Geese eating plums

[amynw]

Hello everyone, I was making fruit salad on my back porch and my little geese children are always right beside me. I was in the process of cutting up plums and I put the plum pits in a pile on the table. One of my geese hopped up on the chair and ate a plum pit off the table before I could even act. She only ate one and I snatched the rest of the pile away when I realized what she had eaten. Shes 2 months old today. I'm a worrier about my babies, should I worry or will she be okay? Thank you!

 

[CindyinSD]

Here's a link I found that might be helpful. Things that are Toxic to Geese

Plum pits (and other stone-fruit pits) were NOT on the list of foods toxic to geese though the pits do contain a small quantity of cyanide. I was surprised to learn that cyanide occurs in many foods, though presumably in smaller quantities--since one never hears of it except in fruit pits.

I'm not sure what you could do about it at this point in any case, short of cutting open his crop and removing it. A friend of mine had a needle removed from her hen's crop in this way, by the vet she worked for, probably saving the hen's life (until her dog killed it). You could try to find an avian vet, though that's a difficult search, especially on a Friday afternoon. If it were me, I'd just wait and see. I think the goose will most likely be okay, but it sounds like you're very attached and you may not be willing to take that chance.

 

[CindyinSD]

Let me tag a couple of people likely to know more about this than I: @casportpony @R2elk ... There are others and I can't recall at the moment, but maybe these I've tagged can add them if needed.

 

[amynw]

Let me tag a couple of people likely to know more about this than I: @casportpony @R2elk ... There are others and I can't recall at the moment, but maybe these I've tagged can add them if needed.

Thank you so much for your response! The closest vet for birds is a little over 2 hours away. I'm worried sick over my baby. I'm watching her very close and she's grazing on grass with her siblings right now

 

[CindyinSD]

Thank you so much for your response! The closest vet for birds is a little over 2 hours away. I'm worried sick over my baby. I'm watching her very close and she's grazing on grass with her siblings right now

The thing I'd be more worried about would be an impacted crop in case she can't grind it up, nut I'm no avian health expert.

 

[casportpony]

Not sure I would worry too much. We have a plum tree and every year the ducks, chickens, and geese eat everything that falls off. I can't say for sure if they have eaten the pits, but I imagine a few do.

 

[casportpony]

One thing I would suggest is getting a baseline weight on her, then weigh her every few days. If she's not gaining weight, or is losing weight, or seems unwell in any way, contact a veterinarian.

 

[Goosebaby]

The pit itself isn’t toxic, it’s the kernel inside that is.
Those things are pretty hard, they usually don’t open until the kernel starts expanding when it’s about to sprout. I have no idea if a goose’s digestive acid is enough to loosen one up.
I suppose the thing to worry about is if the pit is to big to pass through her entire digestive tract.

 

[Goosebaby]

I forgot to mention,

I’m thinking the pit won’t be dissolved, my geese eat cherries all the time, most of them are smart enough to spit the pits out but Leo just swallows them whole most of the time. He’s been doing this his whole life and he’s about 10 years old now so I think he’s just passing them through his system, the cyanide isn’t able to leech out of the pit or I don’t think he’d still be here.

 

[CindyinSD]

There was a lot of hype over people eating apricot pits back in... oh, the 70s, I think. I'm pretty sure they didn't really cure cancer, but at the same time, I don't think they really had enough cyanide to do more than curl your lip unless you ate a heckuva lot of them. I really doubt it'll hurt the gosling.