Gosling with fracture

Sierra G

Songster
May 1, 2020
389
905
173
22 miles from the Oz Museum in Kansas
I have a buff goose who hatched seven goslings. Two were dead the first morning and one was injured. The injured one seems fine but can't use her left leg. It's rotated slightly at the knee and she doesn't walk on it but she will use it for balance when she runs (straight line only and it might just be a fast hop). The leg itself is fairly unresponsive though. She doesn't move her foot and I'm not sure how much damage there is or if it will heal. And if she gets knocked onto her back she can't turn over so she can't be kept with other birds.

This morning another gosling was kicked from the nest with a broken leg. He doesn't seem to be in pain, he's alert and eating, but it's a compound fracture above the knee. I don't think the prognosis is good.

So I have two questions. Should I rescue the other three goslings before something happens to them or just trust that the first time mom will get her act together with the last three? And, slightly more urgent, what is the best thing to do for the two casualties?
 
Only a vet can treat the two of they can be treated, the one with the rotated knee could just have a dislocated leg at the hip, but a vet needs to pop it back into place if that’s the issue, their bones are really fine and a vet knows best how not to break it.

Personally if it were me I’d remove the other babies after this many injuries.
 
The one with the rotated knee is responding fairly well to massage. She's using her toes on the bad leg so I think she's got a chance. The other one didn't make it.

When I was shutting them in the goslings were still outside when the rest went in. So I shut the door and brought the survivors inside. The mother goose complained in a way that made me feel like a kidnapper, but I'm sure they're safer in the House tonight. I like seeing the whole family together, but I'm not sure reuniting them is the best idea. But I'll probably put them in a pen where the others can see them and see what my options are as they get older.
 
When they’re a few weeks older they’ll be a bit hardier, introduce them slowly, supervised visits. Geese love babies no matter age or wether they’re theirs or not, geese don’t care so she’ll want to take them right back.
 

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