Sebastopol Geese Thread !!!!!!!!!! SHOW YOUR PICS !!!!!!!!!!

[SummerChick]

Very pretty geese! And yard as well

 

[JosieChick]

Hey all,

So both my grey curly sebbie babies have one wing tip that the primaries are coming in sticking straight up in the air and slightly out from their body??? I feel like all my babies are a disaster. If I get pics tomorrow morning can someone help me determine if it is TWT or angel wing. I really don't truly understand how to identify the difference. I also don't know if it is too late to wrap at this point? I want to catch them and take pics and then have someone tell me if I should wrap or not before I put them back out because they are murder to catch. Anyone going to be available tomorrow morning-early afternoon? It is so hot here, I don't want to stress them by keeping them in all day.

Thanks!!

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Josie, I am up and rolling and will check back for pictures later. I will also try and describe and show photos of TWT and AW so you can see the difference.

 

[Goose and Fig]

Josie- don't know if its any consolation, but I have been freaking out as well. Every baby has gone through this "oh my god its angel wing!", only to come in fine. I even had an adult going through moult that I thought had developed TWT, but it was nothing. Just those big heavy feathers coming in.

 

[JosieChick]

Ok, here is the disaster. They ate mazuri waterfowl starter until their primaries started to come in and then were switched to mazuri waterfowl maintenance. Problem is that mazuri had two huge recalls out here and most of the waterfowl feeds are on back order forever now. So I slowly switched them over to nutrena flock raiser which is 18% min protein vs mazuri's 14% min. I thought mazuri was 16% min but I just reread the label and was incorrect. We have no grass. Our area is in a serious drought and the grass is burnt to a crisp. They are hungry and ask to be fed several times a day so they have been getting a lot more processed feed then I would care to give them but when the come and hollar at me I don't know what else to do for them. Should I try soaking chopped hay? I can get alfalfa and timothy hay in chopped or cubed form and could try soaking it? I have tried putting the horses hay flakes out but they just drag it everywhere and don't eat it. Any advice would be much appreciated. These photos were taken while they were loose but I can catch them if need be for better pics. When they started to feather in the curlies broke a lot of primaries off and had to regrow them? Is that normal or should that have been my first hint at a problem? They seem like they have a terrible time holding their wings up and constantly adjust them by overshooting and throwing them up onto their backs and then letting them slide back down. The two smooth sebbies didn't have any of these problems.

P.S. There is a lady 2 hours south of me that is selling her flock of sebbies and she has birds from cottage rose!!! You should see them, I am dying to go down but DH just gave me that look....they are stunning birds though....I think the heat is pushing a lot of people to sell their animals right now. There is no grass. It costs a lot to feed these guys when there is nothing else for them to graze on and she has 30 of them so I am sure they are eating into her wallet. I would love to have a pair...

 

[pips&peeps]

That's just a phase they go through. Some of the first primaries don't curl up and "drop" until they are really long.

You can pull them if it bothers you, I have done it. They will grow in new feathers over the summer that are usually curlier.


ETA: I would be interested in seeing the ladies geese that are for sale. I need to replace MAMA. I have shipping boxes, etc.

 

[JosieChick]

Pipsandpeeps- It is normal for the primaries to stick straight out from the body, perpendicular and sometimes straight up in the air!? This is my first year with babies feathering in so I am stressing big time. Sometimes they look like airplanes with their wings sticking straight out.

Here is the ad for that lady on craigslist-http://joplin.craigslist.org/grd/3143887752.html I don't know if she ships or not? Maybe....maybe, you could pick out a goose and I could down to pick it up and ship it for you and accidentally buy a pair myself!

I assume you would want to wait to ship until it cools off though. It is going to be 110 the end of this week here in miserable ol Kansas.

 

[pips&peeps]

Yep, the feathers aren't twisted normally at this stage and they stick out like that. They can grow longer and stick out a few inches from the tail too. I generally catch my babies and pull those out, because it bugs me too!!!!

Angel wing is when the end of the wing or phalange turns out at the joint and sticks out from the body at a 90 degree angle. The bone in the joint fuse like that because of excessive weight and the wings constantly sticking out like that during the growth of the gosling.

What you have there is just feathers that are a bit twisted but not quite enough for them to fall and lay like the rest of the feathers do.

Twisted wing tip is when the very tip of the wing twists out away from the body, not the joint, but the tip. If you check your goose's wings you can see how small and delicate the tips of the wings are. You will also see how large the feathers are that come out of those small little tips and you will realize how it happens.

I really need to get a nice quality goose to replace my MAMA and have been searching since she passed. I did find the craigslist ad and will see if I can get some photos.

I have lots of shipping boxes for either one or two geese. (omnis and swans)

We had weather in the upper 90's all last week which is really hot for us. I lost a silver laced dotte that I was going to use to make silver laced ameraucanas with. We have cooled a bit this week. We have been having severe thunderstorms for the past couple of days. One rolled through here this morning at about 6 and woke everyone up!!!! At least the grass is still green because of the rain.

 

[Muggsmagee]

Can the Sebbies with twisted wing be shown? Also, how do you go about pulling the feathers? All at once? A few feathers each day? I have a few goslings that have pulled their own feathers out and they bled a ton (the wing feathers are just so full of blood right now). Would pulling the feathers be better than taping the wing?

 

[Muggsmagee]

I love the raised beds ya'll have! It's the only way I will garden anymore. It is so much easier to maintain, water, weed, crop rotate, etc. My poultry are not allowed anywhere near my garden...I wouldn't have anything left by the time they were done with it! We have 26 beds and too many berry bushes and vines for them to get into. On the plus side, I swear the only reason I grow lettuce is for the Saxony ducks and Sebbies. :0)

This is just a portion of the garden: