How to get rid of geese

How do you get rid of geese that have decided to call your property home? To answer that question, you must take a hard look as to why the geese are there in the first place.

What’s attracting geese to your property?

It’s simple, geese need food and water. If you have a pond it is much more difficult to scare geese away as they may decide to reside there. If the geese are only on your property to feed, it is much easier to use the following techniques to cause them to go elsewhere.

How to scare the geese away in a humane manner

• Take away the food. Remove all birdfeeders and wildlife feeders on the property for a season. As the geese come back to the area, they realize there is no longer food, and eventually will stop coming back.
• Use a goose repellent or grass treatment. Try using Flight Control and re-apply after every grass cutting. FYI: most grape-based products are ineffective.
• Use a DIY goose repellent. Take an empty laundry detergent bottle, fill it with rocks, and tie a rope around it. Walk toward the geese shaking the bottle to scare the geese away. The geese will associate fear with the laundry bottle. Every time you see them in your yard, take the bottle and throw it toward them. DO NOT hit the geese with your shaker.
• Prevent the geese from nesting. If you know where geese have nested on your property before, go to those past nesting sites and place a large, heavy object there (so the geese can’t move it). Maybe a heavy, decorative rock. If you see geese hanging around the nesting site, come back with the DIY laundry detergent bottle shaker to scare them off.

WARNING: if the goose succeeds in laying an egg in a nest, you must cease all goose repellent and scare tactics immediately, and apply for a permit from the Ohio Division of Wildlife.

What if my property has a pond?

If you have a pond on your property, it is more difficult to scare geese or even get rid of a single goose from your pond. We didn’t say impossible though, so here are some tactics:

• Use your shaker to make noise and throw out in the pond as far as you can every time you see them. Even if they don’t leave each time, you still are an annoyance to them and hopefully this causes the geese leave on their own.
• Grid your pond with wire if it is not too large. Run wire across your pond in 12-inch checker board squares 8-inches off the water. The grid will be too small and too low for geese to land or walk in. Don’t worry, mallard ducks should not have a problem.
• If you see any nesting areas on the pond, utilize the same four tactics given at the beginning of this article. And remember, if a goose does lay an egg, stop all goose scaring tactics immediately and please contact the Ohio Division of Wildlife for the proper permit.

How often do I need to scare the geese?

Scaring geese away from your home, business, or property is a time-consuming process that must be done every day. Once your resident birds are evicted, the entire process of re-infestation can start again if you do not continue to employ the scare techniques to any new goose that visit. That is why Go Geese Go excels. Our only job is to scare geese away and keep your property as goose free as possible.

So, what does Go Geese Go do and how are they humane?

Go Geese Go uses highly trained working dogs that visit your property twice a day. The birds perceive the dogs as predators and they will simply choose to live somewhere else. A heavily infested property may take several years of service to modify the bird’s behavior, but when that is achieved, new birds will not be allowed to call your property “home” any more.

Go Geese Go is a humane solution as we go to great lengths to ensure the birds are not harmed. There is no magic goose repellent chemical, light, noise maker, distress call, fake coyote or pond design that will 100% scare geese away. But a live perceived predator invading their “home” day after day after day works every time! Our favorite properties to work with include:

• Corporate campuses
• Class “A” office buildings
• Shopping centers
• Hospitals
• Medical facilities
• Apartment complexes
• Homeowner associations

Go Geese Go services the Columbus and Central Ohio area. For more information on our services and how we work, call the geese experts today (614) 841-GONE (4663) or request a free on-site consultation.