Backyard Poultry Forum

show casing the 2014 collection of young toulouse

below, 26 day old toulouse, colour grey.
as we've mentioned elsewhere on byp, these guys give you a short preview of what you might get straight out of the shell,
and at around the 2-4 week mark start developing the required features of the breed.
i did snap a couple pics of this next bird at just over 2 weeks old clearly showing the keel, but didn''t post them here.
not to worry as here is the bird at 26 days old.
dual lobes,a keel and a dewlap, and the bird is big!!
look closely and you should be able to spot the start of the 3 mentioned features

same bird as above but from side on, clearly showing a bulge and fold of skin under the chin,,this is the dewlap starting to grow.
bird is also starting to get a nice heavy eye brow

below is another young bird, slightly younger at 23 days old, from a different pairing and like the bird above clearly showing that the bird has the start of a nice dewlap


these are now our bench mark birds, and show the most development of anything we've hatched at such a young age,
this demonstrates that our selection process and understanding of the birds is becoming first class
how these young stack up against some of the quality toulouse that are about, when they were at the same age we just dont know
but we are of the opinion that if your trying to breed toulouse, and your young aren't at a similar stage of development at the same age your just not in the game

we'll update this topic as they grow, and when i find the time to post the pics.

every time we post pics of our birds here and else where we get flooded with inquiries and orders.
i'll take this opportunity to say, please dont waste your time with requests of purchasing such birds.
none of the toulouse from the 2014 hatch will be sold any time soon and if you require quality stock we'd suggest contacting
http://peelridge.webs.com/
happy to discus all aspects of the breed and breeding, either here or through over means,,,,cheers

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http://koljash.webs.com

What sort of weight are these guys at such an age and do you have any idea of what sex they are. The only one I've come in close contact with was at a poultry show or auction and it seemed to have such a personality. I'm convinced it was a well loved pet and thought it was human. Ever since then they have fascinated me.

Already looking stately and only babies. Will be great to see more pics as they grow!

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Cheerio, Rach
Blue Swedish Ducks

haven't vent sexed them yet, as we're keeping all young for the time being and not too worried with what we get.
But based on size and personality the bird in the first 2 pics should be a boy.

here is a female from 2013 from the same pair as the young boy,she was 2 weeks old here

similar development of the lobes and keel but not as much dewlap, and although she was of a good size not as big as the one in the first pic.

bird in third pic i'll also suggest is a boy at this stage, but as "it's" from a different pairing that we havent breed from before, the rate of development of the young is unknown and you can't use visual traits to assess young from different matings and determine sex, but it is the slightly bigger young from the pairing with the best feature development at this stage, at such a young age a day or two makes a big difference and the other young can play catch up very quickly.

we also have the 4 young from our white/grey colour cross at the house with us, if the parent stock turn out to be genetically pure from thier respective colours the young can be identified by colour at hatch, at just under 2 weeks old there is only the slightest size difference.

we'll find some time in the next few days to do a weigh in...and still have our fingers crossed we hatch a couple of white toulouse..

first young bird pictured who's now a few days older.
straight out of the night box and before getting to food and water weighed in at 2.7kg

Hi
Just wanting so help if possible please.
I have a pair of Toulouse Geese 2 years old, this is the 2nd year that i haven't got any babies from their eggs. I did try to candle them but couldn't see anything that showed me if they were fertile or not. I found it harder to see than candling chicken eggs which i have not problems with. I am so disappointed not to be a goose mar again this year my hopes were very high. They have water pond for breeding (which they have been doing).....not that i was watching of course but, they also layer 12 eggs this year and also last year. Should the eggs be fertile this year or at what age? I live in Brisbane and was wanting to know if there is someone up here that would sell me a female Toulouse Goose for mum and dad so all their efforts haven't gone to waste.......i won't tell them its not theres.....haha

candle them at night in complete darkness.

as for obtaining a goose,,are you looking for a female(goose) opposed to a male(gander)?
if yes i think its unlikely you'll be able to find people willing to part with quality females.
in a lot of cases if you wish to purchase a good female from a breeder you'll have to purchase a pair.
and quality doesn't come cheap

if you find worthy females that are available, don't hesitate in obtaining them as they are rarely available..

this year for the first time we got a yearling goose to lay,prior to that we've had to wait until they are in the second year.
if the goose lays eggs and fertility is low to none then the ganders not up to the task..

we have young ganders at 6 kg in just under 11 weeks old

pic update
this is the young bird from the very first pic, 10.5 week old in this photo
has maintained a visible keel at all times, dewlap comes and goes a little from week to week

toulouse cross breeds
front center is a female, to the left a gander.both approx 15 weeks old
non dis-script farmyard goose crossed with a toulouse gander
different type, the heads a different profile, but you can just see the a hint of keel and lobes starting to form,
hinting at their cross bred back ground

young gander from a different pair than the one 2 posts above
this is the same bird from the very first post, pic#3
thats a good dewlap for a bird that is 10.5 weeks old

seriously why would you wait 12 months 2 years or longer for the bird to start developing these features when with the correct selection you can do it under 3 months of age

size comparison pic
20L oil drum. 3x 9 week old females on the right

bird with its head down on the left facing away and standing shoulder high with the drum is the young gander that went 6kg's this morning at 11 weeks old

and lastly an 11 week old female sister bird to the young keely gander pictured a few posts above.
nice keel forming that has been evident from a few weeks old, starting to get nice and heavy under the chin.
lobes are unbalanced at this stage , left lobe visible between the legs, right lobe only just starting to show itself but not visible in pic

pic update for those that are interested in this breed
at around 5 months old now
the next 2 pics are of the young gander pictured at the very start of this topic
we're happy with the progress, we'd like them to be better but its a work in progress and this years young are a considerable improvement over previous years.
this bird looks promising at this stage, all the required features are visible, and have been from a couple of weeks old and are growing in proportion with the rest of the bird


and in this next pic, on the right is the young bird from the 3rd pic in the first post, not as much keel as the bird above but has a bit more dewlap and is slightly bigger,,those with a keen eye might have already spotted the small white patch at the front of the dewlap, this is not ideal!! considered a fault in young birds,,, on the left(black leg band) is the sister bird to the gander above,,no real complaints about this bird at this stage...this female is pictured in the post above this one