goslings are dying off

[concon]

Hi All-
I have 200 goslings, I am in my second year of raising geese for the market, and am having problems with a number of things. I am tired of finding dead or dying goslings...I do not like killing them.

I ordered from a different hatchery this year and have had spraddle leg issues, had to kill one. I have had 4 angel wing issues, one died in a bucket , suffocated itself on it's neck, one died apparently from exposure to the sun on a hot day in the fields- it fell on it's back and couldnt get up and the other two are still alive. I know its from high protien starter feed, but they were immediately put onto pasture at one month. I found one dead gosling this morning-looked like it had just fallen over dead. It was on it's front, legs stretched out behind it and its head over its back. No injuries- no feathers about and my guardian dog is above reproach. She isnt a suspect ever.

I have two others set aside in the barn because one was so slow in walking that I picked it up to find it light as a feather.. no body weight to speak of. The other was another of the ones who falls over on its back and cant right itself!!

I have been feeding and watering them seperately and they both seem to be "recovering". But why are they so weak in the first place? The one with no body weight acted like it was starving.... but why? It has been on beautiful pasture for over two weeks now. So, I massaged its neck and gullet to move any impaction but didnt feel anything.

I am just finding this very odd. Last year I had 40 from another hatchery and ZERO deaths. I didnt take any credit for that as geese are so tough. But the %'s dont compute this year. I may have 200 but I have lost about 17 I think in the first month and a half.

At this rate I wont have any to take to market. Is this death rate normal?? I know turkey farmers think 15% die off is good. But ,,,,, I just dont know.

Connie

[Dondoyle26]

Are your feeders big enough for 200 geese ? Could be there are so many they are not getting a chance to feed. Are you feeding them enough in addition to the pasture ? What types of geese are they ?

[threehorses]

I'd agree completely with the previous post. That lightness seems like someone's getting crowded out. Note you said you have 200 this year - you had 40 last year.. You're going to get a higher percentage of chance of death for such a high number of goslings, first. It's just what happens. Also it's harder to watch each and every one of them.

I'd bet either that the troubled ones have a nutritional deficiency, lack of food, bullying or shyness issues when eating, and/or lack of enough food. They also could have come from a different, weaker breeding strain as these birds are bred for numbers obviously.

I'd spend more hands on time picking these babies up and sorting through them - separate them out into more groups so that the smaller have a chance to catch up.