[ANHBUC]

Hopefully he will pull through and be your strongest and bossiest goose as pepsi100 said.   

[pepsi100]

have you got a picture of this litle fighter?

Be nice to see what he looks like 

[Kate and her Ducks]

God bless him, he does keep fighting.
I just really want him to make it. He's just such beautiful little boy and I so want him to make it. He's still quite sluggish but his head is up far more and he looks a bit less hunched over. Oddly I have noticed he seems to like eating his crumb from head height and seems to like hoovering it up from the edge of the electric hen if I sprinkle it there.
What ever works!

[ANHBUC]

Birds are so funny with food.  They always seem to think it is special if it is not in their food container.   

[Kate and her Ducks]

I know!

Have to say the goslings are such tidy little things. They always seem to eat the spilled food before the stuff in the bowl and they drink their water rather than splashing it about. So unlike ducklings! Now if they would just stop pooing the place would be immaculate!

[themagicaltoad1]

Hi Kate, sorry to hear about your problems with William. I was just curious to know whether he is with the other goslings or have you separated him? If he's on his own he might be missing the others?

[pepsi100]

I found that their poo (when I had a goose) was really good at attracting worms and bugs, which in turn the hens used to eat
I just used to pick it up, bung it on the compost, then leave it for a couple of days, then the hens would find it and scatter it around (now I have a bottomless distbin) they havent found out how to get into that yet 

[Kate and her Ducks]

William's still with the others. They pine so much by themselves I couldn't bear to separate him and as I have three can't give him a companion without leaving one of the others alone.

He's much the same this morning as yesterday morning although has kept on a bit of the weight, more than previous days anyway. I am a little worried about the other 2. Although they look very well and are bombing about and feeding like gannets they are breathing a little quicker than usual and I'm concerned they may have picked it up from him. Might be being paranoid but vet agrees best get them all on antibiotics to be on the safe side and nip anything in the bud.

God ducklings are easy compared to this!!! Messy but easy!

[ANHBUC]

You have probably just been really unlucky.  Hopefully they will all thrive and your next hatch will go without a hitch.   

With the weight they might be like us and lose weight overnight.   

[devonbarmygardener]

Awwwwwwwwww poor William! And to think you worried about his sister initially!
Keep doing what you're doing - sounds like he might just get there in the end

[Kate and her Ducks]

Well William seems a little brighter today. He's still not putting on any weight yet so still pretty unlikely he will make it unless that changes but seemed more active today. Head up more and just more inquisitive. It's been a lovely day here so let them out on the grass for a bit. He's not strong enough to eat the grass (can't pull it free) but he seemed to really like being out exploring and if he doesn't make it then at least he has had a bit of nice life in the sunshine.

Here he is enjoying the sunshine.



With his sister Charlotte so you can see the size difference. She now weighs 4 times what he does.



And all three of them together.

[pepsi100]

He looks a great little fella, and yes, maybe the sunshine will help

[devonbarmygardener]

Gosh he is small isn't he!

His sisters' come on well though considering she struggled to get out of the egg!
Fingers crossed he'll gain weight

[Kate and her Ducks]

He's tiny but done well to get this far. It's been hard as he doesn't seem to get better or worse. A little amazed that he hasn't died and don't want to get too excited about any little improvements but he does seem brighter today. On his evening weighing tonight he was 151g which is the first time he has be over 150g since he fell ill. He was 168g before then. Charlotte was 690g! Matilda is 472g which is not bad given her wobbly start and the fact she is 2 days younger. They do seem to put on about 10% of the body weight each day which is fairly amazing!

The girls are still on antibiotics as they only started on Thurs. Their breathing seems better but has taken longer to respond than with William. It is only William who has had the problems with weight though. I have stopped his antibiotics after a week as his breathing seems pretty much back to normal and I was a bit worried that his lack of appetite might have been due to them. He does seem to be eating more since stopped.

Thanks for all your messages. 

[snowdrops]

He really is so much smaller isn't he. I hope he's turned the corner now.