What's the difference?

[Rosebud 18]

I see where there is toulouse geese and french toulouse geese. They look identical to me so other than a price difference of around 20 cents what is the difference? Just curious.

 

[poultry09]

i believe but could be wrong the french toulouse is much bigger go to google and look up "french toulouse goose" you sould also try to ask holderread to they are great to talk to and they know a TON of info about waterfowl.

good luck

and hope my advice will help you.

 

[larkflying]

I do know that one kind of Toulouse are lighter birds and the others are giants with dewlaps. I think the giants cost quite a bit more than the regular Toulouse though, so I'm thinking that maybe it is just a rare strain that is closer to breed standard, or directly imported from France?

 

[pete55]

The standard utility Toulouse is usually the same as the French Toulouse, that is birds without the features of the Giant Dewlaps.

Pete

 

[AquaEyes]

I thought there were three -- Utility, Production, and Dewlap. I don't remember where I read that (I'll look around), but the Utility version is the basic barnyard Toulouse, the Production is the strain used for foie gras, and the Dewlap is the extreme show strain, largest of the three.

ETA -- ok, I found a source....and my memory fudged the names a bit, but you'll find the info in the link below.

http://albc-usa.org/cpl/waterfowl/toulouse.html

 

[Oregon Blues]

Metzer says the original breeding stock was imported from France and they are a larger goose than the standard barnyard Toulouse.

I don't think I've ever seen one, so not speaking from personal experience.

 

[Rosebud 18]

I ordered my trio of toulouse from Metzers last july and they are really big birds. I noticed here lately that most of the hatcheries and breeders have the toulouse and the french toulouse just a 20 cent difference in price. I don't remember which I ordered. I have a pilgrim gander that is 10 months old and my 7 month old toulouse gander is already bigger than my pilgrim. Are the toulouse a larger breed than the pilgrim?

 

[larkflying]

That might make sense -- my pair of Toulouse are small birds -- they can fly a bit even. The gander is much smaller than all my American Buff ganders and even some of the females. So they are probably barnyard Toulouse, or a mixed breed. One of them does have white wing feathers past the wing joint, which is why I think they might be a mixed breed. That is good to know. Thanks.