Lagoon Septic Area OK?

[bubba1358]

I have a lagoon septic on my property that gets overgrown with grass and weeds. It's a pain to kept it trimmed with all of the contours. I was wondering if geese would do OK in there. I have some frogs living in the water now, and had a snapping turtle until a drought killed it. The water has been filtered through a septic tank first, so it's not raw sewage or anything. The area is fenced. I was wondering if keeping some geese on the inside would help keep the vegetation down. Would swimming in the water harm them? I would definitely provide a bucket of fresh drinking water next to a shelter I'd build - prob run a hose line to it and refill daily. (On the topic, would geese use a nipple waterer?) And, they would be able to get out - there's a small opening in one corner where it dips and the fence doesn't touch the ground - large enough for a human to crawl through, and certainly big enough for a goose.

Thoughts? Thanks!

 

[Goose and Fig]

If frogs thrive there, it would probably be ok, but I would get a water test kit to find out what bacteria you might have just in case. You will probably still have to do some kind of maintenance on greenery that geese won't eat. And they won't eat it if its already tall- you should start with it kind of low and they eat the new growth on stuff.

They can't use a nipple waterer- they have to be able to dip their bills in water to clear out their nares.

And put some kind of fencing around the area so snappers can't get in.

 

[bubba1358]

Thanks! Good to know. The snapper died last year in the big drought we had, but the frogs remain - they're huge! I would cut the vegetation down short and pull up what they don;t eat by the root - like I do for my sheep already. So I'd need a water test, shelter and a bucket. This is great, thanks for the suggestions.

 

[gryeyes]

I had to remove the nipple watering system I had in the yard for the flock when I got geese.... Their curiosity was its undoing. They managed to get the metal valve OUT of two of the nipples, rendering the thing useless.

I knew they wouldn't use it but was surprised, because they loved to play with the drips, so they'd bill the nipples mercilessly.