Young gander beaten up by old gander…

[SteffanyLee]

I combined my flock/the teenaged geese with my existing flock. Everything seemed fine for nearly 2 weeks. Then *IT* happened. Our oldest gander beat the snot out of the only gander we hatched this year.

I wasn’t initially sure he’d live. I am 5 days post the smack down. Injuries are as followed- swollen head, one eye closed, neck is crooked, multiple scrapes, one dime sized hole on the side of his neck.

Within one day the neck wound appeared infected. I have him on antibiotics and vitamins. He is eating and drinking.

His injuries do seem to be healing, but the poor guy is awfully off balance. First two days he just sat with his head down, next two days he moved a little bit. Today he’s trying to walk around but falls. At times ending up on his back.

I’m not sure what I’m looking for here- but if you have any suggestions/anything to weigh in on I’d appreciate it. No vets within a 2 hour drive…

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Give him time in a quiet place. Hopefully he heals. I would use a wound spray on the neck and watch for flies.

Was he raised in the flock? A good gander will protect his offspring. If he's not aware they are his he will attack them sometimes. I had to remove a gander because he wanted to kill some goslings that I hatched under broody chicken hens. A good gander should be protective of the goslings.

 

[SteffanyLee]

Give him time in a quiet place. Hopefully he heals. I would use a wound spray on the neck and watch for flies.

Was he raised in the flock? A good gander will protect his offspring. If he's not aware they are his he will attack them sometimes. I had to remove a gander because he wanted to kill some goslings that I hatched under broody chicken hens. A good gander should be protective of the goslings.

It’s actually his son, but I wound up removing all the babies after Mom hatched. He killed the first baby that was left in his care. Somethings off with him. He’s an incredibly people friendly gander, and was always fine with our adult girls. I honestly couldn’t believe he bombed fatherhood so bad. Needless to say, I won’t be breeding him again.

The 4 babies we kept were raised by our resident Grandma goose. We had them in a separate enclosure while they were growing. They’re 4 months old now. All together we have 9 gals on 5 acres, so I figured two ganders would be okay. Everyone was getting on fine, so I was a bit shocked to see what happened.

I brought him inside. Yesterday and today i had him out in our sick pen for about an hour just for the sake of letting him fully stretch out and get some sun.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have multiple ganders, plus few young ones from this year and I don't expect to see any problems until next spring if there's going to be any.

I did have one goslings that wasn't doing well a few weeks ago. It started to act odd, and I saw some of the adult geese attack it. It shocked me. When I went in the pasture to help it they than turned on me as if to protect it. You just never know.