Goose poop
Kurt Quackenbush
wading in). All was fine for the first month or so, but now the local
goose population has found the dock and calls it home. Every morning
we're greeted by a flock of geese, and of course, they have deposited
many presents on the dock for us! The first 10 minutes upon arriving
are spent with buckets of river water attempting to flush the dock of
the poop. The floating dock is constructed of Jet Floats (black plastic
blocks) so cleanup isn't too bad, but certainly not a joy first thing in
the morning.
There must be a better way! Prevention rather than cleanup is my hope.
Short of stationing a border collie on shore, does anyone have any ideas
how to keep the birds away? Is there such a thing as goose repellent?
Our site can't possibly be the only one with this kind of problem (can
it?). Thanks in advance.
Kurt Quackenbush -- Mid-Hudson Rowing Association
Richard D. Lewis
One way to control these criters is a goose gun when in
season. Be sure to use steel shot. These an be cooked in a
fund raiser. It is hard to nab them on the fly as most
do not fly too much.
Another way is to intorduce mute swans. These are very
territorial, grab the best waterbird hang-out areas,
and 1 pair will drive out all other birds, (geese, ducks,
teals, etc.) for 1/10 mile in both directions. People
think they are "beautiful" (they are actually very mean to
all other birds) and will line up to buy food from a vending
machine to feed to them.
I introduced two pair in my dock area 3 years ago and they have
keep all other birds away except for sparrows and
the like. Thus far sales of the "swan food" machine have
offset its O&M costs and made a few bucks besides.
Richard Lewis
In article <37CA8052...@us.ibm.com>,
--
Dr. Richard D. Lewis IV
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
UOFMCREW
problem.
A few:
1)Set milk jugs (filled with water for weight) on the dock about15 to 20 ft.
apart. For some reason geese are afraid of them. We have used this in the
past. The problem we run into is that we have a lot of people using our dock
and not all are informed that this is goose repellent and they end up
disgarding them after a period.
2)A fake owl. A scarecrow tactic. The owl is a predatory bird and birds avoid
their area. Problem: Vandals go after them for fun. They wouldn't last where
we row. They are very effective and can be found in some garden supply stores.
3)A "chirper" is a more elaborate deterrent. Some stadiums put them up to
scare away pigeons, but they have a similar influence on geese from what I am
told. This electronic box sends out a high pitched and loud chirp every few
minutes. Problem: expensive and noisy.
Generally we look for the easiest and cheapest ways to deter the critters but
the bottom line is that whatever method is chosen it will create some work and
some maintenance. Good Luck
Gregg Hartsuff
rec.sport.rowing
Felipe
buckets of water.
Try the following: sweep, sweep, dip, dip (to rinse the goose shit off the
broom). Repeat, swabby.
I'll be curious to hear if the owl idea works.
Kurt Quackenbush <ku...@us.ibm.com> wrote in message
news:37CA8052...@us.ibm.com...
M. Kathleen Scanlon
they aren't always particularly fond of rowing craft.
More than one capsize has occured on our lake due to a particularly
agressive (now deceased after attacking the wrong rower and attempting to
drown him) black swan whose memory lives in infamy here in Austin.
We use the push broom method.
"Richard D. Lewis" wrote:
> Each goose deposits approximately 2 lb droppings / day.
> One way to control these criters is a goose gun when in
> season. Be sure to use steel shot. These an be cooked in a
> fund raiser. It is hard to nab them on the fly as most
> do not fly too much.
>
> Another way is to intorduce mute swans. These are very
> territorial, grab the best waterbird hang-out areas,
> and 1 pair will drive out all other birds, (geese, ducks,
> teals, etc.) for 1/10 mile in both directions. People
> think they are "beautiful" (they are actually very mean to
> all other birds) and will line up to buy food from a vending
> machine to feed to them.
>
> I introduced two pair in my dock area 3 years ago and they have
> keep all other birds away except for sparrows and
> the like. Thus far sales of the "swan food" machine have
> offset its O&M costs and made a few bucks besides.
>
> Richard Lewis
>
> In article <37CA8052...@us.ibm.com>,
> Kurt Quackenbush <ku...@us.ibm.com> wrote:
> > We've recently built a new dock for our small club (Yea! Better than
> > wading in). All was fine for the first month or so, but now the local
> > goose population has found the dock and calls it home. Every morning
> > we're greeted by a flock of geese, and of course, they have deposited
> > many presents on the dock for us! The first 10 minutes upon arriving
> > are spent with buckets of river water attempting to flush the dock of
> > the poop. The floating dock is constructed of Jet Floats (black
> plastic
> > blocks) so cleanup isn't too bad, but certainly not a joy first thing
> in
> > the morning.
