Thursday, September 28, 2017

A goose accident, or not a good day for wussies

It's always something. Yesterday around lunch time I looked outside to see one of the geese sticking its head through the fence to sass the neighbor's cat. Totally normal around here. But then I looked out an hour later and it will still in the corner, just sitting there. Then it stood up and thrashed around and I understood why; it had its head stuck in the fence. I was home alone with a cranky, tired tot and had to call in backup before I could go outside and deal with it.

It wasn't good. Somehow the goose had gotten its head wedged very badly in ordinary 2x4 wire fencing.  There was a large cut to the neck where the fencing was embedded and it was standing in a puddle of blood. It had also cut the top if its bill. I ended up cutting the fence apart to free it.


I washed the wounds, refilled the kiddie pool with clean water and put Blukote on everything. That's the extent of my first aid kit.  It slept most of the day and when I checked on it to make sure the bleeding had stopped I had to ease its head out from under the wing. There was no protesting and I took that as a bad sign.


This morning though it seems to be fine. Eating, honking quietly and even stretching its neck to watch a flock of geese go overhead.

I was so upset when this happened because it seems like such a freak accident that I couldn't prevent.


This is where I cut the fence apart - how on earth did it get stuck so badly? It should have been able to just slip its head right back out of the fence.

If we had been gone for the day that goose would have suffered badly and died from dehydration and blood loss.  This purebred goose is part of a trio that I have some time and money in. And although I have at least one pair out there if I had lost my only male/female it would have been a disaster.

It made me realize how woefully unprepared I am if this situation goes south. In none of my poultry books is there a first aid or "when the shit hits the fan" chapter. I have no idea what antibiotics are safe for geese or the dosage. I did post to an on-line forum asking for advice and was told to "take it to the vet". This isn't a diapered house goose and I'm pretty sure that no one around here would touch poultry anyway.  Worse case senario while I'm competent to kill chickens and ducks all day I have no idea how to put down a goose. I'm not physically strong enough to do it humanely and suppose it would have to be shot.

 Everyday is an adventure and what a way to learn.

Also not for wussies; when I came in from treating the goose I looked out the window.  Whereupon I witnessed a goose getting it on with a duck and the chickens eating all of the bloody grass.  I may have gone blind a little and  immediately texted my husband and asked him to pick up wine on the way home.

This life, I'm telling you. Not for the faint of heart.

22 comments:

  1. Sometimes, a vet is willing to give advice over the phone (especially if you already use that vet for your other animals). That would at least help with which antibiotic and how much.

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    1. The vet we are forced to use will do nothing without bringing the animal in, not even prescribing flea meds
      Animals are "little people" who need routine pampering at this place. I wish our vet clinic would help like you suggest.

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  2. Never fear, a vet will touch any animal as long as your pocket is deep. I know of someone in Georgia who buys antibiotics at a pet store; don't know if that is possible in PA. Animals are very resilient though and I predict that your goose will be fine. Good luck.

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    1. I agree with the vet statement unfortunately, see above, and wonder if animal practice is not going the liability route of human medicine. We do have very limited OTC meds here and I will watch carefully if it seems I need to persue that. I would hope not.

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  3. Raid the second hand book stores (online abebooks or the like) for older poultry books ..they can be a mine of useful information. Wound advice on this page looks good to me ..see what you think http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2015/04/how-to-care-for-injured-chicken-and.html
    to dispatch a goose at home I'd email these guys for instructions ...https://www.hsa.org.uk/catching-and-handling/geese

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    1. or try reading this thread ...but hopefully you won't need it!

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    2. Excellent ideas Val. You just reminded me that I have a farm encyclopedia set from the 1920s not checked; that will be my bedtime reading.

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  4. sorry forgot the link .... http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/archive/index.php/t-448320.html

    it is about poultry honest!

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  5. Many vets will not prescribe without seeing the animal however we have found once we took in one of our chickens and they knew we actually had them at home and had their record on file, they were then happy to prescribe antibiotics for our entire flock in the future when we needed them without having to see the animals again.

    I did find a vet in another state entirely who is willing to prescribe and ship antibiotics without seeing my chickens, but I am in Australia.

    If the vet you are forced to use is not willing to assist you in the ways you require to be assisted - and they are silly not to because you are going to buy the things you need from them much of the time! - ask around locally, you might find there is another vet option available. We do drive past 2 vets to get to our vet, because they are excellent with chickens. We thankfully found them via another local chicken owner.

    There are some good online poultry forums - backyard chickens is the main one I know of in the USA. They might know if there are vets who you can source what you need from in other states via mail. I am a member of some local Facebook poultry groups here in Australia and it might be worth doing a search to see if there are any nearby to you, if you have not already. :)

    Hope you find what you need! ;)

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    1. Actually backyard chickens is the place where I was told to "go to the vet". LOL. I will make an effort to find a vet that is easier to deal with about these matters, planning on calling our local extension office on Monday for advice.

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  6. What is it with this PA poultry? Went out to coop last night and one of the young ladies we moved out there this week was covered in blood. After a thorough inspection it seemed she had hurt a toenail. Not sure how, but that was a good deal of blood from just a nail. Put antibiotic ointment on it, but that was probably just to make me feel better. I can't imagine having to deal with a strong goose. So lucky you were there. Nothing with animals is ever easy.

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    1. *shudder* You reminded me of the time one of my house rabbits ripped out a toenail back in the day, BUCKETS of blood, it was horrible for such a small injury. I can only imagine what you had to deal with! Luckily the geese are pretty used to me and it didn't put up a fight. It knew it was in a bad situation.

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  7. Look for a vet that does exotics as they often do birds as well. For first aid we have purple (iodine) spray, anti-peck spray, micropore tape, Verm-X, chicken vet amino plus to add to water and we dose with flubenvet feed quarterly. We also keep "tums" calcium carbonate tablets as a calculiym boost for egg-bound chickens: They get grit and oyster shell ad lib. Mine are ex-battery hens, so tend to fail swiftly and fatally with egg-laying problems when things do go wrong.

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    1. The closest exotic vet is 2 hours away :( You have a very good First Aid kit there. Thanks for the suggestions, I'm intrigued by the use of TUMS and will look into that to keep on hand!

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    2. When hens are egg bound a warm bath and a dose of calcium can help get things moving. It has to be TUMS (or a generic version) that doesn't contain magnesium. Some people crush the tablets and feed in yoghurt, not had much success with that here, so I crush the tablets and make a solution / slurry in water then syringe it slowly into the hen's mouth. You have to be really careful to let them swallow, so it doesn't go down the wrong way to the lungs. In addition to the stuff mentioned above, I also keep various size syringes and a plastic bowl that serves as a chicken bath! Ros

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    3. Almost forgot, we also have water-based lubricant and thin rubber gloves in case a chicken's bottom needs lubricating to help an egg out. My life is all glamour... :) Ros.

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    4. This is great information, thank you. Luckily we've not had that problem... yet anyway.

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    5. My 4 ladies are all 18 months plus, one is 30 months plus, they're all still laying in retirement. The battery hens have health problems you probably won't see so much in a younger flock, but as your hens get older the egg laying problems start. As mine are ex-batts they are not starting from a position of strength. Takes a while for them to regrow feathers, get some muscle and bone strength, but then they're happily bouncing and fluttering around. They've been pushed hard on egg production and it takes a toll, so they are not long-lived, but at least here they get some fun in retirement. They terrorise the dog, cat and wild birds. Ros

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  8. Wow lots of comments on this one. I feel your pain re the vet, ours don't touch poultry and everything we do is our own doing. Glad the goose is ok now and so sorry you had to deal with this. Well done to you x

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