Goose Couple Mourns Their Unhatched Eggs — Until They Meet Two Adorable Orphans

By Ashley Ortiz for the DoDo

For the last six years in early spring, a goose couple named Karen and Richard have made a Kohl’s parking lot in Western Missouri their home. After building their nest, the happy couple typically welcomes a new clutch of goslings. So when they showed up again this year, onlookers were hopeful to see some adorable babies soon.

But after Karen laid her eggs this year, weeks passed without any movement from the babies, and some of the geese’s admirers grew concerned.

Something Wasn’t Right

“Karen has been sitting on her eggs for almost 60 days,” Babe's Ducks Waterfowl Rescue (BDWR) wrote on Facebook. “They should have hatched long ago.”

One Good Samaritan, Kristen Evans, had been keeping a close eye on the geese. She watched as Karen sat dutifully on her eggs day after day, and even observed the goose roll her eggs around, checking for signs of life. But as time passed with no hatchlings, Evans decided to call BDWR for support. Sadly, they confirmed her worst fears.

“Typical incubation time is 28 days. Maybe 35, depending on when the last egg was laid at the clutch,” BDWR wrote in a Facebook comment. “[After] 55 days … the eggs are absolutely not hatching.”

A Little Family Made Whole Again

Evans was heartbroken for the goose couple, who seemed to understand that something wasn’t right with their babies.

“This week, we noticed [Karen] was doing less sitting and more standing, starting to realize that her eggs were not going to hatch,” BDWR wrote. But she refused to give up. She continued incubating them for a few more days while BDWR’s rescuers mulled over how to help the couple. Then, a call came in that changed everything.

“On Saturday, we got a call about [two] orphaned goslings whose parents had been hit by a car,” BDWR wrote. “We picked them up from our friends at Lakeside and got to thinking … what if Richard and Karen accepted these babies?”

Leaving the Nest

The BDWR rescuers picked up the orphaned goslings and drove them to Kohl’s to meet Karen and Richard. And the couple’s reaction was everything they had hoped for. “We introduced the babies, and Karen and Richard immediately accepted them as their own,” BDWR wrote.

Karen and Richard took in the orphaned goslings right away, but they weren’t quite ready to give up on the eggs in their nest just yet. So, Karen sat on her eggs for the rest of the evening while Richard waddled around with their new babies. Then, the following afternoon, Karen suddenly had a change of heart.

“Around 1 pm today, after watching Richard and the babies running around on the ground waiting for her for several hours, Karen finally realized her new babies needed her,” BDWR wrote. Karen left her nest one last time and joined her new little family for a trek across the parking lot, back to their natural habitat. And her admirers and rescuers were there to cheer her on.

A Fairy Tale Ending

While everyone wishes Karen and Richard’s clutch of eggs had hatched successfully, they’re thrilled to know that the couple didn’t return home empty-handed.

At the end of the day, Karen and Richard got the babies they’d been waiting for. And now they’re enjoying their lives as parents again, preparing their adopted goslings for an amazing life ahead.

The happy family waddled off to their next chapter. It was a fairy tale ending ─ and just what everyone was hoping for.