> >
> > There must be a better way! Prevention rather than cleanup is my
> hope.
> > Short of stationing a border collie on shore, does anyone have any
> ideas
> > how to keep the birds away? Is there such a thing as goose repellent?
> > Our site can't possibly be the only one with this kind of problem (can
> > it?). Thanks in advance.
> >
> > Kurt Quackenbush -- Mid-Hudson Rowing Association
> >
> >
>
Dennis M. Whelan
several methods, and am still working on a foole-proofe one.
Childrens pinwheels toys work well, but children take them.
I strung up clothes line between low detachable fences at each of the small ends
of the dock, and put it in place while not in use. The novice crew broke it the
first day when they dipped their riggers into the dock and caught the fence.
I am now experimenting with "bird tape" (highly reflective foil) in 2-3 foot
lenghts threaded through the two holes in each of the locking pins on the jet
float assembly.
The search continues...
>
Mrjkowal
Virginia Park uses a sump pump, hose and timer to train water onto the dock.
S
dock, around three feet high (between slings) and putting flags on the rope
(the triangular ones like you see at car dealers). The flapping of the
flags has mostly kept them away.
Yes, it works.
Brian D Harms
>>I'll be curious to hear if the owl idea works.
There's a plastic owl at the MIT boathouse, and it's a miserable failure.
BDH
Mike Fenner
safely scares away the birds.
UOFMCREW <uofm...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:19990830114031...@ng-fo1.aol.com...
Leslie
Richard D. Lewis <lewis...@my-deja.com> writes:
> Each goose deposits approximately 2 lb droppings / day.
> One way to control these criters is a goose gun when in
> season. Be sure to use steel shot. These an be cooked in a
> fund raiser. It is hard to nab them on the fly as most
> do not fly too much.
>
> Another way is to intorduce mute swans. These are very
> territorial, grab the best waterbird hang-out areas,
> and 1 pair will drive out all other birds, (geese, ducks,
> teals, etc.) for 1/10 mile in both directions. People
> think they are "beautiful" (they are actually very mean to
> all other birds) and will line up to buy food from a vending
> machine to feed to them.
>
> I introduced two pair in my dock area 3 years ago and they have
> keep all other birds away except for sparrows and
> the like. Thus far sales of the "swan food" machine have
> offset its O&M costs and made a few bucks besides.
>
> Richard Lewis
In the US Canada geese are protected in most places (god knows they're
prolific as hell, but they lucked out being lumped in with migratory
waterfowl) and mute swans are considered deleterious species for the
reasons you mentioned above. They grab habitat from Trumpeter and
Tundra swans causing endangered species to be more endangered. Around
Seattle Mutes are usually captured and at least neutered and often
euthanized. To introduce neutered swans (they're just as mean as
functional ones) you need a ton of permits and stuff. Other remedies
for goose overrun would be less trouble and more environmentally
acceptable. (In get lost magazine dot com there's an article on geese
on a dock in the archives section, written by a rower...)
Leslie Strom
http://www.GetLostMagazine.com
A Journal of Natural and Unnatural Events
Felipe
Leslie <lstrom...@halcyon.com> wrote in message
news:7qi50d$qu3$1...@brokaw.wa.com...[snip]
> >
> > Another way is to intorduce mute swans.
[snip]
> In the US Canada geese are protected in most places (god knows they're
> prolific as hell, but they lucked out being lumped in with migratory
> waterfowl)
What's especially ironic about this is that people on the east coast spend
as much as a grand a day to shoot them ... Crows are similarly protected:
you can't keep 'em as pets, but you can shoot 'em out of the trees (and I
think you can still poison them) at the right time of year. Strange laws.
and mute swans are considered deleterious species for the
> reasons you mentioned above. They grab habitat from Trumpeter and
> Tundra swans causing endangered species to be more endangered. Around
> Seattle Mutes are usually captured and at least neutered and often
> euthanized. To introduce neutered swans (they're just as mean as
> functional ones) you need a ton of permits and stuff. Other remedies
> for goose overrun would be less trouble and more environmentally
> acceptable. (In get lost magazine dot com there's an article on geese
> on a dock in the archives section, written by a rower...)
>
> Leslie Strom
> http://www.GetLostMagazine.com
> A Journal of Natural and Unnatural Events
I notice from your magazine that Frank Cunningham's classic will have three
video companions soon. That's something worth posting on this ng.
