Offaly farmer's unusual goose draws the crowds during Banagher Horse Fair

AN UNUSUAL goose belonging to popular local farmer John Dolan drew a lot of attention from the crowds during the Banagher Horse Fair on Sunday September 15.

John told the Tribune that he was delighted with all the attention that his two year old Pomeranian goose, Concepta, received.

“She's a great bird. Geese normally only hatch one clutch of goslings per year, nearly always between March and May, but she produced two clutches which is very unusual. On the 10th of September 2024 she hatched out two live goslings out of six eggs. That was her second clutch this year. Her first clutch was on the 3rd of April when she hatched 13 out of 13 .

“When we had Concepta on show at the Horse Fair people said to me they had never seen or heard of goslings in the month of September. I believe it's a Irish record for a goose to bring out goslings in September, if not a world record."

This is not the first time John has raised an extraordinary member of the poultry family. He is already well-known for his record-breaking hens which were able to lay unusually high numbers of eggs.

The last of these famous hens died on Saturday evening December 9 last year. Her name was Little Chip Marmalade and John was heart-broken when she died. She was only five years of age and it was widely reported in the media when, on May 16, 2019, she hatched out 26 chicks. John said this was a world record, and she was on RTE News, shown with her clutch.

Little Chip Marmalade was subsequently given the taxidermy treatment and now stands beside John's three other champion hens who had also died, been sent to a taxidermist and put on display, Marmalade, Sally and Ruby.