Geese

[FarmerBrown]

I have 2 Canada Geese that have been visiting my pond fairly frequently over the past couple of weeks. I would LOVE it if they stuck around. Geese are not foreign to my area, as quite frequently there is a big flock hanging out not even 1/4 mile from my farm.

Are there any specific do’s and don’ts to let them know they are welcome? They are pretty fearless when it comes to dogs - they just swim out to the middle of the pond if either of the dogs gets close. I can ride my horse around the pond and they just watch us ride by.

Thanks!

[Louise]

Erm, two are nice, but, come Spring they may decide to bring their friends. That isn’t so pleasant, unless you like to be stepping in large bird plops, or, worse yet, picking it out of your horse’s feet.

[cowboymom]

If you feed them they will come! :winkgrin:

I don’t know where you are but here it is illegal to feed wild birds though… even though everyone does it. If you have horses though it would not be illegal to feed your horses some cob out in the field and “accidentally” have the geese clean it up.

If they’re happy they’ll stick around and invite their friends. And soon they’ll be eating all your grass and chasing your dogs and crapping everywhere. But it will be fun for a while!

[Hulk]

We live next to wetlands. Durring hunting season they started hanging out at our farm. We dont allow hunting, so basically all we had to do is not shoot at them. They did bring their friends, so now we have tons all over our fields. We love them, so its a bonus to us. Our dogs are stictly trained to not chase or harrass horses cats or poultry etc, so they coexist with our dogs well. Allthough I do believe Cowboymom, that they would chase dogs away from them. As far as the crap all over:lol:, well everyone tells me I,m full of it anyway.

[Anne_FS]

I agree with Louise. Two now means a flock later. I guess you’ll still be able to ride around your pond, but you won’t be able to walk around it - the goose crap does build up and it’s disgusting.

I have a friend who lives in a high-end housing area around a huge pond/small lake. Everybody loved the geese who stopped occasionally. So picturesque to see them. They have a deck that overlooks their lawn which slopes down to the lake. They can look at it still, but as for playing games on it, or sunbathing, or having cook-outs or lawn parties, it’s unusable. It looks fine from the deck, but when you’re down on it you can’t take 3 steps without walking on goose ***t. It’s everywhere.

[Mosey_2003]

They’re mean! I wouldn’t really want to encourage them to hang out and invite their friends…

[Bacardi1]

[QUOTE=Louise;6831595]
Erm, two are nice, but, come Spring they may decide to bring their friends. That isn’t so pleasant, unless you like to be stepping in large bird plops, or, worse yet, picking it out of your horse’s feet.[/QUOTE]

While they may attract their friends later in the year, around this time geese pairs prefer to be alone, as they’ll be nest-building soon & are quite territorial at that time. While some areas have such large geese populations that multiple pairs per waterway are inevitable, that’s not the preference of the birds, & they’ll do anything they can to keep that pond to themselves until much later in the year.

[Mosey_2003]

And they will fight off others, loudly and violently. I watch them all day here at work, sometimes I can’t stand one. more. HONK!

[Kryswyn]

We went to a local museum with an outdoor sculpture garden. Posted prominently were NO DOGS! signs. Which was such a JOKE because you couldn’t walk on the lawn without getting your shoes covered in goose shit. Absolutely foul (pun unavoidable)

I’d enjoy the two, let them nest and raise their brood and then chase them back to Canada.

[Megaladon]

Don’t shoot at them, don’t let your dogs chase them, don’t try to approach them and that should keep them around.

Every year flocks of Canada geese and Snow geese stop in our fields to eat and swim in this natural pond that fills up from thawing ice, once it recedes they move to the swamplands. I love it, it makes me feel very at one with nature.

[chism]

Wow… Complete opposite reaction here… I’d be encouraging my dogs to chase them to get them to leave. I’m a fan of wildlife, but geese are just gross…any area geese frequent becomes un-usable by people in short order.

