Geese and parasites?

[nao57]

So... I don't have a parasite problem. I don't have geese yet. But I have done waterfowl before (ducks).

Anyway, I do a lot of gardening. And in that gardening one day I thought... for the same amount of time someone gardens they could do poultry or waterfowl, and still have time to spare. They'd in other words, use much less time with the animals than they would gardening. (The hard part is of course butchering them; when you are talking about food production though...)

Sorry to mention that part on the butchering. But I'm trying to compare this to farm production. I don't like butchering either; to me that was the worst part.

Anyway, in thinking about this I thought about what I know about sheep and goats too. Sheep ALWAYS get parasites and its usually the cause of the deaths. Goats get them worse than sheep, somehow; weird right? So... if all these other animals get them... do geese get them also? Or do they just somehow... survive them better? This makes me a bit curious. And what do people do when they do get them in their geese? Is it typically deadly?

 

[Goosebaby]

Geese don’t get parasites as often as chickens do but they can still get them if there is a high parasite load in their yard. I’ve had coccidia and giardia appear in my flock, coccidia being a yearly occurrence. It’s possible they can get worms also but despite my occasional paranoia I haven’t actually encountered that in my flock and the other cases here where people have suspected things like gape worm weren’t confirmed and the symptoms were probably from something else.

Coccidia can be treated with corid, Toltrazuril, or SMZ TMP.
Giardia is treated with metronidazole, giardia is also susceptible to Fenbendazole “safeguard” to an extent.
For worms in general safeguard is a great choice of wormer. Albendazole may be an effective alternative. Ivermectin pretty much just works on mites, which are uncommon/ most of the time a nonissue in geese also.

Individual geese seem to be affected by parasites to varying degrees, some worse than others but there are numerous factors that can contribute to that. Those that get it the worst can get it bad enough that it can threaten their life so treating them for whatever’s wrong regardless is necessary.

 

[SanK]

My gander had issues early in life with "something" causing watery stools. I bought corid but I didn't want to "poison" them, they are precious for me. Last winter, I was scrambling to give some green stuff. I read somewhere that alfalfa helps with probiotic properties in their guts. I've been very happy with results. I give them a little bit with their feeding daily. Both of my geese are very healthy and happy with Kalmbach waterfowl and alfalfa (I got this bale at the horse feeding last year and it will last another season).