Unusual

[alexisasch]

Hello everyone! I have a 16 year old male emden goose. Yesterday he started displaying this odd behavior of twisting his neck and turning his head upside down and walking around like that. He also has been trying to pull his neck feathers out. He has always preened his back and chest but this agressive preening of his neck is a little unusual. He is completely blind in one eye. Does anyone have any ideas about why he would be doing this and what I can do to help him? He has lived alone for about 10 years since his partner died and adopting another mate for him is out of the question for now.

 

[DucksAreBest]

Hello everyone! I have a 16 year old male emden goose. Yesterday he started displaying this odd behavior of twisting his neck and turning his head upside down and walking around like that. He also has been trying to pull his neck feathers out. He has always preened his back and chest but this agressive preening of his neck is a little unusual. He is completely blind in one eye. Does anyone have any ideas about why he would be doing this and what I can do to help him? He has lived alone for about 10 years since his partner died and adopting another mate for him is out of the question for now.

@Isaac 0, do you know what is wrong with this gander?

 

[Isaac 0]

@alexisasch , do you think you catch a video of your Gander doing the motion?

Besides the motion does he appear to be acting fine?
Do the movements occur at any specific time, or sporadically through the day?

 

[alexisasch]

Yeah he is still his usual self playing in his water and eating grasses most of the time. It occurs sporadically. It's just unsettling to see. I'll try to catch a video of him doing it. My theory is that he is either developing OCD or is just annoyed with Springtime mult and is trying to get better leverage to pull out his feathers.

 

[Good Steward]

He might have feather mites. They are bad this year here and love it under the beaks down the necks.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/feather-mites