[blue_phlox_farm]

Wow, I find it hard to believe there are horse owners who are encouraging geese to be on their property. Here in SE PA, most property owners wish the geese would all return to Canada. Their droppings pollute the pastures. There are parasites and larvae in their poo. The horses won’t graze where the droppings are, and nor will the geese. They just continue to rip every blade of baby spring grass from the emerging fields and leave the poop roughs for the horses to nose around. I had massive pasture gleening by them years ago until I talked my GSD into “get the goosies”. He would do a quick dash around any of the pastures to send them all in flight. The long-termers have long since moved on but my current GSD will move out the occasional mini flock that stops by to graze. (and before anyone gets in an uproar about my dogs chasing geese… think about how they move them from golf courses. same way. no one gets hurt, and my horses are getting cleaner, safer grass to graze on.)

[SanJacMonument]

We have family up north that enjoy their small flock of Snow geese on the back of their property - the pairs of geese seem to enjoy ample amounts of tall grass and shade trees near their main pond.

They are beautiful birds and fun to watch their families hatch, grow up, and move on. The same pairs of geese return every summer and it has never been over populated.

That section of land isn’t used for horses or cattle - more of a small boggy wetland that is fenced off from the main farm uphill. A lovely use of space for wildlife.

[Megaladon]

[QUOTE=blue phlox farm;6839002]
Wow, I find it hard to believe there are horse owners who are encouraging geese to be on their property. Here in SE PA, most property owners wish the geese would all return to Canada. Their droppings pollute the pastures. There are parasites and larvae in their poo. The horses won’t graze where the droppings are, and nor will the geese. They just continue to rip every blade of baby spring grass from the emerging fields and leave the poop roughs for the horses to nose around. I had massive pasture gleening by them years ago until I talked my GSD into “get the goosies”. He would do a quick dash around any of the pastures to send them all in flight. The long-termers have long since moved on but my current GSD will move out the occasional mini flock that stops by to graze. (and before anyone gets in an uproar about my dogs chasing geese… think about how they move them from golf courses. same way. no one gets hurt, and my horses are getting cleaner, safer grass to graze on.)[/QUOTE]

I guess it only matters if you have limited acreage. And parasites happen, they don’t need geese to get in your pastures, there are plenty of other opportunities to get there via other wildlife that you can’t control.

[Hulk]

[QUOTE=blue phlox farm;6839002]
Wow, I find it hard to believe there are horse owners who are encouraging geese to be on their property. Here in SE PA, most property owners wish the geese would all return to Canada. Their droppings pollute the pastures. There are parasites and larvae in their poo. The horses won’t graze where the droppings are, and nor will the geese. They just continue to rip every blade of baby spring grass from the emerging fields and leave the poop roughs for the horses to nose around. I had massive pasture gleening by them years ago until I talked my GSD into “get the goosies”. He would do a quick dash around any of the pastures to send them all in flight. The long-termers have long since moved on but my current GSD will move out the occasional mini flock that stops by to graze. (and before anyone gets in an uproar about my dogs chasing geese… think about how they move them from golf courses. same way. no one gets hurt, and my horses are getting cleaner, safer grass to graze on.)[/QUOTE]

Well I am very fortunate to have large pastures. And yes I do encourage them, because I have found that the pasture that they frequent has by far and away less mosquitoes, and NO ticks. The other field that they don’t hang out in as much has lots of ticks and seemingly more mosquitoes. I feel they help aid in my horses’ comfort while out to pasture because of this. And as stated by another poster there are plenty of parasite contributing factors out there, not just geese.

[AlmostDun]

My impression is that geese appreciate areas with mowed grass - pretty much any lawn, pasture, golf course, or highway berm. They don’t enjoy fighting their way through taller grass.

Around where I live, the question is how to get the geese to leave, not how to get them to stay. Geese emit four inch long green and white turds the diameter of my thumb. Being primarily grass and weed eaters, they need to push a lot of vegetable matter through their guts in order to meet their caloric needs. It’s worse if you have non migrating geese in a cold weather area. Then the goose turds build up all winter and only start to break down in warm weather. You have no idea how foul one of their hangout spots can become until you’ve seen it. A pair of geese is tolerable. A pair plus all their grandchildren? Not so much.

[FarmerBrown]

Well, unfortunatly the geese are gone. My guess is that they stopped by on their way further south. Maybe they will come back.