Pilgrim Geese

There are very few breeds of geese which are “auto-sexing” which means you can tell the sex just from the color even from goslings. The origins are debated of this breed.

These are a medium sized goose weighing between 13 and 14 pounds. These geese lay around 40 eggs per year. The females are a dove-gray with some white around their faces and dark brown eyes. The ganders (males) are mostly white and can have varied amounts of gray usually on their rumps.

Pilgrim geese are becoming rare and we have found that it is not uncommon for people to believe they have Pilgrims but posses Toulouse geese which are significantly less rare. You can often distinguish them by the lobes between their legs. Pilgrims have 2 lobes normally where Toulouse have 1 lobe. Another good sign is any amount of dark on the bill. Other than the few very hard to distinguish clues these birds females look very much the same. The Toulouse is not auto sexing so often a male Toulouse will look like a female Pilgrim.