Sebastopol goose not feeling well

[pedalgirl]

I have a 1 1/2 old Sebastopol goose Ginger who was acting great this morning, then this evening Fred her mate was calling for her but she would not answer. I found her standing in their pen, I gave her some lettuce and granny smith apple but she will not eat. She is drinking more water than usual and breathing just a little harder than normal. I separated her from the other geese for the night in case she is really sick. I have had buff geese do this before when they first start to lay eggs, but It is way out of season here in AZ to lay an egg.

The birds graze all day and have Mazuri waterfowl, Layeena pellet and crumble and 6 grain mixture to eat at night. They also get some lettuce for a treat every night.

I appreciate any thoughts on what can be wrong and or what other symptoms to look for. Thank you in advance for your assistance.

 

[The goose girl]

It may be eggs.

My goose went through two laying periods last year. One during spring that ended in the middle of June. Then she started laying again in late September. That last one lasted through November. The eggs were huge and double yolked.

That said, she apparently had something wrong with her laying. She died this summer due to a stuck egg. But from what I hear, a short laying period in fall is not unusual for geese.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

ddd

The birds graze all day and have Mazuri waterfowl, Layeena pellet and crumble and 6 grain mixture to eat at night. They also get some lettuce for a treat every night.

PICK ONE, but dont feed all three of these together.
Mazuri waterfowl, Layeena pellet and crumble

Layena isnt needed during non breeding season, but is fine to start 30 days prior and through breeding season

Mazuri maintenance is fine (dont add the other two base feeds to it)

Crumble (you didnt say what kind, but is not needed in combination with the other two above feeds)

6 grain mix (is this scratch?) most scratch blends are mostly corn (corn is good in extreme cold but not needed by sebbies otherwise)

Try a whole oat in place of the scratch


She could have gotten into something toxic or rotting vegetation to make her "off"

 

[pedalgirl]

Thank you for you reply Celtic Oaks. The crumble is layeena also. I feed 6 grain which is Barley, white wheat, red wheat, rye, oats and triticale, they look like oatmeal, no hulls, just flat. I do not feed them scratch. I feed this mixture because I house the ducks & geese together at night and they eat together. The 7 geese 2 Sebastopol, 2 buff & 3 chineese pick out the Mazuti. Mazuri is very expensive so I mix it with other feeds. I tried the whole oats about a year ago, mixed it in with the other feed and it was always left in the feeder in the morning, only the chickens and annoying doves would eat it. What other feed could I try?

I checked on her throughout the night, she semed to sleep fine, but is still not eating this morning. She is just standing around her pen, she keeps walking over to one of the community nest houses and looking in. I don't see a bulge that I normally do when one is laying an egg, but I don't know what to think. She is starting to call to fred (softly) All the other geese seem fine, they run together all day if they got into bad food I might have more than one not feeling good? She did fall in an irrigation ditch a few days ago but I checked her over and she seemed fine at the time.

Thanks again for your reply I appreciate your assistance.

 

[pedalgirl]

Thank you for you reply Goose Girl, last year she did not lay (to young?) So I expect her to this year, maybe the egg theory is correct (I hope). Fred would be lost without her. Our weather has been really hot 110 to the mid 90's even the ducks have not laid eggs for the last few months, but have recently started to show signs of building nests.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Does she have a pool she can get in and soak, sometimes just soaking can help them to lay an egg if thats what it is.

 

[pedalgirl]

Hi Miss Lydia,
I have 4 plastic ponds out for the birds, she has been in one off and on this morning.

 

[pedalgirl]

I found a few other symptoms today. Her feet are not as dark orange they are on the pale side, more pale than Fred her mates. I know she was eating grass & her lettuce snack on Thursday night and did see her eating grass on Friday morning. I know not eating many greens when nesting can cause their feet to turn pale. She also has a liquid stool, I am thinking because she is only drinking water not eating solids. Thank you for your input it is really appreciated.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I found a few other symptoms today. Her feet are not as dark orange they are on the pale side, more pale than Fred her mates. I know she was eating grass & her lettuce snack on Thursday night and did see her eating grass on Friday morning. I know not eating many greens when nesting can cause their feet to turn pale. She also has a liquid stool, I am thinking because she is only drinking water not eating solids. Thank you for your input it is really appreciated.

If you can pick up some Poultry vitamins that may help, one is called Poultry Nutri drench you can get it at TSC. If your thinking she may have eaten something toxic there is a sticky at the top of the goose thread that explains what to do. I hope you can figure it out and get her help.

 

[The goose girl]

If it's a stuck egg she'll probably need surgery. From what I've read medication rarely works on birds.

My goose had a large shellless egg stuck in her ovary. There was no way to see or feel it, but it shoved in an x-ray. I had no idea she was still laying since she'd started molting. What I noticed was her eating less, but it didn't alarm me until she went completely off her feed. She sometimes didn't eat much, so it wasn't really that unusual. Now I'm thinking she'd had egg problems regularly but had managed to lay them. By the time she stopped eating the egg had probably been stuck for more than two weeks (counting from the last egg she laid), and she had developed an ovary infection. She had also lost a lot of weight, so she was not in the best shape for surgery. She never really started eating on her own again, and after five weeks of enteral feeding she died.

If I had known then what I know now, I would have rushed to the vet as soon as I noticed her eating less. That said, I know vets are a costly affair. I only had the one goose and would have given anything for her to survive. If I'd had several geese I probably would have had her put to sleep. My vet has been more than fair - I ended up paying only $1,550 for surgery, x-rays, hospitalization, medication, feed, and more than 30 visits including several weekend consultations. They gave me at least a 50% discount.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for your Ginger.