4month goose plucking wings

[Marinda]

Good day.
I am stil very new with raising geese.
We rescued a goose after the mother abandoned it.
Gansie is now 4months old, domestic goose. Recently gansie started to pluck her winge feathers, became very distant. At fisrt i thought it was just jealousy toward the new family member (baby guimea fowl). Plucking got worse. There is almost no more feathers on both gansie's wings. I also found feathers that look like the stems have rot.

My concern is that she might be ill. Perhaps she is plucking to make way for new feathers.
I am still new at this so I have no ideas what is going on.
If anyone has advice I would appreciate it.

 

[Goosebaby]

The “rotten” one is a blood feather that she ripped out, the black part is dried blood. It definitly is not normal to pluck feathers and it’s enormously painful.

In parrots feather plucking is an obsessive behavior caused by lack of stimulation, extreme stress, or poor diet. Waterfowl don’t feather pluck to my knowledge but I suppose it can’t nesserarily be ruled out.

Most likely she has feather mites that are causing her to itch like crazy, they burrow into the feather shafts and she’ll pull them out just to get some relief from the biting mites.

A second option but less likely than that is cystic feathers, more common in parrots but one of my ganders did have it for a few years, it’s very uncomfortable and they’ll pluck all the feathers in the immediate area trying to get relief.

 

[GranderTheGander]

Gansie has bathing water available every day, right? There is a Canada gander on the river here who showed up all ragged last year. He was still not fully grown, but had no down feathers, had limited fear of people and was not a part of any flock. I suspected he possibly was raised in captivity and was not given regular bathing water, because I read once that can really mess up their waterproofness and feathers.

By the fall, he had filled out and all his feathers were smooth, except for one small patch on one wing. Then, after a couple of months, he started looking ragged again. I've watched him--he is preening obsessively and pulling out feathers, even though he now has a goose companion, appears to have no problem with cold weather, has no food shortage and has a whole river to swim in. I really think he preens obsessively because he did not having bathing water as a gosling.

 

[Goosebaby]

Gansie has bathing water available every day, right? There is a Canada gander on the river here who showed up all ragged last year. He was still not fully grown, but had no down feathers, had limited fear of people and was not a part of any flock. I suspected he possibly was raised in captivity and was not given regular bathing water, because I read once that can really mess up their waterproofness and feathers.

By the fall, he had filled out and all his feathers were smooth, except for one small patch on one wing. Then, after a couple of months, he started looking ragged again. I've watched him--he is preening obsessively and pulling out feathers, even though he now has a goose companion, appears to have no problem with cold weather, has no food shortage and has a whole river to swim in. I really think he preens obsessively because he did not having bathing water as a gosling.

I wonder if he has feather mites also, it’s technical term is depluming itch, and that behavior is pretty common, they obsessively preen because it causes extreme pain and itchiness to the point they start pulling their own feathers out, it’s more common in spring and summer.

You’re right to suspect that he may have been raised in captivity, wild birds can get it mite infestations but captive birds are more prone because their lives aren’t constantly on the go, he probably got the mites wherever he grew up and hasn’t lost them, his condition worsens when the mites start breeding in spring.

 

[GranderTheGander]

Thanks for the information. Since all the geese I've ever dealt with had big bodies of waters to swim in, I've never even thought about feather mites. It was when it got cold, though, that he started obsessively preening again. Wouldn't the cold and salt water kill the mites?

As I said, he appears to have no problem with the cold, yet he doesn't always look totally waterproof some days. I'm wondering if he keeps preening because his oil gland doesn't work right, so he keeps instinctively trying to spread oil that should be there but is not. And in the process, feathers are coming out due to the over preening.

 

[Marinda]

Gansie has bathing water available every day, right? There is a Canada gander on the river here who showed up all ragged last year. He was still not fully grown, but had no down feathers, had limited fear of people and was not a part of any flock. I suspected he possibly was raised in captivity and was not given regular bathing water, because I read once that can really mess up their waterproofness and feathers.

By the fall, he had filled out and all his feathers were smooth, except for one small patch on one wing. Then, after a couple of months, he started looking ragged again. I've watched him--he is preening obsessively and pulling out feathers, even though he now has a goose companion, appears to have no problem with cold weather, has no food shortage and has a whole river to swim in. I really think he preens obsessively because he did not having bathing water as a gosling.

Hi sorry i am not yet sure of my goslings gender. But gansie came to us 2days after being hatched. I have an old bath tub in my garden and gansie is in most of the time.

Last 3days gansie is very isolated and spend most of the time inside the house

 

[Marinda]

The “rotten” one is a blood feather that she ripped out, the black part is dried blood. It definitly is not normal to pluck feathers and it’s enormously painful.

In parrots feather plucking is an obsessive behavior caused by lack of stimulation, extreme stress, or poor diet. Waterfowl don’t feather pluck to my knowledge but I suppose it can’t nesserarily be ruled out.

Most likely she has feather mites that are causing her to itch like crazy, they burrow into the feather shafts and she’ll pull them out just to get some relief from the biting mites.

A second option but less likely than that is cystic feathers, more common in parrots but one of my ganders did have it for a few years, it’s very uncomfortable and they’ll pluck all the feathers in the immediate area trying to get relief.

Thank you very much i will look into it. Is there any treatment for mites
Gansie came to live with us 2days after begin hatched. One of my mother in laws geese. They didnt have time to take care of the little one so we took it in. I have 3dogs and 10chickens. I habe a bad habbit of not liking germs, everything is always kept clean.

Gansie slept inside at first and since then made a room of her own. I have a bath tub in my garden, gansie swims regularly.
Although the last 3days gansie is very isolated, rarely goes outside. Will go and haze a bit in the garden and waddles back to her bedroom.
In this 3days the plukking did decrease but we cant touch the wings. So i do think it hurts.

 

[Goosebaby]

Thank you very much i will look into it. Is there any treatment for mites
Gansie came to live with us 2days after begin hatched. One of my mother in laws geese. They didnt have time to take care of the little one so we took it in. I have 3dogs and 10chickens. I habe a bad habbit of not liking germs, everything is always kept clean.

Gansie slept inside at first and since then made a room of her own. I have a bath tub in my garden, gansie swims regularly.
Although the last 3days gansie is very isolated, rarely goes outside. Will go and haze a bit in the garden and waddles back to her bedroom.
In this 3days the plukking did decrease but we cant touch the wings. So i do think it hurts.

Poultrydvm lists ivermectin pour on, a few drops onto the skin, http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/depluming-itch The page is technically for chickens, so I’m not sure of the dosage for goslings, they have a duck version of their sire but it isn’t as thourough so I use the chicken symptom checker version personally.

@Isaac 0 You probably have better advice for treating mites on goslings.

 

[Isaac 0]

What is the bird's diet?

For the treatment of ectoparasites, I suggest a permethrin-based spray or dust. Beforehand, you should check to see if there are any lice/ mites; the best time to perform such a task is at night. Use a flashlight, and check underneath the bird's wing and vent area. If you do see some bugs, thoroughly, spray/dust down the bird, ensuring the spray reaches the skin. The whole coop should be dusted/sprayed down, and the bedding should be changed. Repeat in seven/ten days.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/gordons-permethrin-10-livestock-and-premise-spray-32-oz
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...MI1YTYx5vg7gIV0ZFbCh339A0vEAQYASABEgJg1_D_BwE

If you do choose Ivermectin, use this dosing:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/mites-lice-now-hen-growling.1242981/post-19965544

 

[Goosebaby]

Thank you @Isaac 0 !