Actually, that's really cool.
engelbrecht-wiggans richard
> > One way to control these criters is a goose gun when in
Two years ag, we had a goose problem on the lake behind our
house: up to 1000 geese at one time on 6 acres of water, poop
so thick on shore that one couldn't get the water anywhere with
out stepping in poop, and total coliform counts so high that we
discouraged residents from swimming. Someone told use that
geese like being on water to avoid predators, need to go ashore
to relieve themselves, and won't waddle over or under a string
about 12" above the ground. So I went to the local farm supply
store, bought two hundred 3/8" by 4 foot long fiberglass posts and
two miles of orange plastic bailing twine, and put up a string
fence. (Given the unevenness often shoreline, I put up two strings,
one 6 to 12" off the ground and the second about 6" higher.)
The following year, we never had more than one dozen geese stay for
more than a few minutes. It is virtually impossible to find any
goose poop. And the coliform count has dropped by two orders of
magnitude. Outsiders laugh, but we consider it the best $175 that
the neighborhood ever spent.
Richard.
Richard Engelbrecht-Wiggans, U of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois
email: epl...@uiuc.edu; (217) 333-1088
Leslie
"Felipe" <pjo...@email.villanova.edu> writes:
>
> Leslie <lstrom...@halcyon.com> wrote in message
> news:7qi50d$qu3$1...@brokaw.wa.com...
> > In article <7qe6ea$pu2$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>
> > Richard D. Lewis <lewis...@my-deja.com> writes:
> >
We'll be shooting and editing them (finally) this fall. The reprint of
the book _The Sculler At Ease_ is going to be in our hands Friday. It's
paperback and very useful. Good read, too.
Trevor Chambers
>
> Two years ag, we had a goose problem on the lake behind our
> house: up to 1000 geese at one time on 6 acres of water, poop
> so thick on shore that one couldn't get the water anywhere with
> out stepping in poop, and total coliform counts so high that we
> discouraged residents from swimming. Someone told use that
> geese like being on water to avoid predators, need to go ashore
> to relieve themselves, and won't waddle over or under a string
> about 12" above the ground. So I went to the local farm supply
> store, bought two hundred 3/8" by 4 foot long fiberglass posts and
> two miles of orange plastic bailing twine, and put up a string
> fence. (Given the unevenness often shoreline, I put up two strings,
> one 6 to 12" off the ground and the second about 6" higher.)
>
Excellent! And I thought that it was only the farmers in our club who
insisted that bailing twine is "the answer" to all rowing problems yet
encountered!
Trevor
Sudbury RC
Ken
produced results:
Grape Cool-Aid powder. Waterfowl are said to dislike the odor of the
grape flavoring. If it works, you can buy the active ingredient (I
forget its name), which if I recall is colorless.
Clorox. Put a few bottles on the dock with small holes just under
the cap to let a controlled amount of the odor out.
Ken
(to reply via email
remove "zz" from address)
Richard D. Lewis
People can say all the bad things they want about the
Mute Swans, but hey they work real well! Not only is all
of that goose poop gone but a huge quanity of the local yah
hoos believe the Mutes are beautiful, gracious, noble, likeable,
loveable, cute and just plain great. "Why weren't they
here before ?"
Persons will line up in frount of an loose candy machine
(like those where you recieve a handfull of peanuts for a
coin and a crank of the handle) and put quarters in the darn
thing all day ! The device needs no batteries, electrical hookup
or heavy maintainance. People recieve a bit of duck kibble and
want to keep the swans happy ! I once saw a hungry rower try
some out ! She won her heat so it must have been okay !
I personally find them aggressive and nasty, espically to other
water fowl birds. I have never seen them take out after a
sculler, but then you must first ask, what was the sculler
doing to the bird ? I once saw a sculler flip a motor boater the
bird, so maybe that was a factor in the above case. If a Mute
becomes very ill tempered to others they can always be netted.
The idea that they mate for life is a real fairy tale and
they seem to re-pair in a few weeks.
We practice addling (shaking the eggs in the nest)
so they do not hatch. When one local yah hoo saw this
happening they became quite upset. As, "we were destroying
one of our nation's treasures !". So if the locals think
these birds are great treasures and are willing to pony up
quarters to keep them on the job, who am I to argue ?
Another person suggested that we move the dock (to a better
area that previously the city did not want us to use) so that
we would distrub the Mute Swans less ! The ploy actually
worked !
Many of the town folk will come down to the dock just to
see the cities' "magnificent" swans. When was the last time
you had someone buy an ice cream, just stand there looking
at your watch dog, and then payed you to throw kibble at it?
Think about it the next time you step on the goose poop.
Richard Lewis
Kurt Quackenbush
ideas and see what happens. If any method turns out to be a clear
leader, I'll let the group know.
Ken
Ajax3976
off the docks with a hoe. Seems to work a little bit, *and* it's entertaining.
=)
~AJ~