Can a goose care for ducklings?

[hayley3]

I was afraid to do it when they were tiny...I might have waited too late. They are 4 weeks old. My chicks are still sorta small but the ducks grew like weeds.

 

[DiYMama540]

She may come around to the idea of it after see, no touch for a while.
My gander didn't take to the babies immediately but then one day, he stopped hissing at them and started hissing at everyone who got near them...they've been inseparable ever since! The teen ducks actually run to him for "protection" now It's impossible to catch the little poots with him guarding them!

 

[hayley3]

Awwww that gives me a bit of hope.
She doesn't share her water bowl which makes it hard. It was funny as heck when the baby duck pecked her on the beak...It was just too cute although I worried about retaliation.
The goose sits as close as she can to the ducks when they are inside the enclosed area and she is on the other side.

I'll keep trying.

 

[Pinckney]

Let the gander foster them, they are excellent fathers. I have 3 geese, 1 female and two males. One of the males attached himself to me.... until I put a batch of Muscovies ducklings in a stall in my barn. He sat outside the stall for days, ignoring me, until I let him in with them. Now that the ducklings are fully feathered they are out and about as a group amongst the chickens, ducks, and goose pair. He’s great with them.
My goose could care a less about them so it could just be this gander but I did have a group of adults take over the raising of goslings when the mother was taken by a fox. A gander brooded the young.
Geese are intelligent and I’ve found them to be excellent parents.

 

[hayley3]

She's a goose.
I know she really wants to be a mother but the trembling neck worried me.
I have them together but separated right now..hopefully they will bond.
The babies stopped crying for us to come out so that's positive.

 

[vbrowne1]

Or will she hurt them? How to tell? Since she's laying eggs, I thought she might take to them.

The ducklings are a month old.

i was talking with a lady who had ducks, geese, and chickens. One of the geese was super broody and would hatch the duck and chicken eggs too and then get upset when shed put the chicken babies in the water and they would drown. She couldnt understand why they couldnt swim. So yes, theh can and some will.

 

[hayley3]

Eeek! Well that is not good.

 

[Miss Lydia]

How's it going with the goose and ducklings?

 

[hayley3]

How's it going with the goose and ducklings?

Sorry I missed this post @Miss Lydia . I just came today to give an update.

Amazingly enough, the goose is sharing her water bucket with them. She will tap them with her beak to manage them which is different than pinching with her beak. She's being very gentle with them and she will actually lay with them under the tree. It's very touching...however
The goose is now being mean to the chickens.
I keep the goose separated at night from the rest but this morning I heard quacking on the audio monitor at 7am so rushed out there and one duck and a chicken were in a squabble. So I guess I will have to give the ducks a separate bedroom too.
In the daytime they have plenty of room but if a chicken walks past the goose, she is latching on, so I am thinking she is protecting the ducks.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Most likely she is protecting them. Can we have some pictures ?