Johanna Honka of Oulu University, Finland collected and genotyped goose quill blood samples from many European breeds (see Sex-linked dilution colour in the European domestic goose confirmed to be a 1-bp deletion in the Melan-A gene), and found that there was no difference detectable by genetic sequencing in the dilution gene found in the white breeds and the autosexing ones. However, breeding experiments strongly suggest that there is a difference, perhaps a separate factor that modifies the effect of the dilution gene in autosexing birds only, making it less intense.

Crossing white and autosexing geese is not a good idea except as a controlled experiment, because the autosexing can easily be lost and this may not be obvious for several generations, ruining long-term breeding plans. Chris and Mike Ashton conducted experiments in 2021 and 2022 (article here), which involved crossing white Czech geese (also known as Bohemian geese) of pure bloodline with pure Shetland geese, a small saddleback autosexing breed similar to West of Englands. The results were:

- A white Czech gander crossed with an autosexing goose will produce white females
- An autosexing gander crossed with a Czech goose will produce autosexing females
- In both of these examples, male offspring look white and are heterozygous for this autosexing
factor. These heterozygous male offspring can go on to breed both white females and
autosexing females.

West of England ganders usually have some traces of grey under the wings or on the thigh coverts, unlike Czech or Embden geese, because of their slightly different genetic makeup. While a West of England female goose looks a lot like a Pomeranian, Skane or greyback, she will usually have more white on her face and a less well-defined pattern - a very strongly marked bird with no white on the face should raise suspicions that the bird does not carry either variant of the dilution gene at all, and may in fact be a gander.