Unwanted geese! I need some ideas of how to get rid of geese that are in my pond. (besides killing them).?

Question:We have 7 geese in our backyard pond (2 adults & 5 babies). They are making a huge mess! We dont want to kill them but they cant stay. What are some good ways of making them leave and not return next year? We cant have loud noises or bright lights due to neighbors. Please help! The mess and the smell have got to go!

Answers:
Due to the limitations that you have in getting rid of the geese, there are only two options, repellent and decoys.

Repellent is placed on surrounding grass and flowers and the smell and taste from the repellent should prevent the geese from feeding and eventually they will move on. A good one that is also environmentaly friendly is http://www.bio-defend.com/catalog.aspx?c... The one problem is that if your neighbours don't use the repellent also, the geese will simply eat in their yards and return to your pond.

Decoys include anything that mimics a natural goose predator, such as hawks and alligators. Placing these decoys around the pond should scare away any geese. There have also been people that placed geese decoys on their sides as though they were dead. Eventually this also worked in scaring away the geese. The problem with decoys is that in your case you already have a resident population. Decoys work best at preventing new birds from moving in, but have limited efectiveness against resident birds.

some people also use fences and wires to keep geese out, but they are expensive, hard to maintain, and have a very limited success rate.

Your best option is probably to use repellent and decoys. You might also consider speaking with your neighbors and getting their permission to use load noises during a limited time against the birds. This should scare them away, once the goslings are large enough to fly. You can then place decoys to prevent any geese from moving in again.

If none of these options work, your state should have an animal control group that will remove the birds to another location. They might charge for the service, but it is worth looking into.