Willow's Flock Naming SyStem

Goslings

When I got my first goose I had not decided on what I would name them after. It did not take too long before I came up with something. I wanted something I knew a good amount about and that is... trees! My first goose was named after my favorite tree - Weeping Willow. Now that I have had many geese and had to come up with many names they are helping me continue to learn about fascinating trees! I also allow myself to do shrubs so that I will have plenty of names to use for a long time.

As I try to stay organized while I manage my flock's information I decided to start naming goslings after the flowering plants that are not trees or shrubs. My most recent bunch of goslings were named Watercress, Sunflower, and Basil. Because there are so many flowering plants I may end up naming each and every gosling that I hatch even though I may not be keeping them. It is so fun to give them a name! It doubles as a way to ID them. Those who I keep who have these plant names will eventually be officially accepted into the flock by getting a tree or shrub name. I get impatient with waiting and name them too early but you never know what you are going to get! The name may not suit the goose! I believe waiting until my goose that I plan to keep is at least 8 weeks old is best but I probably will not do this. 8 weeks is the time when their personality, expressions, and looks become easier to see. They also have a lot of their feathers so I can name them after a tree according to their coloring if I decide to. Naming is so much fun! What is better with plants is that they are classified into orders, families, genus, and species. So if I know who somebody's mother is I can name them after a tree in the same family or even genus! 

Some of the names I plan to use for my geese are: Chinese Empress, Rosewood, Hibiscus Syriacus, Japanese Zelkova, Crepe Myrtle, and Juneberry. 

Hibiscus Syriacus is the scientific name of Rose of Sharon but I really like Hibiscus and want to use it - so one exception. That will probably turn into a whole bunch of 'exceptions'.