Sick young Embden goose, please HELP!

Sunny Side Up

Count your many blessings...
11 Years
Mar 12, 2008
4,730
270
294
Loxahatchee, Florida
We love our geese as if they were people, and so are really concerned about this young goose who seems to be ailing. It's an 18-week-old Embden who lives with its parents and 6 other siblings. This morning when I went to let the family out of their pen for their typical day of free-ranging we noticed that one of the youngsters had his neck tucked in close, as if he were feeling cold. I didn't think much of it, and went on to do the other morning chicken chores. Later my son said "I don't think that Big Bird is feeling well, I picked him up, he was easy to catch". That did not sound typical at all, usually these birds don't like to be held.

I found Big Bird sitting in the driveway looking very sorry for himself. His vent & bottom are clean, dry & fluffy. His eyes are bright & clear. The only thing I can see is a slight bit of clear discharge coming from his nostrils. The feathers on his chest are a bit dirty, probably from the discharge dripping there. And there is a very slight sound of whistle-y wheezing when he breathes.

He has found himself a place to sit under a picnic table and is staying there while his family continues to travel around the yard.

Please tell me what I can do for Big Bird! He is of course our popular favorite, the only one with a name so far, having distinguished himself by having a small black spot on his head so we can tell him apart from the rest.

Most of my chicken flock has been dealing with an upper respiratory ailment which I've been treating with oral antibiotics. The geese don't interact much with the chickens, but of course share the yard with them. Can geese catch germs from chickens, or are they species-specific?

How can I help Big Bird get better, and how can I keep his family from getting this same illness?
 
Okay, I can get Tylan 50 at my feed store, how much should a young goose get, and how often? And where in all their poofiness do you inject them?

Big Bird is still acting puny, staying apart from his family and looking very sorry for himself. But there wasn't any more discharge coming from his nostrils, which we take as a good sign.

Thank you for your advice, I'm going out now to buy the Tylan 50 and a syringe. Please let me know the suggested dosage, thank you!
 
Thank you, Chickenzoo, for your replies by PM. Your recommendation for my 9 lb goose of 1/2 cc of Tylan 50 twice a day lines up well with the recommendation by a local vet (one with lots of poultry experience) of 1 cc once a day for a week. I am posting this info here in case anyone else is following this thread and wants to know this info. I am going to give Big Bird his first dose now. He still is acting puny and very sorry for himself, but the discharge seems to have stopped. He still sounds a bit wheezy when he breathes, but it doesn't sound bad in his chest.

Dear Lord, please provide healing for Big Bird!
 
I hope Big Bird gets better!
fl.gif
 
Hey sunny, did you find out where to inject the tylan? and can it aso be given by mouth. I have an emden gander he's 3 years old, never been sick but like to be prepared. Thanks and hope big bird is feeling better by tomorrow when you let him out.
 
My 11 lb. goose Keld just had some kind of lung infection. He was wheezy and short of breath, still and quiet. The vet gave him Doxycyclin vet. 100 mg., one pill a day for 10 days, and he's well and happy, jumping around, flapping his wings and acting like a little terminator again now. He thought the pills were a treat, so I had no problems administering them.
 
Quote:
I felt between his "shoulders" at the base of his neck to find a place to take a pinch of skin. It was tricky since geese are so feathery. But I managed to grab a pinch of skin and stuck the needle down into the pinch, between where my fingers were holding up the skin.

I wonder if it would work just as well to inject into the web at the front of the wing. The skin is easier to see there, but would the Rx circulate into his system as effectively?

Goose girl, the vet I consulted offered a prescription of some sort of pills, but when I asked about the Tylan 50 he said it would work just as well. Since the feed store with the Tylan was much closer than the vet's office I decided to use that instead.

Big Bird is sleeping in a box in the laundry room tonight. He drank some water, didn't eat much if at all. Still very quiet, softly wheezing, no discharge.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom