I’m interested in the possibility of crossing Pilgrim Geese with Chinese and breeding an auto sexing hybrid goose breed. Anyone have any experience with this cross/breeding project or can point me in the direction of some literature on this subject?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/our-guide-to-colour-and-pattern-genetics-in-geese.561779/
This article talks about goose color genetics in general, but I don't think they include the color genes of Chinese geese, just the other kinds.
The "dilution" gene would be the one that makes Pilgrim geese autosexing.
l don't know the genetics of white in Chinese geese, but I am pretty sure you would want to avoid them.
I think Brown Chinese could be used as the basis of autosexing geese. One way to start such a project: cross a Pilgrim male to a Brown Chinese female. Daughters and sons should both show dilution like a Pilgrim female. Pick just the females of this cross and breed to Pilgrim males, which should give properly autosexing goslings in both sexes. At that point they are 1/4 Chinese and 3/4 Pilgrim and will breed true for the autosexing trait. To increase the amount of Chinese, take a male from them and cross to Brown Chinese again... repeat as many times as it takes to get the set of traits you want.
Or if you would like sexlinks instead, you can cross a Pilgrim female with a Brown Chinese male, and the sons should show some dilution (like what Pilgrim females usually show) while the daughters should not show any dilution at all (more like Brown Chinese coloring, or maybe like Toulouse coloring.)
I have not actually done this, just read about various genes and considered whether I want to try it myself. So there could be some big, important detail that I am missing.
If you try it, I'd love to see photos!
