Toulouse Geese (Gray and Buff)

[Bo Garrett]

The Toulouse goose, sometimes and mistakenly referred to as the Giant Dewlap Toulouse, is a large deep keeled goose with a standard weight of about 26 lbs. We have been breeding these birds for about 10 years and I have found them the most challenging birds to breed successfully to date. If the geese have exhibition type; heavy dewlap, deep pendulous keel and double lobed paunch as well as heavy loose feathering it is very difficult to get fertile eggs. The best way to get fertile eggs is to place the birds on a weight loss program about 60 days prior to the breeding season to remove most of the deep keel from them. This alone however does not guarantee fertile eggs, I have found that the aggressive nature of the gander is also a very key component in ensuring fertility of the resulting eggs. I like my ganders to approach me at the fence during breeding season, hissing, ruffling their feathers and honking noisily as they chase along beside me. I have found these ganders will keep two geese fertile where a less aggressive gander will not keep one goose fertile.
The breeding problem in these geese I believe has reduced the number of breeders of Toulouse in the U.S. and thus reduced the total number of Toulouse geese available to potential breeders looking to purchase exhibition quality stock. This begs the question: Have we moved the standard for the Toulouse away from the most useful type? The APA standard refers to the most useful type being used in the selection of standard bred fowl and in my opinion if a bird is bred to a state where it can no longer breed successfully is it the most useful type?
I'll be the first to admit that I like the type of the Toulouse, the large deep bodies, broad heads and heavy, loose feathering but gathering and setting 200 eggs and hatching 20 goslings is a far cry from productive and useful.
As I look out my window at 15 Toulouse goslings playing in the water, eating fresh grass and growing at an exponential rate I can't help but smile, they are a thing of beauty and if that is the sole useful purpose of the Toulouse goose then I'll continue to struggle to produce these magnificent and most royal of all geese.
Please feel free to discuss your breeding goals, challenges, questions on type, color, etc. and hopefully together we can continue to improve the Toulouse and increase the number of quality birds in the U.S.

Blessings to all,


Bo Garrett
The Garrett Nest Poultry Farm

 

[Bo Garrett]

We have 24 goslings growing out and they are shaping up nicely for young birds. Toulouse take quite a while to mature so we won't be culling them out unless for obvious reasons. The young birds are nearly as big as the adult birds, it amazes me just how fast waterfowl grow! Looking forward to seeing them finished out. We are looking at adding the buff Toulouse back to the flock in the next couple of years. We had them a few years ago but sold them to work on the grays.