The African and Chinese goose thread!!

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clmschke said:
I hope someone can help me with a problem we're having with 2 African Geese: Our geese are about 13 weeks old, and two of them, Fred and George have started collapsing from what seems to be exhaustion. They run around and try to fly and then just collapse. Last night it was Fred. Now Fred is the one who had some sort of catastrophe when he/she was about 6 weeks old. We found him feet up near the garage and he could not stand up without falling over. After a night in the house with me feeding watermelon to him (it seemed as though it was the best way to get electrolytes to him without causing more stress) he eventually recovered about 70%.

Georgie collapsed this morning. As with Fred, I scooped him up and took him to the pen so he can be isolated and rest until he caught his breath. Georgie wasn't having anything of laying on the straw, so he got to hang out on my lap. After about 5 minutes, he recovered enough to put up his head and tuck in his wing. I noticed he was shaking a bit though. The rest of the flock came over and must have talked him into coming with them, because he squirmed and I put him down.

So questions: Has anyone had an experience like this? What more could we do for Fred and George? As our aim for the flock was to get 2 breeding pairs and put the rest in the freezer, we're sure Fred and George will be getting the short straw, but should we even wait another month? Any advice would be great.
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I dont know if this would help, but it cant hurt! How about adding some vitamins/ electrolytes to their water? Maybe it will help make them stronger and perhaps give them any nutrients they're low on? Ive heard of Nutri-drench (make sure you get the one for poultry, because they have products for other livestock) but I've used sav-a-chick in the past, just sprinkled in their water as a supplement. Here's what they look like:
BC009005.jpg
web_sav-a-chick.jpg
 
Thanks for the info. Let me give all the pertinent info on what we've been doing here. Perhaps there is something we've missed or should not be doing. We've used both Nutra-Drench and Save-A-Chick this last summer. It was hot and the grass was brown, so I thought a bit of nutrition in addition to their feed might be helpful. Our usual feed is the Naturewise MeatBird grower. The usual stuff was out, so I got the All Flock pellets last week. According to the label, the only difference is 2% in protein, with the meat bird having more.

They free-range on about 2 acres of mowed grass with a bit of tall grass grazing in the last few weeks. We've got 30 acres of CRP fields behind the house that they just found. If that had led to poisoning, I would think all of them would have the same symptoms. At night they are penned in the lower garage with straw and marsh grass bedding. They have two trays of food plus a 3 gallon waterer at night which is where we put the drench. We give them fresh water in 3 different spots during the day, and 4 pools of water -which are changed daily - to bathe and swim. They share the area with 4 Pekin ducks and 16 Bantam chickens. There used to be just 6 chickens, but two of our Banty Hens just hatched out another 10 chicks this week.

The cute thing about that is they chose not to use that nice, pretty nesting box I put in their coop, but made a nest right next to the goose pen behind the bales of straw. Perhaps the babies are keeping them up?

I'm thinking of slicing up some raw potatoes and putting them out to see if they would nibble on them. According to what I'm reading, they contain a good amount of niacin.
 
All flock is better suited than the meat bird feed. Nothing you are feeding needs that high of protein.

They could be bulled away from the feed pans and getting enough to eat. Feed in two or three pans to give everyone a chance to eat.

How often is the bedding changed? Straw and grass bedding will mold quickly.
 
We watch them to make sure they get some food when we put them in at night. We put them in their pen, sit and talk to them and make sure everyone gets food and water. Hubby jokes that I am telling them bedtime stories, but it's nice to get some quiet time at night to just sit and pretty much 'do' nothing but watch geese. We change the bedding weekly, adding a layer every day especially around the water bucket. I forgot to add we use Marth wood shave bedding under the water as it soaks up water better than the straw/marsh grass.
 
clmschke said:
We watch them to make sure they get some food when we put them in at night. We put them in their pen, sit and talk to them and make sure everyone gets food and water. Hubby jokes that I am telling them bedtime stories, but it's nice to get some quiet time at night to just sit and pretty much 'do' nothing but watch geese. We change the bedding weekly, adding a layer every day especially around the water bucket. I forgot to add we use Marth wood shave bedding under the water as it soaks up water better than the straw/marsh grass.
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You arent there all of the time and the stress from body language can add up and even in the best flocks there is some posturing at the feed pan. Always best to offer multiple sources.
 

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