Embden walking like he is drunk-Please Help!

[Anonymous]

My friend has an Embden Goose that was acquired when his brother passed away and he moved on to the property. He feeds them grains daily, has a floating dock for he & the other geese to get on to at night to keep safe from predators. This one male is walking around like he is drunk. He is still eating and doesn't seem lethargic, but does have a little trouble trying to keep up w/ the other 3 in his 4 acre lake. They are free range geese - 3 Embdens & 1 Canadian that showed up last year and didn't leave. all of them come up the hill to the house when they hear my friend come home or outside. The sick Embden has trouble keeping up w/ them but does. He wobbles around like he is drunk. Can anyone give me any advice please? My friend is really worried and doesn't want this bird to die or suffer. Plus he really has no knowledge of what all taking care of geese entails as these were is brothers whom died and for that matter too he really doesn't want anything bad to happen to this boy!

 

[Annschooks]

I can't see as your friend is doing anything wrong in fact quite the opposite it sounds like his geese have a very good life.

I'd suggest getting hold of the goose and doing a thorugh check over looking for any possible injuries. Perhaps keep the geese penned for a few days just in case its something this goose is picking up in the envoronment.

But after that, its a case of contacting an avian vet and possibily getting bloods done to determine the cause.
Geese and Embdens particuarly are very hardy birds. Poultry/waterfowl have a natural instinct to hide illness. These factors lead me to think its really a poorly goose and needs expert care or putting out of its misery.

Although its a much held belief that avian vets are as rare as hens teeth, once you start looking there's quite a number around, just search the net.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for your reply and advice! I will tell my friend of your thoughts on this. As well, I will do a search for a local or near local avian vet. If I could ask another question please....we have never been able to pick these geese up. My friend's brother whom died & I were a couple before he died. We bought the geese together nearly 4 yrs. ago from a flea market in a very, very Southern part of the U.S. when he built a home on 40 acres in the country w/ two 4 acre lakes. We had no idea what we were doing, and shortly after obtaining them found out that the manner in which we did was not the most humane way to do so. When the girl at the flea market sold them to us she put them in burlap bags which we in turn put in the cab of his truck, took to his new home and he released them in to the lake closest to his home. It took quite a while but they eventually would come when he would put grain in a bowl for them. Then they became comfortable w/ us just sitting in chairs by the lake and would get w/ in 5 or 6 ft. After my friend built them a floating dock at the approach of winter it took them a while to get on it, but eventually did that too. However, any time we have tried to approach them they try to charge at us, hiss, & once bit a plug out of my friends leg. ALL of that said, we wouldn't even know how to begin to catch them w/ out being physically harmed. Don't mind some scratches, but seems like it would be much more than that! Please forgive my ingornorance, and if you could give further advice on how to catch him to seperate him from the others and actually look him over w/ out being really hurt or causing severe stress on the bird would be greatly appreciated,

 

[Annschooks]

It sounds as though you fell into goose keeping without any preparation and that is often the worse way to start anything as you end up making mistakes that have concequences for later.

Before I say anymore, let me ask you a couple of questions. If you were buying a dog, would you go to a reputable dealer who has bred that dog, who can tell you about its breed characteristics and its socialisation and where you at least meet the mother of the dog. Or would you go and buy a dog from a dealer who's doing a flea market. This person is selling lovely looking puppies, very cute you fall in love with them, but you know nothing about the conditions they were kept in or the way they have been handled/socialised?

You would avoid the flea market seller as the dog probably came from a puppy farm where its been given no social skills and probably badly bred and its going to lead to huge problems later.

That is the situation you have got now with geese These geese have spent a minimum of four years being wild and not handled or socialised. By the sounds of things they had minimal handling/socialisation before that and quite possibly were badly treated and view humans as a threat.

I can catch and handle my Embden geese, they also know by the sound of my voice when they are in trouble for raiding and know to scarper quick sharp!! :roll:

Also my birds are fastened in a hut every night and know the routine so well they stand waiting at the door as thats where I feed them their grain.

I would suggest that since these geese are accustomed to you calling and giving grain, that this can be used as a starting point towards taming/penning.

Put a hut at the side of the lake where they are or where ever they are normally fed and every evening or when ever they are normally fed start calling them and throw just a little grain on the floor near the hut for them to see and eat, then put the rest of the feed just inside the hut.

So to eat it the geese need to just step inside the hut. Continue doing this same time same place every day except that the feed every few days is moved a little further back inside the hut.

Geese are naturally suspicious of anything new and change in routine, so its going to need a lot of perseverance by your friend. Once the geese have accepted this as the norm try offering grain either in by hand or on a scopp thats being held out to them. Once in a routine they accept it as the norm and will continue in it.

That said it is going to be a very slow and gradual process over months and in the mean time there is a sick goose needing treatment. Given that it can't be handled or got close to, then it is going to need advice from the vet about how to catch and handle it.

I would very strongly suggest that your friend arms himself with some knowledge about how to care for the animals in his charge and obtain a book on goose keeping.

There are plenty around, there is one I can reccomend http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Geese-Katie-Thear/dp/0906137322/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312798449&sr=8-1 but this is written with the UK in mind and sometimes things don't translate well, so best your friend does some research into the most suitable for him.

Next time you get the urge to buy geese go to a breeder who specialises in the breed, it will be so much better.