Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Wildlife Management Goose take off Pic

Just thought I would share this pretty take off picture my lovely bride took earlier this week.

Cool pic!

I just love seeing geese LEAVING my pond! They sure can make a big mess in a hurry.

Everyone keeps talking about big messes that Canadian Geese make. I know they apparently poop a lot but we have at least two geese on our pond every day and haven't seen any mess. They haven't gotten brave enough to come up to the house yet. I am sure they could make a mess there. Why else do people have such a disdain for geese?

Very nice......!!!




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I think they're vectors for parasites and nuisance/invasive plants

My view after letting two pairs of geese stay on our pond last spring, FWIW….

You’re right that 2 geese don’t make a big mess…for now…..

If the geese decide your pond is a nice place to raise babies, in a few weeks momma goose will come proudly walking out of the bushes with 6 or 8 or more cute little babies. You now have 8 to 10 or more full time geese for the next few months. During this time, the parents will molt and cover your pond will discarded feathers. When those babies are full grown (doesn't take long), momma will teach them to fly but your pond will always be home base for the rest of the year until ice over. Geese live about 20 years and will return to where they successfully raised a brood the year before. The babies, with their new mates, will return to the BOW where they learned to fly to raise their babies. An adult goose poops 1lb+ per day, either on your shore or in the pond. So after 2 years or more, how many geese you got pooping in and around your pond?

And then there are the visitors. When geese see other geese safely grazing a nice lawn, they drop by to visit and poop too!

You wouldn't need to fertilize

You got that right. The FA almost took over the pond when the geese were in there despite our best efforts to control with both mechanical removal and Cutrine.

Chootum!!

Well I found my cure for all feathered creatures today. We recently adopted an eight month old Great Pyrenees / Border Collie mix. She is a great dog. Well she apparently figured out that I hate the Great Blue Heron that frequents our pond. While I was at work today my wife said the dog sprinted down to the water, leaped into the pond and chased off that heathen bird. She came back to the house wagging her tail all proud of herself. My wife did the correct thing of praising her very much. With her roaming around the geese probably won't frequent too often anymore. She doesn't seem to mind the ducks. And when she does chase them they just fly to the other side of the pond.

Canadian geese are invasive. They respect nothing - they crap where they eat. Their poop is a mess, like puddles of algae or baby turds. They are loud. There is nothing soothing about their honking. They bully around other waterfowl. They are difficult to force out once established. They can give a strong peck if you go hand to beak combat.

Remember, if you let them establish you may regret it.

One goose can crap every 20 minutes. That is a lot of feces! Up to 1.5 POUNDS of crap every day per goose.

Still not sure why Canadian Geese get the thumbs down? Let's talk PARASITES! Cryptosporidium. Giardia. Toxoplasma gondii.

No Canadian Goose is welcome 'round these parts. They are noisy, aggressive, disgusting, and they are always the other side of a bottle rocket, roman candle, high pressure hose, you name it.

Trade ya some anhingas and cormorants for your geese any day