The Feathers of Flightless Geese
Are you seeing stray geese feathers everywhere?
Canada geese lose their flight feathers at the same time to rejuvenate them and get ready for fall migration. Unlike song birds that will lose one feather at a time throughout the year. Geese are unable to fly during this time period. They will hop off the ground a couple of feet, but not go any great distance.
Why is this a problem?
This molting season of geese is very frustrating for home owners, office complexes, city parks, hospitals and other urban areas. Geese will begin molting late June and continue through July in Ohio. Also, those cute little yellow goslings have grown in size and now look very similar to the adults. What was a pleasant 4 or 5 geese in spring has turned into 20-30 geese. This is quite a mess. Each goose can produce 1-2 pounds of droppings a day, and if they can’t fly away, your property is getting really messy.
Not all harassment techniques work during the molting season. Geese need water, food and safety to survive. Most urban environments provide this combination. If they are settled in by the time molting begins, it is harder to move them along. Also, if your property has the only water feature in the area the geese will always come back.
What can you do during molting season to keep the Canada geese away?
- Harassment techniques have some affect. This will disturb the geese enough to leave your property later.
- Walking geese off the property will get them to leave temporarily. The only way they will stay away longer, is if there is another property with a manicured lawn and water feature nearby.
- Consider putting temporary fencing up once the geese are off the property. They cannot fly, so will be unable to get back to the location easily.
- Chemical repellents are affective to deter geese from eating your grass. Most repellents will need to be reapplied after rain or mowing. If there is no other water source in the area, the geese will still be attracted to your pond.
It is important to remember that geese are protected under the Migratory Bird Act. This federal law makes it illegal to harm geese, goslings, eggs or active nests without proper permits. The best solution to your geese problems are to call experts in Canada geese management. Ohio Geese Control will develop a program that can get rid of geese before they become a bigger problem in June and July.
Call us at 877-914-3733 and we can help you start your geese solutions right away.
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