Terebinth was the only goose to hatch in Batch #022. She hatched near to Thanksgiving on November 27, 2020. She was unfortunately a deformed gosling. She has scissor beak and a missing eye. Because of her messed up beak I had to powder her food as a gosling so that she could eat it. I expected her to not pull through as a gosling because of her deformities but she did. As she grew I would occasionally find her on her back and she couldn't get back up onto her feet. I would pick her up and put her back on her feet again. At one point she had a gosling with her that was younger than her and was her brother. He was later sold so that Terebinth was left with only me. Terebinth was incredibly sweet as a gosling.
She eventually got to a point where she was falling over onto her back more frequently. One day, I kept finding her on her back and kept putting her back up on her feet but it was to no avail. She just couldn't stand up. After that, she wasn't brought outside. She was set up in the garage in her pen where I tried all kinds of stuff to get her standing. Eventually, I decided I would just stand her up and feed and water her and then set her up in her blankets on the sofa.
I at last decided that there was no hope for her when she started choking on her food and water. I thought that was it. I put her in a basket and brought her around with me and kept her upstairs at night nearby me.
I really thought that was it.
But she had the will to keep going.

Dogbane and William are from Batch #032 which was set on May 11, 2021. 
A total of nine eggs were set but only two eggs made it to lockdown on June 6, 2021. Fortunately, both of those eggs hatched.

Dogbane hatched first on June 11, 2021 so that he is #190.
William hatched two days later on June 13 so that he is #191.

I am assuming that Dogbane is a male while William is a female (unfortunately). Neither are sexed.

I had been waiting on two White Chinese goslings to arrive. They at last arrived on June 9. These two White Chinese goslings were from MetzerFarms hatchery where I got my 5 White Chinese female geese. I loved how all of my females turned out and really wanted to get my next group from MetzerFarms hatchery. So I did. These two are both males and will hopefully one day be two handsome white ganders. I hope for them to get along with the 5 white female geese so that there will be white goslings. I have been getting banded goslings from my white geese but no white goslings yet. 

These two goslings are named Hawthorn #188 and Sycamore #189. They are already rather friendly and very energetic. I hope they will stay sweet as they grow.

They had no problems after being shipped from states away fortunately. They quickly started drinking and now they are eating.  

Sycamore is more of a golden yellow in color with a rounder head while Hawthorn has a more square head and is a lighter yellow. Hawthorn is the more outgoing of the two but Sycamore gets in a pretty good mood when he is on an adventure outside and will get up in my business.

In General
My white geese have quickly proved themselves to be my best layers.
​They are all gorgeous geese.
They are the most addicted geese to grass. With their obnoxious behavior they are also the geese who get most of the grass because no one can stand in their way.
They have always been rather willing to try new plants. 
They often quarrel about ganders.
They will challenge a gander and even get into a fight with one!
They have already given me exciting goslings such as full banded goslings, half banded goslings, and goslings with a spot on their back (Batch #030 had a very obvious one!)

I also mentioned briefly that Willow Crenshaw was one-eyed. She hatched this way and I do not believe it is genetic. Rather it does seem to be due to bad conditions for incubation which did not completely jeopardize Willow Crenshaw's development. 

We did not know what to do with Willow Crenshaw. We decided we would keep her and keep her as happy as we could. We did not really expect her to live to be a year old but here we are! On Tuesday Willow will be a year old! 

Willow Crenshaw does not act like she is only one-eyed. When she was first hatched she had a lot of trouble navigating. But being in a pen she has gotten very familiar with her surroundings and navigates pretty well. It just means she does not always get the other geese' warnings and it makes her hesitate a lot more to do things such as climbing into the water tub or leaving the coop through the coop door.

None of the geese treat her like she only has one eye. When I had Quaking Aspen who passed away in January last year she was treated poorly for whatever reason. It certainly was not because she had a hard time navigating because Willow does too.

Willow Crenshaw is treated so much so like another goose and acts so much like another goose that I think she might even be laying or considering too. And as previously mentioned Willow Crenshaw's defect does not appear to be genetic but rather due to bad incubation.

Willow Crenshaw has been a relief compared to all the struggles that I faced with Quaking Aspen and my younger goose Terebinth. She is a rather shy goose due to her natural personality and probably also her single eye. Her mother is Rocky Moutain Juniper who passed along that naturally shy personality. She also passed along a small, long-necked body to her daughter Willow.

