Following the loss of our wonderful gander, Studley, last year his replacement has been settling in well. After searching for several months we finally found a Pomeranian Gander to keep Spotless company once the gosling's had departed at Christmas. We were unsure what to call him and let our Belgium naming Guru think of an appropriate name. He has been called many unmentionable names due to his aggressiveness. He has certainly tested the boundaries thinking he was boss of the land. Feeding him was a challenge as he would charge and bite the hand that was trying to feed him. Even though we have challenged him back, he caught me off guard one day and as I lost my footing he grabbed my trouser leg and slapped me with his wings causing black bruising within hours. He wasn't so keen to give it another go when I chased him round the field until he buried his head in the hedge! Boy did my leg hurt though. Our little naming guru thought this was very entertaining and named him Bruiser. A fitting name we think.
He was only born March 2012 so we thought he might be a bit immature for mating, but throughout January we heard his triumphant calls after mating with his new partner. The first few attempts were a bit hit and miss and the look of disgust from Spotless said it all, not sure what he thought he would achieve by sitting on her head! We feared they might be a bit early, but after checking our archives this was normal.
We decided to put straw into the nest box at the beginning of February to encourage egg laying, which the geese found interesting and investigated immediately.
As soon as we stepped away from the box, Spotless knew what it was all about. They both investigated the box, Spotless first and then Bruiser. It was then closely guarded and chickens were chased from that side of the field.
By the middle of February the first goose egg appeared followed by 10 more. Then Spotless settled onto her eggs. We removed the first two eggs and left her with 9 to hatch. We have previously removed a few eggs to hatch in the incubator, but we are not sure if we will do that this time.
Hatching should be from the beginning of April, we hope at least one will hatch anything else is a bonus.
We'll keep you informed.
Stella xx
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