Pulling Feathers Has Stopped

[goosemama]

Am grateful to report that the pecking and pulling feathers by my two new Pilgrim goslings has stopped. Have 2 ganders and 2 young geese only about 2 to 3 weeks old. The two ganders had each other bald on top and down their necks from nibbling one another. I bought a wire dog kennel at the tractor store to put them on grass since it was warm enough. I put them back in their basement brooder every night but they spend all day on grass along w/their grower feed & water.. The bald spots are now white with new feathers and they are looking healthy and happy and I haven't observed any pecking of each other. Think they needed more space and the ability to graze. Just this week we were given a used cyclone 8x4 kennel which we set up on the lawn. I can move it every day to a new patch of grass and this has seemed to do the trick and stop the pecking problem. So guess they felt crowded. Hope that's the end of it.

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
If you forget to move the kennel and they use up all the graze they will return to grazing on each other. They like to graze, they need to graze and IMHO it is more important than the space issue. I know it is the start of summer but have you figured out what they will graze on when the snow flies? If not too deep they will dig through snow to graze. If you can get some nice green hay stored they will settle for that usually. ~gd

 

[goosemama]

Thanks for the grazing tip. I do move the cyclone fence pen every day and we have a big area for them to use. Didn't know they would need hay for grazing in the winter - most of the books I've been reading say poultry pellets, but that is a good idea to try and locate some hay now for them to have on hand.