My last update on the white geese was when they were still fluffy little creamy yellow goslings with gray eyes. I had mentioned that I was not sure if they would have blue eyes or not. They do indeed have blue eyes. There is no uncertainty about that. I think it is especially amazing because it is not like the usual blue for animal coloring where it is a sort of gray that gives off a bluish appearance. This is a blue that is very obviously blue. White geese are lovely birds. They seem to be more into digging unfortunately and checking out plants to see if they like anything else. So more plant destruction. More destruction to the nice floor in the goose house... and more destruction in all the other buildings and the frontyard.. and also to little trees in the frontyard. But, at least, they are pretty. Their beaks are orange and their feathers are well, white. 

My favorite is still Pompeia. But she along with most of the other white geese except for Biscuit have been re-named. As I had mentioned previously I was thinking of giving Biscuit to someone but I think I will be keeping her. Pompeia was re-named to Southern Magnolia. She is a beautiful goose. What I really like about her is she seems simple. She just looks like a goose. Which is what makes her so pretty to me. Blue Jacaranda who was previously Buttercream seems to be quite the troublemaker but since they are all troublemakers I cannot place what rank of troublemaker she is. Then there is American Snowbell who I think was Vanilla. She is the second prettiest of the white geese. She seems to be a little shier than the others but Biscuit still takes the place as the shiest. But Biscuit still is not all that shy because she will still come to me for food and eat out of my hand. Last of all, there is Chickasaw Plum who I think was Whipped Cream. I like all the white geese. They all look nice. 

It will be fun when they finally start laying so that I can hatch fun colors from them. And I think they will lay quite well giving me a bunch of goslings. They hang out with three young ladies: Japanese Zelkova, Brazilian Rosewood, and Hawaiian Hibiscus. They also hang out with European Rowan, Ohio Buckeye, and Boxelder Maple which therefore means they sort of hang out with the ladies of that bunch - Green Ash and Nutmeg Hickory. They are a formidable force of loud, always wanting food, troublemakers. 

Boxelder Maple was hatched on April 28, 2020. He was the third goose to hatch of Batch #011. His parents are believed to be Siberian Elm and Black Cherry. Siberian Elm is definite because the egg from which Boxelder hatched was marked with her name. Siberian Elm is believed to be the daughter of Baldcypress and Sugar Maple while Black Cherry is believed to be the son of Mimosa and White Ash. Both of Boxelder's parents were only a year old when he was hatched. Boxelder Maple struggled as a gosling. The reason for his struggles was unknown. I believe it was either because he did not get the necessary amount of grit or he got chilled. Due to his struggles it took a long time for him to catch up in size to the other geese. He was a super cute gosling and was quite friendly.

Siberian Elm's mother was a pure-blooded Chinese goose who passed away exactly a year before Boxelder was hatched. Boxelder Maple's name was given in honor of Sugar Maple. Because of his Chinese blood Boxelder is a tall and lean gander. He has a lovely brown stripe and strange white feathers under his eye which I mentioned in a previous post found under Traits. His eyes are brown. He has a little bit of orange on his beak and has the white feathers behind his knob. His back, side, and chest feathers are a lovely color.

He is proud but has never attacked me. He currently hangs out with the white geese of the flock and his three younger sisters: Japanese Zelkova, Brazilian Rosewood, and Hawaiian Hibiscus. 

He caught up in size and is now somewhat bigger than his batch friend Willow Crenshaw. He became fully mature much faster than other ganders. But I tend to prefer ganders who take longer to mature. 

As of the writing of this post Boxelder Maple is about five months old. Which means he is full size and is indeed fully feathered out. I successfully taught this gander to eat out of my hand. Previously, I had also taught him to stand on me without me having to keep him there when I was sitting down to feed the geese. I had even gotten him to follow the hand full of food onto me.

Rocky, #102, Batch #019. Hatched September 13, 2020.
Has a little knob. Bulky.
Mother is Black Tupelo. First recorded gosling of Tupelo. Father could be Eastern Redbud, Baldcypress, or Black Cherry.
Female.

​Dragon, #103, Batch #019. Hatched September 14, 2020.
Darker markings than Rocky.
Mother is Gingko. First recorded son of Gingko. Father could Eastern Redbud, Baldcypress, or Black Cherry.  
​Male.

Sprinkles, #101, Batch #018. Hatched September 4, 2020.
No unusual markings.
Mother is Gingko. Father unknown but some possibilities are Eastern Redbud or Baldcypress.​
Older siblings, Thunder and Tiger.