middle with "no eye". Did she lose an eye in the incident that killed your other geese? Was she born with a missing or blind eye? I am a little confused because if she lost an eye in the incident that resulted in the loss of the other geese it could be that she has not compensated for not being able to see on one side. This would confuse her and she would just try to sit it out. Also, birds are born with dual vision. The see far distance out of one eye and near out of the other. So if she just lost the eye she may be overcome by seeing only things up close or only far away.

 

[EvenLater]

If she's limping is it possible she injured her leg? The falling over and not wanting to stand or walking wobbly could be a Niacin deficiency but I'm not sure that would cause her to limp. Is she favoring just the one leg?

Edit to add: She could be sad at the loss of her friends, but I don't think she'd limp as a reaction. Animals tend to show sadness/depression in much the same way we would. Moping around, lack of energy, not wanting to eat or drink, sleepy, etc.

 

[chickybae]

She is kept in a pen with flat dirt ground. So, I don't know how she could have injured it. She was fine this morning, went out and layed down, and stayed there. It looks like both are hurting her, but her left side seems worse. She still wants to eat, I bring her grass and she gets excited.

 

[Miss Lydia]

She is kept in a pen with flat dirt ground. So, I don't know how she could have injured it. She was fine this morning, went out and layed down, and stayed there. It looks like both are hurting her, but her left side seems worse. She still wants to eat, I bring her grass and she gets excited.

Most likely niacin dif then which can be fixed by adding niacin to their diet, so get the BY or NY and begin adding it to her diet and also the newest gosling. Water fowl need much more niacin than is in chick feed. Also check the bottom of her feet for any signs of infection and swelling [bumble foot]

 

[Miss Lydia]

it is getting so hard to find "plain" niacin now I'd opt for either the Brewers yeast or Nutritional yeast. 1 Tab to 1 cup of feed till 10 to 12 weeks old.

 

[chickybae]

That could be the issue, as she only eats grass and any scratch I throw out for the chickens. Her main diet is grass.....and, her eye got plucked out when she was younger by a gander I had. He was too rough with the little girls.

 

[jtn42248]

That could be the issue, as she only eats grass and any scratch I throw out for the chickens. Her main diet is grass.....and, her eye got plucked out when she was younger by a gander I had. He was too rough with the little girls.

How old is she? Did she mate with any of the geese that got killed? Has she laid any eggs recently and if so do you know where and/or are you picking them up or leaving them for her? I ask these questions because one of my Toulouse females recently went broody and the day before she started sitting on her nest she would take a few steps and plop right down to the ground. It was all hormonal but I thought she was dying. Instead she presented me with 8 beautiful goslings. If she is old enough and the brooding/mating process had got to a certain point before the other geese were killed, it could be that, combined with other things, this is happening to her as well.

First, start adding some niacin to her diet as suggested by Miss Lydia.
Second, make certain that she has a safe place to be if she should want to build a nest. Check around her range area and make certain that there is not already a nest with or without eggs.
Third, keep her on a healthy goose diet...grass, occasional lettuce, melon, scratch for treats only.

She is going to need a companion (male or female) closer to her age than a little gosling or she may just give in to the aloneness she must be feeling.

Good luck and please keep us updated.

 

[Miss Lydia]

When you say young how young? Grass is staple in goose diet but also offer her a balanced diet of a feed like an all flock feed that you can give to all your flock especially the goslings you have they need to be on a balanced diet of grass/feed.Scratch doesn't have much nutritional value and can be given as a snack but shouldn't be only food other than grass they are getting especially when they are young and still growing.