Toulesse geese attacked at night

[jmanning25]

My geese were attacked 3 weeks ago in their pen overnight. One had some minor wounds on her head, the other had minor head wounds and a piece of his wing ripped off. I took them to my regular vet (which rarely sees birds) because there is no get near me that will. Anyways, the male had surgery to close the wounds . Both had oral antibiotics for 10 days days. The female is back to normal. The male with the worse wounds is still healing . He has a antibiotic ointment and the oral antibiotics. He went to the vet yesterday for a recheck and it's healing but very slowly . Does anyone have any suggestions or advise? I love my geese they are family members and I want him to heal and be back to normal as soon as possible. Any help greatly appreciated

 

[Miss Lydia]

I am so sorry to hear they were attacked. Poor things. Only other thing I can think of that might help would be to add some good poultry vitamins to the daily meds regime. Poultry Nutri Drench is a good one and maybe Probiotics to help get the good bacteria back in the gut since antibiotics kill good and bad bacteria.

Do you have a house for them or do they just live inside a pen is it covered?

Sometimes it takes an attack or losses before we see how much protection our birds need because predators are relentless in their pursuit. I hope they soon get back to good health.

 

[jmanning25]

They have a night pen (8ft ×8ft x 6 ft tall.)which is where they were. It has cattle panal surrounded by chicken wire, and over that is hardware cloth. Top is covered in wood . The reason it's like that is because I 1st made it with the chicken wire over the cattle panels but I later learned raccoons can get into chicken wire so I added the hardware cloth. It has a 4x6 wood shelter inside the pen but it has no door on it . It was mostly used for winter to help with warmth. I thought it was 100% safe. Along the entire bottom (except the gate ) is two or three high large landscape blocks. I don't know what got them or how. The only way is prying open the gate as it has a little wiggle room. Since this happened and while the one has sutures, they have been staying in my garage at night and when I'm not home to watch them. Once they heal, they will be locked in the wooded structure at night.

 

[jmanning25]

 

[GeeseMama]

Sounds like a mink. Do you live close to any kind of water source?

 

[jmanning25]

Yes on a small lake

 

[GeeseMama]

My guess would be a mink. Mink got in to a neighboring farms chicken coop and just tore them to pieces, literally. He came out to find what you are describing, pieces missing (chickens in his case). He ended up trapping the mink and it stopped.

 

[jmanning25]

They both had scratches on their head and one had a small piece of wing missing . I was thinking it wouldn't have been something as big as a raccoon because I figured at least one of them would have been killed. I was hoping not a man could because I know it's so much harder to keep them away. We did see a raccoon in our yard a week later. And we trapped it and let it go at a park about 15 miles away from my house. It's going to be a couple weeks before I start allowing them to sleep outside again. Only now they're going to sleep in a wooden enclosed structure. I'm still amazed that anything could get into their night pen considering how safe I thought it was. Not to mention nothing had tried to dig under it anywhere none of the wire was messed up anywhere basically there was absolutely no signs of anything going into the pain besides my geese being mangled up. It really bothers me though not knowing what got them and how

 

[GeeseMama]

That's why I figured mink instead of raccoon. Raccoon usually leave some sign behind. Pulled up fencing, chewed pieces of coop, hair, whatever, but mink are like little assassin ninjas. You could try putting up a trail cam to see what did get in. Rats can cause damage like that as well but we are usually talking about chickens or quail there, not huge geese. I would definitely try to figure out what got to them before they go back outside so it can be dealt with. Also, check state/local laws to see what you are permitted to do. Most places allow live trapping but that most likely will not work with a mink.

 

[jmanning25]

They are my babies and vet spoiled there's a good chance they sleep inside every night. I also want them to lead a normal life. I never imagined they would be such an important part of my life they are definitely our family members. I was devastated when this happened and I would rather them live indoors than have then viciously killed. I actually do have a camera that I purchased soley for them when i started leaving outside when they were maturing from babies. I'm going to start putting it outside again at night just to see if I see anything, even though they will be kept inside.