How to Get Rid of Geese From Eating Grass Seeds
Putting in the hard work of seeding your lawn is well worth the effort because it is cheaper than sodding your property. However, all that hard work can go for nothing when birds, such as geese, decide to eat the seeds. Geese are opportunistic animals and will take a readily available meal such as your freshly seeded lawn over the hard work of scavenging for sprouts and roots. A number of simple measures can keep them away and allow your seeds to grow into a lush, green lawn. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Predator decoys
- Portable battery-powered radio
- Bird distress call tape/CD
- Dog
Instructions
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Place a predator decoy in the yard. The presence of a predator decoy makes geese feel unsafe and prompts them to find other ground to occupy. Move the decoy every other day to give the appearance of a live predator. If you can't find predator decoys, try a dead goose decoy. Geese are intelligent birds, and the presence of a dead one warns other geese of unsafe territory.
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Play a recorded CD of distress calls from other types of birds that frequent your yard. Place a portable stereo under a bush or in a tree near your seeded lawn and turn the volume to high. Turn the CD on repeat and allow the stereo to play during daylight hours. The distressed calls emitted from the radio warn incoming geese that something is making other birds nervous, driving them away from your lawn.
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Use a dog to scare away the geese. Turn the dog loose on the lawn and allow it to bark and chase away the geese. Herding dogs, such as Australian shepherds and Australian cattle dogs, have extremely high prey drives and will chase and bark at the geese while trying to herd them. Geese are relatively low-energy birds and dislike being chased, so two or three sessions of being disturbed by the dogs should encourage the birds to feed elsewhere.
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Tips & Warnings
Dead goose decoys are available at some sporting goods and pet supply stores. If your local stores don't carry them, you can order them online.
If you do not have a herding breed of dog, you can turn most any breed of dog out to control geese. Most dogs have a prey drive and will chase away pests.
It may take some trial and error to find what works to keep your lawn geese-free. If one method does not seem to be working, move onto the next until you find an appropriate solution.
Don't use a chemical pest deterrent on your lawn. Chemicals can harm your lawn and may prevent proper seed growth.
References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images
