Ideas to keep a goose pond cleaner?

[PhantomSlayer]

We have a small pond in our new goose run maybe 100-200 gallons and I'm at a loss on how to deal with keeping clean.

Biggest problem. I can't run electricity out to it as its to far and we can't add a drain. Otherwise I would have taken the shop vac to it.

My dad told me to just run fresh water in it and overflow it but thats just a VERY inefficient way to attempt cleaning it. And a large waste of water.

I thought about looking at it from a former fish keepers view. That would be adding helpful bacteria, plants and maybe a few algae loving creatures.

But whatever I add needs to be safe for and from a domestic goose lol. Which is another reason I cannot simply add a solar powered pump or filter to it. Those jerks are prone to chewing cords like their tasty snacks. Only took a week for them to destroyed a cord for our solar chicken door even after covering 99% of it with pvc pipe.

And ontop of adding plants and creatures to the pond. I live in michigan. The pond isn't deep enough to escape freezing more than likely. So I'd have replace, rehome or store whatever plants/creatures. So expensive things are a no go.

 

[AGeese]

We have a small pond in our new goose run maybe 100-200 gallons and I'm at a loss on how to deal with keeping clean.

Biggest problem. I can't run electricity out to it as its to far and we can't add a drain. Otherwise I would have taken the shop vac to it.

My dad told me to just run fresh water in it and overflow it but thats just a VERY inefficient way to attempt cleaning it. And a large waste of water.

I thought about looking at it from a former fish keepers view. That would be adding helpful bacteria, plants and maybe a few algae loving creatures.

But whatever I add needs to be safe for and from a domestic goose lol. Which is another reason I cannot simply add a solar powered pump or filter to it. Those jerks are prone to chewing cords like their tasty snacks. Only took a week for them to destroyed a cord for our solar chicken door even after covering 99% of it with pvc pipe.

And ontop of adding plants and creatures to the pond. I live in michigan. The pond isn't deep enough to escape freezing more than likely. So I'd have replace, rehome or store whatever plants/creatures. So expensive things are a no go.

Is this pond in or above ground? Sounds like it will be a nice mud puddle for your feathered hippos. I'd probably look at it as more of a rock garden that captures water. Picking out grasses is an upcoming step for me so I can't really recommend any in particular. You might consider potted plants that you can easily remove/replace as needed.

 

[PhantomSlayer]

Is this pond in or above ground? Sounds like it will be a nice mud puddle for your feathered hippos. I'd probably look at it as more of a rock garden that captures water. Picking out grasses is an upcoming step for me so I can't really recommend any in particular. You might consider potted plants that you can easily remove/replace as needed.

It's in the ground. Its more like an algae puddle its really green lol. It probably does get atleast 8 hours of sun. It does get morning shade though.

Feathered hippos sounds about right lol. My dad keeps telling people I'm a goose whisperer x.x

I was highly considering duckweed. It was one thing I really wanted to get when I was still fish keeping but I stopped before I had the money. I heard it's nearly impossible to get rid of once you toss it in. Not sure if thats true with two geese but its worth a shot lol.

But potted plants on the bottom sounds like the best option. I just dont know what because it has to be something the geese wont get sick from eating.

 

[AGeese]

Goose language is real my neighbor is like that with mine when he comes over they got all kind of things to say to him, but not me. Well maybe you could setup a bell siphon aquaponic system since you don't have electricity you can run for a pump?

 

[PhantomSlayer]

Goose language is real my neighbor is like that with mine when he comes over they got all kind of things to say to him, but not me. Well maybe you could setup a bell siphon aquaponic system since you don't have electricity you can run for a pump?

XD Their probably tattling on you lol. That looks interesting! I'll look more into it. I decided I'm going to delay anything till next year. I don't want to store anything this winter lol but I've got a list of things I'm looking into or planning to get for next year.

I really wish I could run electricity out there. Geese are so messy lol Even a cheap pump running a day or two a week would probably be so much more helpful.

Our geese are also mad at me today. Yesterday I put them in our fenced in garden because my brothers dog was running loose so now they aren't listening to me at all today lol.

 

[Berd Man]

We have a pond that has been trampled and eroded by years of waterfowl. We considered the costs of dredging, adding tons of rip rap stones, and eventually settled on giving the pond seasonal rests and investing in native pond plants like: Water Lotus, Blue flag iris, Pickerel Rush, Cattails, duckweed, water lilies, and deep rooted grasses (feather grasses).

We had to fence the plants off from fish and waterfowl that eat them. Hopefully after a few seasons the pond is more of an ecosystem than a mud hole.

 

[PhantomSlayer]

We have a pond that has been trampled and eroded by years of waterfowl. We considered the costs of dredging, adding tons of rip rap stones, and eventually settled on giving the pond seasonal rests and investing in native pond plants like: Water Lotus, Blue flag iris, Pickerel Rush, Cattails, duckweed, water lilies, and deep rooted grasses (feather grasses).

We had to fence the plants off from fish and waterfowl that eat them. Hopefully after a few seasons the pond is more of an ecosystem than a mud hole.

My parents didn't think to much about it when putting it in. Just dug a hole put a pond liner over it and filled it and put fencing around it with some ground area to make the goose pen.

Duckweed is the winner more than likely. Maybe one or two water lilies. If I could invest in some soil then maybe some of the other stuff inside the deeper part. But doing any edge plants will have to wait because theres no barrier to keep soil from falling into the pond. Or me for that matter lol.

For creatures. I was thinking more along the lines of maybe snails/shrimp. As for fish. Maybe some cheap goldfish. Or I'll let mother nature take care of that as in frogs or turtles finding their way in there lol. We've had both happen in our garden pond. And I was actually out there attempting to pull out some branches and objects that fell in with a rake from the bottom the other day and a decent size frog came hopping up out of there and went toward the trees XD I was surprised to find out they had a roomie lol.

 

[AGeese]

My parents didn't think to much about it when putting it in. Just dug a hole put a pond liner over it and filled it and put fencing around it with some ground area to make the goose pen.

Duckweed is the winner more than likely. Maybe one or two water lilies. If I could invest in some soil then maybe some of the other stuff inside the deeper part. But doing any edge plants will have to wait because theres no barrier to keep soil from falling into the pond. Or me for that matter lol.

For creatures. I was thinking more along the lines of maybe snails/shrimp. As for fish. Maybe some cheap goldfish. Or I'll let mother nature take care of that as in frogs or turtles finding their way in there lol. We've had both happen in our garden pond. And I was actually out there attempting to pull out some branches and objects that fell in with a rake from the bottom the other day and a decent size frog came hopping up out of there and went toward the trees XD I was surprised to find out they had a roomie lol.

Yep exactly what I did, but decided to tear it back down for the same reasons. This is where I started and am back to now. I have more tarps, but decided to also buy some fibrous concrete.

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[fowltemptress]

Haha, my solution for keeping my pond clean was to fence the pasture off and cut off all access to the pond! The birds get nothing but easily dumped and cleaned plastic pools and rubber tubs now, and I swear the pond heaved a huge sigh of relief the first day it was finally free of them.