Hello, ...I'm brand new here...and joined to ask if anyone has heard of our "situation".
As a bit of background...
We have a barnyard of mixed foul..geese, ducks, lots of banties, with our wildlife friends dropping in from time to time. Oh yes, and the "work crew"...the guineas!
Last year, our Toulouse geese, good layers, poor setters...and occasionally indifferent mothers, had one baby goose, who we raised in the house, when ...on hatching, she decided he was not what she had in mind. He returned to the flock at about 6 weeks...and they happily accepted him.
All was well till this year, when he started to have "ideas" about the mature geese. His father the gander left no doubt, that - that was out of the question.
As a late September hatch, one of our Cayuga ducks produced to our surprise, a mixed group (our ducks deposit their eggs in the good setter's nests)...of 7 adorable duckings.. albeit with some dubious heritage. Could be rouen, blue swedish, cayuga, pekin or welch harlequin. One looks suspiciously like a khaki campbell, but since we have none of those, I imagine it's a cross of some sort!
Last year's "baby" Toulouse goose, took an immediate, almost pining interest in the duck family. We had separated them into their own yard, (complete with "turtle pool) when they were old enough ...and he paced back and forth around the pen for hours watching and "fretting".
When they had their "debut" into the main flock.. he immediately, deliberately took ownership.. sharing in the raising, guarding and general daily activities. Much to our surprise, their Cayuga Mom.. was not only tolerant, but seemed pleased!!! If she is sunning and he wanders off for a drink, the ducklings go with him. The will crawl over him, with no reaction ...steal his food, which he tolerantly allows.
He is not terribly thrilled with their underwater swimming..(our baby geese, give that up early on) absolutely panics, if he thinks he could end up in the goose pen at night. He sleeps with the ducks.. stands guard over his flock in the coop, and spends a good deal of the day with his head cocked skyward, watching for hawks!.
I could find only one reference on the internet, and that was too a wild Canadian goose, adopting a mallard family.
Interestingly, the baby ducks have HIS personality, have assumed a "goose ranking".. even driving Guineas from the food line, and keeping all other adult ducks at bay. Basically, they've turned into little terrors in the barnyard..with more self confidence than I have ever seen in even an adult drake.
Is this a common theme? I've never seen it and can't seem to find an information on the subject. We are looking forward to seeing this dynamic play out over the winter!!
Would love to hear from anyone, who's been on this journey... how does the story end???
As a bit of background...
We have a barnyard of mixed foul..geese, ducks, lots of banties, with our wildlife friends dropping in from time to time. Oh yes, and the "work crew"...the guineas!
Last year, our Toulouse geese, good layers, poor setters...and occasionally indifferent mothers, had one baby goose, who we raised in the house, when ...on hatching, she decided he was not what she had in mind. He returned to the flock at about 6 weeks...and they happily accepted him.
All was well till this year, when he started to have "ideas" about the mature geese. His father the gander left no doubt, that - that was out of the question.
As a late September hatch, one of our Cayuga ducks produced to our surprise, a mixed group (our ducks deposit their eggs in the good setter's nests)...of 7 adorable duckings.. albeit with some dubious heritage. Could be rouen, blue swedish, cayuga, pekin or welch harlequin. One looks suspiciously like a khaki campbell, but since we have none of those, I imagine it's a cross of some sort!
Last year's "baby" Toulouse goose, took an immediate, almost pining interest in the duck family. We had separated them into their own yard, (complete with "turtle pool) when they were old enough ...and he paced back and forth around the pen for hours watching and "fretting".
When they had their "debut" into the main flock.. he immediately, deliberately took ownership.. sharing in the raising, guarding and general daily activities. Much to our surprise, their Cayuga Mom.. was not only tolerant, but seemed pleased!!! If she is sunning and he wanders off for a drink, the ducklings go with him. The will crawl over him, with no reaction ...steal his food, which he tolerantly allows.
He is not terribly thrilled with their underwater swimming..(our baby geese, give that up early on) absolutely panics, if he thinks he could end up in the goose pen at night. He sleeps with the ducks.. stands guard over his flock in the coop, and spends a good deal of the day with his head cocked skyward, watching for hawks!.
I could find only one reference on the internet, and that was too a wild Canadian goose, adopting a mallard family.
Interestingly, the baby ducks have HIS personality, have assumed a "goose ranking".. even driving Guineas from the food line, and keeping all other adult ducks at bay. Basically, they've turned into little terrors in the barnyard..with more self confidence than I have ever seen in even an adult drake.
Is this a common theme? I've never seen it and can't seem to find an information on the subject. We are looking forward to seeing this dynamic play out over the winter!!
Would love to hear from anyone, who's been on this journey... how does the story end???
