Toulouse Geese

I'm busy plotting my duck and goose thang and I had a few questions regarding Toulouse geese for anyone who can answer them - preferably from experience.
I can only order these geese straight run so I'm wondering. 1) At what age should I be able to reliable sex them 2) How quickly do they get to their full 15-20 lbs weight. 3) What is their disposition and noise output (for comparison I have swan geese, I believe based on the hatchery that they are 'Africans') 4) and this one is the most important, Will they interbreed with swan geese and if so has anyone seen the results?

Thanks

I've had Toulouse, Embdens, and Chinese (swan) geese before. Compared to the swan geese, the Toulouse and Embdens are calmer, slower, and quieter. (but still, a group of any geese is pretty noisy compared to just about any other poultry except perhaps guineafowl or peafowl!) I've never tried to sex geese till adulthood. Since I usually expected my geese to survive on pasture and greens without much supplementation, I don't think any breed got much over 10-12 pounds ( and swan geese much less).

My experience is somewhat limited.

If it lays eggs it's female. If they appear to mate it's a pair, possibly one male and one female. If eggs fail to hatch, the 'male' might not be what you thought. If they both lay eggs, both are female. If eggs hatch, you have at least one male. I'm not going to admit how long it took me to work that lot out. It's embarrassing.

As for temperament, we called ours The Geestapo for a reason.

And they can be a bit annoying and noisy.

Ha ha, that's how we do it too !

Great post Burra - made me laugh.

Yeah, my next uppity goose is going to be named 'Goose-ifer'. I think we're on about the same level when it comes to sexing them. But will they interbreed with swan geese? Alder you've raised them both. Any experience there. Do they hatch out hybrids? Are the hybrids able to reproduce?

Alder Burns wrote: a group of any geese is pretty noisy compared to just about any other poultry except perhaps guineafowl

Guinea fowl are the worst! and they get up in the trees and theirs nothing you can do but clench your jaw, feel your forehead throb, and prepare for that inevitable aneurism. I will never keep guinea fowl, I can see how they'd be attractive in certain situations but mine definitely isn't one of those. Those guys are SO DAMN LOUD

It has been a few years since I had my geese (my current partner won't tolerate them…."maybe ducks"…she says!) and I'm pretty sure I had the swan geese and the others at different times so I don't know if they will breed.