One year old Toulouse geese .... cautions or issues I should look for?

[Gator113]

Hi folks,

I started with chickens a year ago. I bought 6 Muscovies last Friday. Now I am looking for Geese. I am new to almost everything all at once. LOL

I believe I want one or two couples of Toulouse geese. I set out to find some this morning and lucked out. A guy about 90 miles from me has five that he wants to sell, for $20 each.

I am waiting on photos before I bother to take the trip.

I would greatly appreciate any info on what I should look for in these birds to determine their quality and health. I've never seen one of these up close, so unless it has 4 legs, I wouldn't know what's normal. Is buying a 1 year old bird a problem? He says they hadn't coupled yet... how can I tell when I see them?

Anything else I should be cautious about?

I would like to head his way within the hour, otherwise I'll need to wait until tomorrow.

Thank you...

Dan

 

[Gator113]

Here are some of the pic's the guy sent to me. I thought they might be helpful in evaluating these guys and gals. ANY comments would be greatly appreciated..

http://akrh.org/geese/dsc_0287.jpg

http://akrh.org/geese/dsc_0284.jpg

http://akrh.org/geese/dsc_0283.jpg

http://akrh.org/geese/dsc_0286.jpg

He told me that the lighter ones would darken as they got a bit older... will that happen?

Can you tell me what breed or combination of breeds they may be? They were advertised as Toulouse and a couple of crested Chinese.

The solid white birds are all female and THEY are about 2 years old, the others are 1 year old.

If I chose one of the solid whites, will it couple with a darker one that is a slightly different breed?

Thank you for any help.

 

[Gator113]

You're thoughts before I head out to look at these?

 

[Gator113]

Today must be a busy day out there in Goose Land, or my questions are just too stupid and rookie.

Nobody needs to reply. I have decided to go get them and if the don't work out, they will find themselves in the freezer and I'll just start over again.

Oh, my next question might be, "what's the best way to dispatch and clean a Goose."

Cheers,

Dan

 

[JROOSTER]

Only the one dark one looks like a true Toulouse, the white ones do look like crested but not Chinese. I could be wrong on this part but I dont think the light blue/grayish one will get any darker or if it does it will not get as dark as the Toulouse.

I do think the price of 20$ per goose is fair. They look healthy and thats good. They are pet quality I dont think I would try to show any of them.

If you look up www.holderreadfarm.com and go to photos you will see his American blue/lavender that is what I think your seeing on the light grayish one.

Hope this helps

I went back and took another look at your pics. I think they grayish ones are a mix of the white crested and Toulouse, thats my guess.

If you just want geese to run around your house and have fun with these look like nice ones.

 

[NapoleanGoose]

The grey goose is a Toulouse. The white ones w/o the crest are either non-crested romans or embdens. The white crested ducks are crested romans. I think that the light grey one is a diluted mix between the two, as JRooster said. So it will not get darker. Definitely cool looking birds though. $20 is a good price.

Hope you like your new birds.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Well, I'm going to be the oddball here and say that the grey one (first pic) looks like an American Blue while the light grey one (second pic) looks like an American Lavender Ice.
The white with tufts (crests) are roman tufteds, so I'd guess the others are romans as well (non-tufted).

The bird in the last pic does look like a toulouse, the heads of Americans and Toulouse are shaped different.