The sun had risen quite high into the sky. It was about noon. The sky was blue with a few fluffy white clouds dotting its blueness. A decent portion of Willow's Flock was gathered around a white-flowered Crape myrtle. Despite it not being very big it had bloomed prolifically that year. This group consisted of three ganders: European Rowan, Ohio Buckeye, and Boxelder Maple. The majority of geese present around the young tree, however, were ladies. All five of the white geese were present. There was Japanese Zelkova, Hawaiian Hibiscus, Brazilian Rosewood, Nutmeg Hickory, and Green Ash. Most of the ladies were still undecided about which gander they wanted to be with. The youngest of the ladies liked Boxelder Maple because of his lean, tall self and dark stripe running down from his head along the back of his neck. Some liked European Rowan because of his decent size and knob. And his voice and proud personality. But even more admired Ohio Buckeye because of his gentleness. Though he was big he was rather low in the gander's pecking order because he was gentle and shy and never wanted to pick a fight with another gander. Because of this he had won some of the white geese to his side and Green Ash. Rowan often chased Buckeye in order to defend his ladies but eventually this would turn out to be a bad decision.
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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. What Makes Geese Intelligent?
I do not mean every goose is intelligent. Some are just there for the food and never check stuff out. But I believe one of the most important things is that they peck at all kinds of things. They peck at trees and wood. They peck at my shoelaces. They peck at trailers. Not all of them do it so I believe the ones who are the most curious and are investigating everything in their environment by way of their beak are the more intelligent ones. They also apparently remember foods that they have not eaten in a while. When we decided to add milo into their diet most of them would not take it. But three of my geese who are two years old now and had been eating bird seed at one time which contains milo remembered it and ate it without slinging their beaks in disgust and being highly disappointed. 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. I had decided upon brown, ash, and black being the three eye colors. But black has become rather hard to distinguish from brown. Therefore I am eliminating black as one of my eye colors leaving brown and ash as the only two eye colors. Brown has many shades because it is such a broad grouping but it would be too hard to divide despite the broad range. Ash is a specific shade of brown - a light brown eye color. This one was first discovered by a goose named White Ash. This is part of why it is called this apart from the color being light like an ash tree's bark. I will still use black as a color but in official cases I will refer to those with black eye color as brown eyed geese. Eye-colors ---- One morning when the sun was high in the sky a set of goslings was put outside to enjoy the fresh green grass and cool air. They were put inside a fence so they were safe from all kinds of things. Several of the adult geese stood on the opposite side of the fence wishing that they could get to the goslings. One of these was the youngest of the flock named Gingko. She had an obsession with goslings and would not leave the fence. The other ladies of the flock also wanted to meet the goslings but were not so obsessed that they gave up their food and pond for them. Fortunately for Gingko her human decided to try out some of the female geese to see who would be best with the goslings - if any would. Tupelo was first put in the fenced area on trial. Tupelo seemed to be rather uninterested with the goslings and took advantage of the grass. If a gosling strayed too close she was then terrified and would peck it to keep it away from her. Seeing this the human decided to try Gingko. Gingko was thrilled to be with the goslings. She was immediately comfortable with them and was eating grass with them. I had posted about Rowan when he was called Dandelion and about his gray marking on each side of his head that made him look like he had eyebrows. I was wondering if this would affect his stripe when he was older. I believe the eyebrow markings were an indication of how his stripe would run from his beak to under his eye then to the top of his head and then down along the back of his neck.
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my name is EmilyI have twenty-eight geese. I hatch a bunch of goslings because I want a lot of people to have geese. I do not see them everywhere but I want to! The goslings are the sweetest baby birds I know! The adult males are proud and can be cranky but have their sweet moments while the females are shy and sweet all at the same time. Categories
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