Thanks for the great feedback! I am not particularly adverse to shooting the critters, but my wife and 3 year old son love watching the geese (he has actually named a couple of them) and I would not win any favor at home if they suddenly disappeared... I might try some loud noise deterrents and see if that helps - I just can't always be there when the feeder goes off. As far as dogs go, we actually have two labs. Unfortunately, they seem to like the geese as well - especially all of the snacks the geese leave for them in the back yard. When the dogs run out back after I let them out in the morning the geese don't even give them a second look and the dogs are just nose down snacking on goose turds in a matter of seconds.

Regarding the feed times - I am admittedly a total amateur at all of this. If 3 times a day for 12 seconds seems too long - what might be more appropriate? When the feeder goes off I would estimate I see the bream splashing on the food for about ten minutes at the current setting.