Oh how these geese treasure their bath time! If they aren’t watchdogging or chasing each other – they are in one of two stock tanks taking a dip and grooming.
Note the routine of this Chinese Gander as he takes his bath. First, there is a lot of head dunking and bobbing followed by feather grooming. Then he sits on top of the water and spreads his wings for a good shake. Then he does a body shake before stepping out of his bath and walking down his steps to the ground.
Of course, Hawkeye has to announce himself as he waddles towards me because I am paying attention to Gilligan (the white one) and Hotlips (his mate).
They’ve got a whole pile of scratch grains, protein crumble, cabbage and cantaloupe to eat so I’ll let them get at it until tonight when they get fed a second time. We fill their stock tanks with water twice a day because all the bathing, swimming and playing knocks a lot of water out. They don’t care. They’ll just waddle in the mud around the tanks. Mud and water – that’s what they love!
