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 Uses: Utility - meat, relatively fast growing, good broody / mother, useful autosexing characteristic, tame.
Eggs: 20 to 40 per year. Colour: White
Weight: Gander: 6.3-8.2 Kg, Goose: 5.4-7.3 Kg.
Colours: Ganders: White, a little grey. Geese: Light Grey.
Useful to know: Most Pilgrim Geese are very tame if hand reared and have good parenting qualities.
Photo: Colin Murton's Champion Pilgrim Goose
Pilgrim Geese are relatively quiet, light weight geese that are one of only two autosexing breeds of geese (The other is the West of England Goose) standardised in the UK (note they are not sex-linked as some say - there is a difference see autosexing). Ganders are almost pure white with a little grey feathering on their wings, backs and tail feathers. Geese are a light grey colour. As goslings grow, it is easy to tell the difference between them by the colour of their down. Female goslings also have darker bills than the males.
It is believed by many that Pilgrim Geese originated in England and were exported to America amongst other places. It was the development during the 1930's by Oscar Grow in America that is well documented and gave the Pilgrim Goose it's name.
Pilgrim Geese are relatively fast to grow and where Pilgrim Geese are used commercially for meat (mainly in the US) it is said that they look similar to exhibition strains.
The Pilgrim Goose was standardised in the UK in 1982.
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Domestic Goose Breeds