I am trading for four week-old geese, and she has both African and white Chinese. Which would you all recommend? We would use them as weed-control; bred them to sell the babies; perhaps eat one or two of the young. We have two small children. I understand the African are much bigger and withstand heat the best of all geese (we are in a very hot climate); that they are more relaxed in temperament but also very noisy. The Chinese seem to be better the goose of choice for weeding, better egg layers, more hyperactive, more aggressive and hence better watchdogs, but are they more aggressive towards their owners? If you have one or both of these breeds, please give an opinion. I'm leaning toward the African, because I like their looks better (never have liked the looks of all-white animals) and it seems better for us to have a perhaps gentler breed. Which sell better though? For a meat bird, all-white is preferable, I know.

Thanks in advance,

-- Elizabeth in E TX (kimprice@peoplescom.net), March 16, 2002

Answers

Aargh! Please overlook my spelling and other mistakes. It should be "breed them," of course, not "bred them."

-- Elizabeth in E TX (kimprice@peoplescom.net), March 16, 2002.

Seems that spending some time with these flocks would be your best indicator of which one you want. Might be that you want to cross the two, don’t know. Found this: The African ( photo) is the outcome of a cross between the Toulouse, and the Brown Chinese, taking some of the size and dewlap of the Toulouse, and somewhat of the upright carriage and 'knob' which is the ornamental head appendage of the Chinese. The African is said by some breeders to be a distinct breed imported from Africa, but the evidence of the cross is apparent.

The White Chinese, Oklahoma Univ. is seeking information on this breed, so you or the person you are getting these geese from might consider being a contributor to this program.

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), March 16, 2002.

Get the african!! I had a white chinese that was the meanest thing ever hatched from an egg!!! That goose would come up behind me and punch me with folded wings leaving bruises all over me below the knees..attacked my dog and held her down and pulled bills full of fur out of her!!! Did the sneak and punch trick once too often and the dog and I enjoyed every bite! Revenge is great sauce! No-way would I ever have that breed with small childern(loose anyway!)...

-- Bee White (bee@hereintown.net), March 16, 2002.

Yes, they will be aggressive to their owners. Your children will get chased if they come too near. I have a toulouse goose and an african grey gander. He will hiss and threaten if someone gets too close, but she has never been aggressive. I'm sure it's because we raised her in a box in the house from the time she was a couple days old. Can you get hatchlings and raise them near your kids?

They are great watchdogs and I've heard they will keep snakes away. I don't know if they are the reason, but we haven't seen many snakes around the house. We have a fair sized pond close in so I was a little concerned about snakes.

I have seen very aggressive white geese. I would go with the african. Teach your kids to respect them and not to run away. If they wave their arms to make themselves look bigger and badder and yell, the geese will usually back down.

One of my son's favorite games was to see just how close he could get before they would chase him. This is just my own experience, so YMMV.

-- Mona in OK (modoc@ipa.net), March 16, 2002.

LOL Elizabeth. It all goes with your personal preference and how the birds are raised. Africans are very large, massive birds. Chinese are small and quick. All our geese are easy going and many will come up to us to eat out of our hands but the Chinese that we have are the friendliest of all the geese and the most easy going. I believe that both breeds are noisy. There are also White African Geese and Brown Chinese geese. African might bring more price wise but they may not lay as well. Our white Chinese are laying machines :-) We also haven't had much of a problem selling the white Chinese goslings since we can offer them at a lower rate because we get so many eggs. As a meat bird they are smaller but we actually find that preferable. We have many different breeds of geese but we don't have Africans - the reason is, all the breeders we talked to said that the Africans were the most aggressive of the breeds . But as I said, I think a lot of it has to do with how the birds are raised and treated during their lives. However, all geese become somewhat aggressive during breeding season. Good luck.

-- Trisha-MN (coldguinea@netscape.net), March 16, 2002.

I just wanted to add that we have a lot of geese and about the only breeds we don't have are the African and Sebastopol. Of all the breeds we do have the White Chinese are the least flighty and easiest to work with BUT the Brown Chinese are very skittish and aren't as good of layers. When we sorted the geese for the breeding pens the only geese that made any attempt to bite were the Embdens. Our Toulouse hiss at us but have never been aggressive - the gander is one of my "pets".

As for them attacking, our geese have never made any attempt to attack visitors (to my knowledge), although they do call and raise a racket if there are strangers round LOL but aren't anything compared to the guineas.

-- Trisha-MN (coldguinea@netscape.net), March 16, 2002.

Elizabeth,

I've had White Chinese, Embden, and Tolouse geese over the last few years. I've never had a problem with any of them. I do think it makes a difference how they are raised. I always get mine as day old's and handle them a fair amount right from day 1. I think that being handled a lot and being close to people more often helps them to kind of bond with us. The geese we've had would often follow me around the yard. The only times a couple of them have gotten agressive, they've received a good slap. Not hard enough to hurt them of course, just enough to let them know that they weren't the boss. I never have any more trouble with them.

Personally, I'd get the ones you like the looks of the best. If they start to act agressive at all, let them know right away that you are the boss and that it won't be tolerated and they should be fine. At least it's always worked for me. Good luck with the geese.

-- Murray in ME (lkdmfarm@megalink.net), March 16, 2002.

Africans can be quite vicious. Some friends in Iowa had some as part of their hatchery. One of the African ganders literally bit my friend on the throat, causing severe bruising. I have Chinese. They like to sneak up behind us and give us the "goose". NEITHER of them ara good to be turned loose around small children. So far as I can tell, all geese are potentially dangerous near a small child. I would strongly suggest penning them. They will not fly out and can be contained behind a 4 foot fence. Chinese withstand the heat here in East Texas quite well.

-- Green (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), March 16, 2002.

I would go for the African. We have an African that we were given about 4 years ago. She was an adult when we got her and she has never been mean at all and she is around children and never bothers them. She also is a good layer and I've never had any trouble selling her babies.

-- Jodie in E TX (stanchnmotion@yahoo.com), March 16, 2002.

We bought day-olds and let the kids do the feeding and watering. I would do the cleaning of their pens. These geese ended up so gentle with the kids handling them daily we no problems until they figured out they could fly out of their pen to rule the yard. Chinese are very aggressive when allowed, the Toulouse was the most awesome and beautiful goose we had, the African came right behind the Toulouse for gentleness and the White Embden we had was just a little aggressive but was also the least handled by the kids. Just don't let them too close to the walkway or it will become their domain and too messy to walk there anyways.

-- (stephanie.wilkerson@experian.com), March 18, 2002.

Thanks for all the answers; I got 5 African goslings and can't wait to watch them grow! When I mentioned weeding the "lawn," I should have added that we don't actually have a lawn, but a couple of acres of grassy space I thought they could roam in. I think though, that I will fence in an area for them or, alternately, fence them *out* of the immediate yard around the house. We have free range chickens and I'm heartily tired of watching my step everywhere.

Thanks again,

-- Elizabeth in E TX (kimprice@peoplescom.net), March 19, 2002.