Don't wanna disrupt your thinking, thinking process, but there's no way a goose could scare away a coon or any predator, except maybe a hawk, like Lydia said. They can sound the alarm for larger predators, but sometimes they are afraid and simply stay quiet. Even my chickens have been that afraid at times. As for a goose eating a lot, actually their diet is between 80 and 90% greenery. Individually, my geese eat far less grain than my chickens. As for the larger, messier poops, they are mostly water and grass and dry up and blow away in less than a day, usually. Geese are far more ecconomical and much less messy than ducks, in my experience. I gotta tell ya that after having both ducks and geese, my prefference is geese...........PopI'm in the same boat as you,,I am looking into getting a goose for my flock as well. In hopes that it might scare away raccoons or other small predators. I know some geese chase away humans.LOL, so I don't see how a goose wouldn't scare away a small predator...thinking,thinking,thinking. One thing,they're poop is 3 times bigger and messier than a ducks!!!and they would eat about that much more too..... hmmmm.......undecided.