Scaring Geese?

[DaveM]

Hi All,

We're just coming up on our first anniversary at our new home and it's been interesting to experience all the seasons and some of the joys and sorrows of living here. Actually very few sorrows as this place is a long time dream come true /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif!

But in addition to deer, rabbits. groundhogs and foxes which all can be a nuisance in their own ways I'm getting pretty annoyed at some geese. Two families of Canada geese would like to set up home in our small pond (aprx. 100' in diameter). The first couple of days when the pair with their 5 babies showed up it was kinda cool... that is untill I discovered that their #1 activity is pooping all over the place /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif! Now that the babies are 1'+ tall the family can make a HUGE mess in just a few hours. I can go down and scare them away by waving my arms and throwing a few rocks but they just move a few hundred feet to our neighbor's pond. I like to swim in the pond so keeping the ground around it and their feathers out of the water is pretty important to me. I'm also not sure what impact they have on the general health of the pond which is pretty much algae free and supports a nice school of bass.

Any tips for keeping them away?

Thanks- Dave

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

Set up a Christmas tree and wave a box of stuffing /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif. Just kidding.

Seems to me airports have had trouble with birds and have tried a number of different approaches, right down to hiring Falconers to guard the runways. I'd suggest putting something out there that the Geese are afraid of. Maybe a fox decoy or something, and moving it every now and then so they don't figure out its just a dumb statue. I also recall that there's some kind of disease you can get from ducks pooping in the water. Dr. Dan may be able to tell you if its the same for geese. Only thing I do know is birds are hard to get rid of once they decide they like the spot.

SHF

 

[JOR_EL]

Dave,

[[[I can go down and scare them away by waving my arms and throwing a few rocks ]]]

This method is much more effective if you wear your hairy gorilla suit!
Seems to work best on really hot days. Keep running and running at them every time they land. Don't let them rest, for even a second. Show them that if anybody gives up, it's not gonna be YOU!!

(But don't slip and fall on the goose-poop, ...it really messes up a gorilla-suit!) /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

Seriously though, I think Seattle has warned about some disease such as you mention, regarding their "Green Lake" park.

Better get gorilla suits for the whole family, ...then you can run in shifts.

Larry

 

[Von]

12 Gauge would work!

 

[RPM]

Get the 12 gauge out. Nothing like a death in the family to keep the geese away. If you let them stay you will have a tremendous mess in and around your pond. And yes, you can get all kinds of interesting bacteria in their poop.

For ornamental ponds they also recommend stringing cheese-wire across at a couple of foot intervals so the geese can't land and take off on it. Apparently it works well.

 

[RichZ]

Dave, geese are tough to keep away. Airports use cannons shooting blanks, with limited results. Besides, that would be too noisey at your house. What many airports and golf courses are now doing is hiring trained dogs to chase the geese. From what I've read it works well. If you have dogs, letting them chase the geese, if that is practical, may work well. It would be nice to wait until the babies could fly, though, or there might be unfortunate results. Also, the parents won't leave the babies, so if the babies can't yet fly, the parents may stand their ground.

Rich

 

[skent]

A friend of mine had a pair in his swimming pool. He too thought it was cool at first. He ended up shooting them. The water in the pool was never right after their visit. He tried super-chlorination over and over and it never cleared up. Weeks went by and he ended up pumping the whole thing out and acid scrubbing it.

Steve

 

[dmccarty]

DaveM,

Dog or Dogs will solve the problem. We have permanent populations of geese in the Triangle area of NC. I love to see them fly and I love their honking as they fly. But they leave one heck of a mess. And they aren't honking while I"m trying to sleep. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif We have a swamp behind our office building that the geese like to nest around. Like other visiters, they leave their calling cards when they visit the office building. Just a different kinda card.... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

The local golf courses are hiring trained sheep dogs to come in and harass the geese until they leave. It appears this will be something the golf courses are going to have to do for a long time.....

While the 12 gauge may solve the problem and provide a dinner check with the game laws on this. The penalties can be hefty if the game is taken out of season or without the right stamp and license.

Later...
Dan McCarty

 

[Knight9]

There is a suitable spray that can be used. Methyl Anthranilate is a naturally occurring sweet flavored compound found in plants such as jasmine,concord grapes and orange blossoms. Geese (along with some other bird species) find it very distasteful. You spray it on the grass and they will apparently leave. Available in products like Goose Blocker

Caveat: I have no idea if this stuff is considered safe to use...especially if you swim there? Would check local laws also.

Kevin

 

[ronjhall]

Dave
The Marina that I have my boat at has a Border collie. That dog keeps watch over the whole Marina. Makes the Geese stay in the water or the Conservation area across the creek. Sure is fun to sit and watch the dog work the Geese over./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif I'm afraid that with that kind of dog around you may not see many of the other animals that come to use the area./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif Check out the link and attached picture.

 

[RPM]

Re: laws on taking geese

As I understand it the laws are generally quite lax for resident geese (which these obviously are since they are nesting). They are much tougher for migratory geese. Problem is that since we have changed the landscape so much the geese don't find it worth the effort to go up and bother the Canadians every summer anymore.

