08/04/2026
My pair of le***an geese have adopted chicken chicks and I thought y’all would be interested
Everyone, meet Lucy and DuckDuck, the le***an geese. They both lay eggs but they’ve acted like a male/female pair since March when Lucy started going broody, so here we are.
That first broody spell didn’t last too long, but she went broody again a few weeks ago at the same time as one of my chickens. I was more concerned about the chicken tbh and reached out to a neighbor asking if they had some chicks for sale, and they did but didn’t mention to me that they were already a few weeks old. I got them anyway knowing that the chicken wouldn’t take them, but figuring that a deal is a deal and they’d grow up to be productive flock members anyway. But lo and behold if Lucy didn’t come out the next morning acting like those babies were hers!!
These guys are the best parents I’ve ever seen. The chickens will come over sometimes and try to peck at the babies, but DuckDuck chases them down- there are a few with feathers missing now from trying to harass the chicks. In the mornings, the geese will keep the chickens away from the feeders until their babies have had breakfast. It amazes me how dedicated these guys are.
What’s been most interesting to me is seeing how the chicks interact with them. At first it seemed more like the geese were following the chicks around wanting to play parents, but now, a few days later, these chicks who hadn’t previously been with a mother bird are following the geese and treating them the same way they’d treat a mother hen. It’s been fascinating to watch!!
