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Away with Geese

When I tell people that we bought a lakehouse, they often stare at me wistfully.  I
feel uncomfortable with this, so I tend to launch into a discussion of
goose poop, and detail in depth how geese are attracted to our yard and how much poop they deposit on the lawn.  Speaking of which, did you know that each Canada
goose poops three to fours pounds worth of excrement a day?  Not to be gross, but see all those brown things that look like dead leaves? 

Those aren’t leaves.

At first, the only thing that would scare the geese away was if I ran toward
them at full tilt (through the poop gauntlet), making “quackquackquack”
sounds and waving my arms.  I’m hardly fit enough to maintain that kind of security system, and Szuka was no help, so I took to the internet to find a solution for keeping the geese off the lawn.  I stumbled across a fabulous, family-owned business (Away with Geese) that developed  and sells humane, noiseless goose deterrents with a 97% success rate.

Over the fall I tried out two Away with Geese units: a water unit and a dock unit
Unfortunately, the boat left with the house was a little less
sea-worthy than we thought so for now we re-purposed the water unit as a
second land unit and both worked perfectly.  I waited until now to share my review because I also wanted to know how well they would hold up if left installed through insanely cold temps.  They are still out there, softly blinking, ready for the first goose come spring.  When the bay thaws we’ll move the water unit out to
the lake and I’m certain that the geese won’t be coming anywhere near our
land or our piece of Lake Superior (I’d prefer our water poop-free too). The water unit is good for a 75 yard radius. 

It took a few weeks (it could take a bit longer), but
eventually the geese moved on to greener pastures and we reclaimed
the lawn.  The grass started to grow again!  This is how they work: an amber 360-degree solar powered light flashes every two seconds during the night.  Humans barely see it, but it disrupts the sleep of geese so the area no longer feels like a secure location.  A few restless nights later, the geese move on to a more comfortable environment.  The light is dim and not troublesome to humans (I actually find it comforting when it is pitch black outside), and needs no maintenance.  It irritates the geese (mwahahahaha!), but harms them in no way.   You can read more about it here, plus Handy Hubby made a little video:

The units are small and cute, so they don’t interfere with the view – or playtime!

After contacting Away With Geese to review their product, I was provided with two units.  I approached them because their product seemed like an ideal solution: low maintenance and humane, with a proven success rate.  By mapping out our location, the team at Away with Geese even figured out a customized pairing of units to work best on our property.  I am genuinely impressed and have recommended Away with Geese to all of my neighbours.  I really love that it is an American-based, family-run business.  As the daughter of a small business owner I can appreciate the importance of supporting family-run businesses.  Should one of our neighbours ever decide to punk one of these fabulous devices, I will happily part with my own cash to replace it.  It works that well.  

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14 Comments

  1. Dora
    January 24, 2014 / 4:26 pm

    "those aren't leaves" :)) This post was so funny to read. I'm glad you found such an ingenious solution to the goose problem. P.S. your back yard is gorgeous!

    • Tanya from Dans le Townhouse
      January 24, 2014 / 10:58 pm

      I'm happy I could provide a giggle or two. This has been such a hilarious problem, but ultimately a nuisance I'm happy to be rid of. They especially loved to camp out by our fire pit. No five second rule with dropped marshmallows!

  2. Jordana @WhiteCabana
    January 24, 2014 / 4:29 pm

    Huh – such an interesting product. Would never have thought something like this existed – I'm such an urban gal! Glad your lawn is now goose-free.

    • Tanya from Dans le Townhouse
      January 24, 2014 / 10:57 pm

      I am also a (formerly) urban gal and this is all new terrain for me. Although Hubby is a country mouse, he lived way out in the sticks and geese didn't trouble him there. I never thought about goose poop when I day dreamed about a a house on the lake, lol.

  3. Dana@Mid2Mod
    January 24, 2014 / 8:03 pm

    I wish I'd had those at my last house. It was near a small man-made lake in a park, and I had ducks and geese pooping on my driveway all the time.

    • Tanya from Dans le Townhouse
      January 24, 2014 / 11:00 pm

      Oh no!! Such a pain. Sometimes ours would lurk in the woods, too, slowly walking by the property, sounding very much like what I imagine the Walking Dead sound like. I am certain they were trying to drive me away so they could have the yard to themselves. Apparently they can bite, too.

  4. Katchups
    January 24, 2014 / 8:04 pm

    Those sound awesome! I once rented an apartment near a paved river trail. And walking the dog in the morning was an exercise in dog/leash navigation. Duck and goose poo is really gross. I couldn't imagine having that mess in the back yard! I'm so glad you found a humane solution!

    • Tanya from Dans le Townhouse
      January 24, 2014 / 11:01 pm

      I'm really happy with the Away with Geese units because, as you said, the poop is awful. I can only imagine how much you dreaded walks with your dog with geese to temp your pup!! Yuck.

  5. Michelle @ AM Dolce Vita
    January 25, 2014 / 7:05 pm

    I am so jealous you have such a big yard and lawn back onto lake. My dream cottage would have exactly that. Glad to hear your goose problem has been taken care of.

    • Tanya from Dans le Townhouse
      January 30, 2014 / 5:45 am

      The only plus of the geese was that they kept the lawn trim, lol. We didn't cut our lawn at all this fall. I'm excited to enjoy a poop-free spring, but wonder how much care a yard like this needs? Such a huge change from the condo-townhouse!

  6. Casey @Waffling
    January 28, 2014 / 2:30 am

    What a great product! My dad's neighbourhood has a pack of geese that never migrate and they are PURE EVIL! They arent afraid of people or cars and I used to be so afraid to walk near them because they were mean!!

    • Tanya from Dans le Townhouse
      January 30, 2014 / 5:46 am

      They can be super mean. Don't they bite, too? Ours were pretty fearless, strutting around like they owned the place until I start running toward them full tilt. I don't recommend it. I have no idea what I would have done if they'd started running toward me . . .

  7. David Luck
    December 9, 2016 / 11:24 pm

    Two years later, are you still goose free?

    • Tanya from Dans le Lakehouse
      December 13, 2016 / 5:13 pm

      Sort of. The units do what they're designed to do and keep the geese from sleeping here at night which, for awhile, kept them away entirely. But they found a new place to sleep and nest and still wanted to come over here to snack. So we put up a short fence and that seemed to work until they started coming over through the neighbor's yard. The Away with Geese folks say this will work best if everyone on my bay buys one, then the geese will leave completely, but that's not happening! We're still in the process of outwitting these little jerks, but they keep coming up with a work around.

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