I cannot say for certain that the 7' line is sacrosanct, but it does seem to satisfy goose 'needs'. I arrived at that amount of land because what I was creating on the golf course was a 'hazzard' from which golfers could choose to possibly fashion a swing and hit an errant ball if they wished. I would not use boulders as this gives the birds a perch to land upon and then hop off into the yard. Planting shrubs/thorny roses along the inside of the fence provides comfortable nesting areas for the birds in the spring with no access to the water for the young. It would be possible to develop a perennial garden along the 100' using only plants which are cut to the ground in the fall to discourage nesting. Using plants that take up a lot of space and planting in large drifts with an eye to always having something in bloom is an interesting project. Spring bulbs to peonies to butterfly bush to the lower growing perennial sunflowers to perennial asters...these sorts of blooming progressions. The New England Forum people should be able to help you with ideas for easy care, clumping plants that are cut back in the fall. Your problem does not have easy solutions. BTW, I tried using low wire fencing instead of the fishing line idea and it did not work too well. I surmise that it is the surprise element of bumping into the unseen line that discourages the birds.

All poultry manure, and geese are poultry, is considered "hot", a high Nitrogen fertilizer. Depending on many factors poultry manure could have between 27 and 42 pounds N per 1,000 pounds of product, or 2 to 4 percent N.

Just because fresh poop 'burns' grass does not mean it's acidic. It's the highly soluble nitrogen that burns plants. This is why we compost it, to get that N converted to other forms that aren't as hard on the plants. Having said that, it may indeed be acidic, I don't know, but it would be in the form of weak organic acids (think vinegar) vs. mineral acids (sulfuric, hydrochloric, etc.). Organic acids decompose in the compost and the product ends up neutral.

Quote;"Yes Paul they do, and it's usually to nest." Actually that is not correct. In fact, most of what people believe about the behavior of wild geese is incorrect. Originally the Wild Canadian Geese wintered on the Gulf Coast and migrated to central Canada for their summer breeding grounds, but due to excessive hunting pressure by the early 1940's Canadian Geese were considered endangered. Most of the states on the migratory fly routes established very strict hunting rules and daily bag limits in an effort to maintain the species. In addition, many hunting and conservation groups started a hatch and release program in an effort to boost the goose population. While the hatch and release programs worked very well, they had one major problem, the geese were released in the local areas where they were hatched. This meant these geese had been raised by people so they did not have the natural fear of man that is instinctive to the true wild geese, and these geese had little to no social contact with the true Wild Canadian Geese which were only present during the migration, thus the geese from the hatch and release programs tend to remain in the same area summer & winter. Geese are vegetarians and while they do eat some aquatic plants in the marshes, they much prefer to eat young tender grass in the open meadows, however, due to their physical size they cannot just jump up and fly like other birds, but rather they must run into the wind, flapping their wings until they get up enough airspeed to actually fly in the same way that an airplane must run down a runway. When the grass is less than 6 to 8 inches high they can run fine, but as the grass gets taller they cannot run through the grass fast enough to fly, so they prefer to feed on the banks of streams or ponds where they can quickly get to the water to have an open runway to take off. They prefer to nest on the edge of a pond in the wetlands where their nest is concealed by the reeds or cattails and it is difficult for land mammals to reach the nest through the marshy terrain and the nest is generally very close to open water so they have a good flight path for takeoffs and landings. The major problem with the geese that have evolved from the hatch and release program is that they lack the natural fear of man that is evident in the descendants of the true wild geese. As was described in the original post, in many areas these birds have become a nuisance because they feed on lawns, golf courses and those large tracts of grass found around shopping center parking lots. (The geese love the open parking lot as a runway). When i was a kid on the farm we had a large flock of geese which was a mixture of domestic geese and some that my grandfather had gotten from Eastern Ohio Conservation Club hatch & release program. I can tell you first hand that you will find it extremely difficult to persuade those geese to leave once they have decided they like the territory. and unless you have a very large dog, I would not suggest letting the dog out to chase the geese. When threatened geese will generally group tightly together in the flock and begin moving away slowly, but if they are crowded too much they will definitely stand their ground. They will begin by assuming a defensive posture where they hold their head and neck stretched straight out in front of them, honking and hissing. If the offender does not heed the warning they will quickly run forward, grab the offender in their beaks and begin flapping their wings terribly. Take it from experience, when a goose hits you with the hard bony leading edge part of their wing it feels like you were hit with a ball bat. I have seen grown men, 80lb coon hounds and dobbermen pincers run for cover. In fact, to this day I have some scars on my legs from a goose.