
The Pilgrim is the only goose breed in which males and females are sex linked ; the males creamy white and the females grey. It is likely that the Pilgrim was not standardized as a breed until this century. Oscar Grow claimed to have developed them in the 1930's in the midwestern U.S. History of this goose tells us that Mr. Grow, like so many other goose breeders noticed males were often white and females were often brown, so he took it upon himself to establish a breed of goose in which the sexes were dimorphic (two separate colors). These geese are unique in that they are the only domestic breed of geese that is sexually linked as a gosling and as an adult. In Pilgrim geese, the sexes have a distinct colouring and pattern that identities them. Adult ganders are mostly white with some grey on the back and wings. Adult females are mostly grey with occasional white on their head.. The gosling males are silvery yellow with light beaks. The young females are olive drab with darker bills. While this description of the gosings is accurate for most, they is not nearly as easy to sex them as it sounds. Many goslings have an inbetween color making them nearly impossible to sex with complete certainty at hatching. Yes some are easy, but I would say perhaps as many as 40% of the goslings are neither yellow nor grey, making them impossible to sex until they begin to produce feathers. Furthermore, there is no doubt that some Pilgrim geese do not conform to the classic colors of White - male and brown - female and on rare occasions a Pilgrim female is white. Male Pilgrims are always white and never grey.DSP