Will swans chase away geese?

A couple of months ago my brother asked me about acquiring swans. Well, he does know I have chickens. Not sure if he is aware I have a trio of ducks and a couple of geese or not. I asked some questions about why, and gradually the exchange ceased without me really understanding the information he wanted.


Conversation resumed today. His neighborhood has a small lake (about 2 acres). And many canadian geese--who eat the grass down to bare dirt and make huge messes. Their landscaper told them to plant bushes to make the lake less hospitable, and "he should know better than anyone how to make the lake less attractive to the geese." That bushes will hide predators, so the geese will be scared to be in a place with bushes. Personally I think the geese will enjoy the shade and ability to HIDE from predators. And the landscaper will enjoy the dollars earned from his scam to sell extra bushes.

I'm not sure if the idea of swans to chase off the canadians originated with the landscaper or elsewhere. It does sound like there are too many geese for the area (he said about 200). What I am not sure of is whether two swans would be able to chase off that many geese, and second, whether a two acre lake is small enough to make the swans refuse to share it at all, as compared with selecting various parts for different flocks.

I suggested that he talk to his state's Game and Fish Department or the Fish and Wildlife Service for ideas on controlling the overpopulation, and making the lake less appealing to the geese.

So, will swans chase away the geese? Will bushes chase them away? Alternative suggestions?

BTW, I personally like canadians, and if I had a lake would welcome them.

My mute swan hates geese, and chases them until they fly off the pond.

In a town I once lived in they brought in a pair of swans to hopefully keep down the goose population. The geese had gotten out of control because everyone in town would feed them bread so they never left! Can't really say it worked, though. I guess they should have done it sooner and bought more swans.

Black swans are more tolerant of other fowl, but white swans and others do not like to share their water. I would get an adult pair, as babys raised with other fowl would defeat the purpose.

I absolutley, positively, guarantee that you would not welcome those masked Canadian terrorists if you owned and lived on waterfront property. I live on a lakefront property, and have a picnic area right on the waterfront with a beautiful lawn that took much time and $ to keep. As few as 4 or 5 of these winged beasts from hell can turn a postcard landscape into a toxic waste dump in a matter of days. They eat every blade of grass down to bare dirt, and leave piles of greasy green stink nuggets on every square inch of ground. Once they "claim" a piece of land, every method of deterrant will fail, short of sending them to the big pond in the sky. If you scream and throw rocks at them, they leave only to return 5 minutes later with friends. One year, I put stakes in the ground along the entire waterfront, and ran plastic yellow caution tape along the stakes to try to fence them off. The next day it looked like an actual crime scene down there, complete with yellow tape. Well, the tape that was left after they tore most of it down and made nesting material with it!!!

As far as the swans holding them off, well I don't know. I think bringing in "giant white geese" with bad attitudes would be like burning your house down to kill the termites. However, I do own a pair of Sebastopol geese that are very territorial, and have done a good job keeping the canucks away last sumer, but this years plague hasn't arrived yet.

I LOVE Canadian Geese................................................dead ones...................

Yep.. talk to the city and see if a few days during the hunting season they can be shot. There is a local sod farm within city limits and they are allowed to shoot a couple days each fall... They just have to be shooting a certain direction and so far away from houses. Give me a call, I'd love to help out!

Travis

I love my Canadian geese......... but I do understand they can be real problems in numbers.

This post absolutely made me laugh! I did my undergraduate and masters degrees at Edinboro University (about 10 miles south of Lake Erie in Pennsylvania) - our campus has a fake lake. Well, the geese loved our little fake lake, and what a MESS! During breeding season, you had to take the "long way" to classes - because they not only claimed the water and the field, but the sidewalk too! Unless you wanted shoes covered in poo, a broken arm or bruised legs from nasty ganders, you avoided that sidewalk! It was like walking amongst a mass of green land mines! I've had geese before - they are messy - but they were confined. Unrestricted breeding "Canadian Terrorists" as you call them, are no cup of tea...

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Swans have been known to actually kill geese. If they get a good enough grip on the goose, its in trouble. Yes, swans put a woopin of geese.

Uh, um, well sometimes they like each other........My swan and his wild friends get along fine. Right now there are a pair of Canada Geese, an American Coot and a Shoveler sharing the pond with him and this is the time of year they would be most territorial so I think it depends on the individual.

This is my mute swan, Barry.



I'd guess that he tolerates these invaders because the pond has plenty of space but they don't avoid each other or squabble.