Sebastopol gander with poor feather quality

[Glendaroost]

Hello, I have a 2.5 year old Sebastopol gander (curly breasted) who has never had the best density of feathers, but as the years have gone on he has developed fairly wispy/almost bare areas on his back and shoulders (shoulders looking slightly pink now and barely any cover). He used to love swimming in his pond with his mate but he has avoided swimming for a few months now and has a dirty chest which makes me think his waterproofing is affected. His preen gland looks to be fairly normal and no obvious signs of infection or impaction. As far as I am aware there have been no other changes in health. Is it possible that he has poor genetics as he has always had poor feathering on his back or is there anything I can do? I am worried that it is getting worse though. He is on goose breeder pellets although he will eat layers pellets too, plus free access to grass and the occasional lettuce/veg. I will try to get photos if helpful

 

[Goosebaby]

You could boost his protein intake, feathers are just protein mostly. If that doesn’t help it could just be his genetics.