Author Topic: Pond for Geese (Read 2091 times)

edessex · « **on:** April 15, 2020, 05:40:30 pm »

I've got a dozen geese, at present they have various shallow containers for drinking water and bathing.

But I'm about to clear an area of scrub (hawthorn and brambles), and am tempted to dig a small pond out in that area.

It can't be massive, probably about 6ft round. But I can go deep, to increase the volume of water.

Are there any issues with going for a deep pond, as long as the bank's aren't too steep?

I'm on heavy clay, so tempted to try it as a clay lined pond. Anyone have much experience of those?

What's the best thing I can do to keep it clean? I can't have a pump and filter setup there. Pond plants maybe?

Any advice greatly appreciated!

bj_cardiff · « **Reply #1 on:** April 15, 2020, 07:49:16 pm »

I have a pond for my geese, its about 10ft, by 15ft and around 3ft deep. In the warmer summer months need to empty it out every 2 weeks in the summer as it turns bright green in the sunlight. Emptying and refilling is quite a task. Its lovely to see them swimming and diving when its clean but were I to do it again, I'm not sure it wouldn't be better to use kids paddling pools and fill them with fresh water every day?

edessex · « **Reply #2 on:** April 15, 2020, 08:12:51 pm »

I've done the paddling pool thing, it's a bit of a faff.

Emptying out and refilling isn't the end of the world for me. Petrol water pump shifts 1000ltrs in 8 minutes!

Fleecewife · « **Reply #3 on:** April 15, 2020, 09:03:51 pm »

Our goose pond is about 8'x6', and quite shallow - it's just about deep enough for ducks to go tails-up. The geese love it but they do make a minging mess. It started off with yellow flag and various other plants, and had frogspawn and so on in it, but the geese demolished the lot; heron helped with the frogspawn. Our way of cleaning it out is to run a hose from one of our 1,000 litre big black rainwater catchment barrels, so that when it rains hard the overflow from the barrel goes through the pond. If it's sludgy, then we scrape it out with buckets and pour the effluent onto the compost heap and use it to water shrubs and fruit trees. The only plant which survives is that tiny green plant which can cover the water surface - forget what its called - which decorates the geese beautifully when they get out

They also have clean water buckets around for dipping their heads and clearing their passages.
Our way is far from perfect but the geese love it, and are perfectly healthy.

edessex · « **Reply #4 on:** April 15, 2020, 10:22:03 pm »

I could do with fitting a land drain through the middle of my yard, so that could come out in the pond. Would flush through if it rains heavy then.

Is your pond lined?

Fleecewife · « **Reply #5 on:** April 15, 2020, 11:36:31 pm »

The goose pond has a concrete lining - it was not designed for geese! It can be swept out though which is a plus point.

macgro7 · « **Reply #6 on:** April 16, 2020, 05:54:41 am »

My ducks and geese have a baby bath full of water in their run. When free ranging they have a brook instead of a pond. So flowing water and access to all sorts of delicious food (insects, weeds etc.)
If I didn't have the brook I would not bother digging a pond as they would make such a mess in no time.

edessex · « **Reply #7 on:** April 16, 2020, 09:26:51 am »

I'd love to have a stream accessible!

My geese are free to roam, so make a mess absolutely everywhere! I have to empty the water containers / pools daily.
I was hoping for a less maintenance option by putting a pond in.

I could go larger than my original 6ft x 6ft, but not by a massive amount. As far as depth goes I can go up to 8ft down, to increase the amount of water in there.

It would be in a semi-shade area, and I'd plant around it, probably just with sedge, as the geese seem to love that.

I'd be using a digger, and if it's deemed a fail, I can fill it back in.

So, if I went 6ft long, 10ft wide, with a shallow shelf at the end they'd get easier access to, and sloped down to 8ft deep. Very roughly guesstimating the maths, that would be around 6500ltrs of water.

That a reasonable amount of water for a dozen geese? (I say a dozen, it's actually 9, but I'm sure I'll gain a couple more soon!)

chrismahon · « **Reply #8 on:** April 16, 2020, 09:55:31 am »

We have an electric pump for foul water, so it's a vortex pump which can handle 30mm solids. 750W pumps 4 litres a second, so 1000 litres takes 4 minutes. If you can get electricity there it will be the cheapest option for emptying.