Wobly 1.5 month Toulouse Goose. Help Please

[locoluna69]

Good evening. We acquired a pair of Toulouse Geese on 5/8/2010. We love having them around the yard.

They have been happlilly grazing on grass and other plants in our yard, swimming in a small stream in our pasture, and are very friendly. The female started out larger than our male. In the last two weeks, the male has grown much more quickly than the female. Now he is close to twice her size.

Since he's started this recent growth spurt, he has started wobbling when he walks. He will stumble and fall on his butt. Additionally, when he walks, his legs shake. Even when he's in the water, he does not seem to be as graceful as he once was.

We are starting to get a bit worried about him. Can anybody shed some light on what may be going on?

Here are some pics of the geese (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2060013&id=1329444707&l=76551bc9da).
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs352.snc3/29194_1465835889094_1329444707_31195532_7079447_n. jpg
Thanks,

John

[cegs]

Since he’s growing so fast, it sounds like he might need some extra niacin or vitamins. What are you feeding them, Anything else besides letting him graze? It’s a beautiful photo that you posted!

Cally

[Evy]

Cally has good points. I'd add though, that pasture is the best thing for geese. He may be getting too much protein & is growing faster than his legs ( & wings ) can handle if he's getting a lot of commercial feed. Holderread puts out an excellent bulletin on leg & wing disorders in geese.

[locoluna69]

For feed, both geese have been allowed to forrage the yard/pasture as much as they like. Additionally, we have had a pan of commercial feed down and available to them at all times. The male does eat more of the commercial feed than the female. (She seems to be watching her figure).

For water, they always have large pans of fresh water, a small childs swimming pool, and two streams to choose from.

We can try puting him on a 'diet' with him just grazing for food for a week to see if that helps.

Thanks for your replies.

[cegs]

You have some nice lush green grass in your photos. If my grass looked like yours I wouldn’t have to buy feed for mine. LOL Cally

[Marmoset]

At that age, our goslings get pasture only (no "feed") from 7am to about 5pm. At 5pm they then get free-choice feeding of commercial starter/grower (until they are locked-in at around 9pm).... though they don't eat very much of it.

From the look of your pics, you don't have a pr of Toulouse. The gosling in the front might be pure (though at that age it should be far deeper in body), though the one in the back looks more like an African type bird.

[ultasol]

What kind of commercial feed? If it is very high in protein, you may be causing his body to grow more/faster than his legs can support at this time. If it is layer feed, you can be causing other issues.

Grass alone, unless very high quality spring forage, is considered insufficient for a growing gosling (as read in "The Book of Geese" by Holderread).

I would cut back on the amount of commercial feed the male is eating to slow down his growth, and I would consider supplementing them with niacin (can use brewers yeast or crushed niacin tablets). Free choice grass is nice to have.

I have seen many posts this spring about leg problems, and it sounds like many of these new goose owners are feeding gamefowl starter because it has a picture of quail, pheasant, and ducks/waterfowl on the bag. The problem is that at about 30% protein in the gamebird starters the goslings can outgrow their legs, especially on the larger breeds. Grow them slow on high quality feed and forage.