Some states also allow goose control for health and property damage reasons as with any other animal. Call your local game commission for details - they're usually very helpful - and I don't anticipate any objections. You'll have a harder time if you wait until the winter because you'll have to prove that the birds are not migratory etc.

At least that's the way it is in PA.

 

[MDNick]

I am all for the 12 ga. To heck with the game laws. You have 35 acres. Kill' em, and eat em or bury em and don't talk about it ('course most everyone on TBN knows now). However, the 12 ga makes a lot of noise. If you have a .22, get some low velocity loads. They make about as much noise as an air pistol. Not much range, but with a .22 you'll want to be within a few 100' anyway to put the round where it belongs. You'll not doubt scare the crap out of them, but it'll be the last crap.

Farmer kid usetabe, Farmer Wannabe

 

[RPM]

Actually, strictly speaking, I know I mentioned a 12 gauge - but the 8 gauge is actually a 'goose gun'. The idea was that you mounted it on your 'punt' and when a flock took off you could take out most of them with one blast.

Always struck me as a heck of a gun ...

 

[DaveM]

Rich and All,

No, we don't have any dogs and I'm afraid our 3 cats would lose a battle against protective adult geese! Of course with dog ownership comes lots of responsabilities and their own set of problems. Letting them run loose outside to chase away geese being just one! Also, the young can't fly yet. Last night was the first time I saw another lone adult with youngsters, making three adults with 7 babies. I suspect the fox we saw the other night got one of the adults... which might explain the large number of adult feathers I found. Though I don't have an ethical problem with gun ownership or hunting I don't own a gun... unless you count my air powered BB pistol/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif. But I would have a problem killing an adult while it tries to raise it's young. I might have to rethink this though IF the problem persists or get worse. So far we've been fortunate because they spend 98% of their time at the neighbor's pond. I don't think the neighbors use or visit their pond often but when they do I suspect the flock moves over to our place.

I do have some fireworks that might go a long way in dissuading from coming over. I think they already know they're not welcome and would be there more often if not for my diligence in scaring them away.

Thanks to all for the ideas!

Dave

PS- I out grew my gorilla suit /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif!

 

[MarkV]

Dave,
I remember a pond in my home town that was always full of geese. On a return visit one year I noticed that the geese were gone and wondered why. I was told that owners had the same mess problems as you so they got rid of the geese. They,set stakes around the pond, strung a web of fishing line with strips of surveyor's tape tied on it about a foot or two above the water. The geese could not land and moved to better waters, never to come back. I don't know if it was a true story, but it would be cheap to try.

MarkV

 

[DaveM]

Kevin- Sorry, I hadn't read your reply till now. I read the fine print of the product link you supplied and it sounds very interesting. I need to check into it further but it appears to be usable on grassy areas and/or in the water itself. It might be feasable to just treat the grass perimeter of the pond therefore not directly affecting the water, the fish or ME in the water! I think the geese come around mostly to hang out in the grass. The only time I see them in the water is when I come down to scare them away. They jump in, swim across then get out and start walking towards the neighbor's place. They leave so much poop on the ground that I doubt they actually do much while they're in the water. But I'm concerned about rain washing bacteria, etc into the pond.

The string webbing ideas sound good too except this will also keep me out of the water. It's an option though that I'll keep in mind. Especially next spring when they start flying into the area again.

Thanks Again- Dave

 

[bcarter]

Ah geese... natures little poop factories.

I had a terrible problem with geese when I lived on the lake. They would eat the grass down to the nubs and then leave a bunch of "calling cards". I found that the rock throwing trick worked pretty well, but it didn't work for too long. I also looked into the Methyl Anthranilate (I forget the brand name - I think it started with a "R", Resorcal, or resorcex, or something like that)...its used alot on golf courses around here. What I found out is that its pretty expensive! My neighbor used the netting trick with pretty good results. My personal opinion is the "lead poisoning" approach - especially if you have plenty of buffer land around you to disperse the noise.

Geese can make a terrible mess, and can trash a small body of water with the bacteria.

I offer my sympathy...


Bill

 

[looch]

I saw something once on a camping trip in northern New York. I spent the better part of the day trying to figure out what the heck it was. A series of tall poles, about 16' high and about 20' apart all along the beach front. I finally caved and asked the life guard what they were for. In his explanation he pointed out something that I wouldn't have otherwise noticed. About 2' down from the top, each pole had a 1/2" hole in it through which a monofilament (fishing) line was strung. Apparently the wind makes the line whistle in the wind at a pitch that humans can't hear but drives birds nuts.
I don't know if this was just someone's crazy idea or if there is some fact to it. I can tell you, though, there were no birds on the beach the entire time I was there. Also, what makes this seem more suspicious is that I have never seen another implementation of this type. I thought, however, that it was worth mentioning.

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

The whistle part kind of makes sense. Ever held a blade of grass between your thumbs and made a whistle? How did they have the mono attached? It might be worth a try.

SHF

 

[looch]

The two end poles had a screw in them about 1' down from the hole. It looked like the mono was just looped around them (pretty hard to tell from 16'). I'd imagine you'd have to test different weights of line and different tensions to get it right. The name of the campground is Meacham Lake. Maybe worth a phone call - number is 518-483-5116.