The African and Chinese goose thread!!

[clmschke]

The late, great George and Fred..from right to left.

An update to George and Fred. George died Tuesday before last. I came home to find him collapsed near the lilac bush. I held him for a bit then he convulsed and died. Fred was found dead last Wednesday night in front of their pen. Both were doing the same thing; they'd run, flap their wings for a bit, then stand there winded. If they were humans, I'd swear they had asthma. Mucous would come out of their noses and mouths, and they'd be coughing with a barking sound. I'd like to thank everyone who helped us try to make sure it was not something we were doing wrong. From what we read and discussed, it was nothing we did.

Incidentally, if you ever read the label on Nutradrench, it does not contain niacin. We found a drench at the local farm store that did. We gave the flock the prescribed dose in their water every evening. We switched to All Flock from the Meatbird for that 2% reduction in protein. The birds don't seem to have a preference. We put out 4 sources of food spread around the area where they spend the most time every day so there's no competition and fresh water is near each food source.

The remaining 6 are all looking good. Percy and Sissy seem to be the ones missing Fred and George the most. Sissy will perform a search as soon as she's let out in the morning. She will honk, walk around in a circle looking everywhere. As she is the one that was hatched from the same clutch of eggs, we watch her closely. She does not seem to have the collapsing issue. She does have one malformed eye, though. She keeps with the flock pretty well. Percy, shown below looks to be our lead male. With them hitting the 4 month age, they are getting to be quite boisterous.

 

[Miss Lydia]

The late, great George and Fred..from right to left.

An update to George and Fred. George died Tuesday before last. I came home to find him collapsed near the lilac bush. I held him for a bit then he convulsed and died. Fred was found dead last Wednesday night in front of their pen. Both were doing the same thing; they'd run, flap their wings for a bit, then stand there winded. If they were humans, I'd swear they had asthma. Mucous would come out of their noses and mouths, and they'd be coughing with a barking sound. I'd like to thank everyone who helped us try to make sure it was not something we were doing wrong. From what we read and discussed, it was nothing we did.

Incidentally, if you ever read the label on Nutradrench, it does not contain niacin. We found a drench at the local farm store that did. We gave the flock the prescribed dose in their water every evening. We switched to All Flock from the Meatbird for that 2% reduction in protein. The birds don't seem to have a preference. We put out 4 sources of food spread around the area where they spend the most time every day so there's no competition and fresh water is near each food source.

The remaining 6 are all looking good. Percy and Sissy seem to be the ones missing Fred and George the most. Sissy will perform a search as soon as she's let out in the morning. She will honk, walk around in a circle looking everywhere. As she is the one that was hatched from the same clutch of eggs, we watch her closely. She does not seem to have the collapsing issue. She does have one malformed eye, though. She keeps with the flock pretty well. Percy, shown below looks to be our lead male. With them hitting the 4 month age, they are getting to be quite boisterous.

I am so sorry to hear about George and Fred. That has to be hard.

So thankful to hear everyone else is doing good.

 

[Jen C]

So sorry to hear about George and Fred. Hopefully all of your other birds will continue to do well. If they were coughing and had mucous coming out of their noses/mouths then it sounds like they had some sort of respiratory infection. There are quite a few different types of respiratory infections and waterfowl are often quite resistant, but not always. Some of them can kill rather quickly while others can linger over a long period of time and either eventually get better or eventually the birds succumbs.

 

[Going Bhonkers]

The late, great George and Fred..from right to left.

I'm so sorry to hear that we lost George & Fred . Clmschke, I hope you find comfort in knowing that you gave them a loving home while they were here.

 

[Iain Utah]

Very sorry about George and Fred.

 

[clmschke]

Thanks, we miss the two little honkers, but are just still baffled by their sickness. They are part of a flock of 8 geese; one hatched with them and the other 5 were from Ideal. If this was some sort of infection, wouldn't all of them have it? They are housed in the same pen, eat the same food, drink the same water, swim in the same pools, eat the same grass. The other 6 are fine.

We racked our brains for the last 2 weeks trying to figure out what it is and what to do. We looked up online to see where the nearest poultry vet is and that is in Baraboo, some 75 miles away. To take them there would be a considerable stress on them (well, not as much as death but who knows?

) Oh I don't know. It's been a difficult week.

It's like watching "the 6th Sense" again and asking yourself all those questions that you forgot during the movie....

 

[Going Bhonkers]

Thanks, we miss the two little honkers, but are just still baffled by their sickness. They are part of a flock of 8 geese; one hatched with them and the other 5 were from Ideal. If this was some sort of infection, wouldn't all of them have it? They are housed in the same pen, eat the same food, drink the same water, swim in the same pools, eat the same grass. The other 6 are fine.

We racked our brains for the last 2 weeks trying to figure out what it is and what to do. We looked up online to see where the nearest poultry vet is and that is in Baraboo, some 75 miles away. To take them there would be a considerable stress on them (well, not as much as death but who knows?

) Oh I don't know. It's been a difficult week.

It's like watching "the 6th Sense" again and asking yourself all those questions that you forgot during the movie....

Maybe it was something biological, some deficiency they developed while in the egg, and their hatch-mate happened to develop stronger? I imagine that you're monitoring the rest of the flock closely. Lets hope they stay a healthy bunch!!!

 

[Jen C]

Respiratory infections often do not affect the entire flock. Some individuals will just have a natural immunity to them. Also, waterfowl are prone to getting fungal respiratory infections which are not contagious from bird to bird.

 

[clmschke]

Respiratory infections often do not affect the entire flock. Some individuals will just have a natural immunity to them. Also, waterfowl are prone to getting fungal respiratory infections which are not contagious from bird to bird.

So for future reference. What is the treatment for a respiratory infection?

 

[Jen C]

So for future reference. What is the treatment for a respiratory infection?

Treatment varies depending on what you type of infection you are dealing with. Bacterial infections require antibiotics. Different infections may respond better to different antibiotics but in general Baytril and Tylan are often the most effective. For fungal infections if caught early treating with oxine mist can be a life saver (see this thread for more info https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-poultry-often-mistaken-for-crd-mycoplasmosis ), you can also try anti-fungal drugs but they can be quite expensive and antbiotics are often given to help with the any potential secondary infections.

Unfortunately even with the best treatment these things are not always curable. I did have three Call Ducks contract a fungal infection a couple years ago though and I had to treat them off and on for nearly 6 months but they eventually did recover.