Hi,
I have 4 different breeds of geese, my best geese for guarding would be chinese, also lay loads of eggs, but don't think there would be much meat on them, I also have sebastopol geese which are also quite noisy, don't lay quite as well as chinese, but look to be meatier, also they look quite specatular as they either have a smooth breast with long curled feathers on their backs or are totally curly feathered. Dewlap toulouse don't eat as much grass as other breeds of geese, again they don't lay as many eggs as chinese, and are probably too valuable to eat, although they do look huge. I used to have a breeding pair of African geese but Mr fox took the female, and I haven't been able to source another decent female for him.
I think you are right to research before getting them, as they all have different characters, even within a breed, and also during the breeding season the most docile gander can turn into a monster, even if they have been hand reared.
I do breed from my geese, and will probably have unsexed white chinese available as day olds, although they will be 4 or 5 days old before I would let them go, as it sometimes takes them a couple of days to start eating well.
I'm not too far from you, maybe three quarters of an hour drive. You would be more than welcome to come and see my geese and get a feel for the differences between them.
Regards
Sue
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