In 6 years we have had one sick goose. She was always too small for her breed. Not sure why she was sick.
This year was the first injury of a goose. They did something that cut up a foot. We treated it with some safe wash and they recovered just fine.
Injuries to me have been numerous. The boys like to attack me when I’m putting them to bed so I occasionally end up with welts and bruises. The girls occasionally give me a nice little buffeting with their wings when I’m trying to remove them from a nest so I can take away their eggs.
She was always too small for her breed. Not sure why she was sick.
Sounds like a runt, which is fairly common with cats and dogs. That’s where “the runt of the litter” came from. It also applies to farm animals with singles litters (cows) and larger litters (pigs). I have not seen it get applied to a bird before, but it make sense.
A runt is just something with a low birth rate. It turns out that there’s a very strong correlation between birth weight and health.
At some point every farm animal will have a last best day. The sooner you recognize when that is and resolve it the better everyone’s mental health will be. It is is an unavoidable fact of farm life.
But if geese have proper night time protection and plenty of grass you can expect them to live 15 to 30 years problem free.
FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
In 6 years we have had one sick goose. She was always too small for her breed. Not sure why she was sick.
This year was the first injury of a goose. They did something that cut up a foot. We treated it with some safe wash and they recovered just fine.
Injuries to me have been numerous. The boys like to attack me when I’m putting them to bed so I occasionally end up with welts and bruises. The girls occasionally give me a nice little buffeting with their wings when I’m trying to remove them from a nest so I can take away their eggs.
IMALlama@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Sounds like a runt, which is fairly common with cats and dogs. That’s where “the runt of the litter” came from. It also applies to farm animals with singles litters (cows) and larger litters (pigs). I have not seen it get applied to a bird before, but it make sense.
A runt is just something with a low birth rate. It turns out that there’s a very strong correlation between birth weight and health.
FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
She lived just over a year and was healthy until she wasn’t.
kandoh@reddthat.com 2 weeks ago
That’s not too bad. I love the idea of animals on a homestead but I couldn’t handle it if they required medical attention
FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
At some point every farm animal will have a last best day. The sooner you recognize when that is and resolve it the better everyone’s mental health will be. It is is an unavoidable fact of farm life.
But if geese have proper night time protection and plenty of grass you can expect them to live 15 to 30 years problem free.