Question about Pilgrim Gander

[Kimmyh51]

I have a rescue gander I suspect is pilgrim. he was pure white when I rescued him but now has a few greys, not under the wings but just hear and there, only a small few but I feel like in the last 2-3 years he has gained one or two more greys, is that a pilgrim thing?

I have no idea of his age when I rescued him, except he was adult. I rescued him in 2018 and the first greys probably appeared in 2020 or maybe late 19. At first it was literally one the. Two grey feathers the same grey as the females have. Then one or two more in 20 and so on. Still he is white to look at him but he had maybe 10-20 greys now

he is confirmed male as he has fertalised eggs for a good and she was the on,y goose and he the only gander so unless my ducks fertilised her eggs he defiantly did the deed lol

i am trying to work out his age and breed.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

Pics would be helpful.

I raise Pilgrims and have sourced stock from several breeders, and I've found that there's definitely variation in how much gray feathering ganders display. I have one who appears nearly all white, but he actually does have a few gray feathers that are often covered by his wings. More typically, gray feathering is easily seen in the tail and wing areas.

The amount of gray can change after a molt, too, especially early molts.

 

[Kimmyh51]

I keep reading pilgrim ganders have grey as young but mine was pure white, then he got literally one grey feather and then quite a while later a second one and now he has a few? So what does that mean in terms of how old he might be?
He looks 100% pilgrim and also has stereotypical behaviour

I just dont understand why he was pure white when I first got him if young ones normally have greys? He was a rescue so no idea of his age.

Is there any other way to figure out their approx age?

Also, when I search the lifespan of ganders I got 10 to 25 or 15 to 25 years for Pilgrim. I was wondering if anybody out there who has had lots of Pilgrim geese can tell me what the actual likely lifespan is in their experience?