Bugs bugs everywhere!

[ShellLea]

Our area is very flea and tick heavy. When I say heavy I mean that people in the area have given up on treating their yards and just spray themselves and their pets and hope for the best. Is this going to be a problem once I get chickens? If so, how to I go about handling it? Just wanting to make sure all my bases are covered before I get started!

 

[DanielleinLA]

The fleas that bite humans are not the same that chickens can carry. Not sure if the fleas will bite your hens but I do know you cant get fleas from your chickens. We have fleas in my yard but they only bother the cats and opossums Good luck!

 

[galanie]

Fleas love dry places. Watering the lawn regularly helps keep them down some. Poisons, in my experience, do very little. I once lived next door to a man that alternated diazanon and something else every month. I just put some compost on my yard for food and kept it watered. He had fleas in his yard and I didn't.

Keeping them off you and the animals is a great control as well. No food = fewer fleas. Probably will work better than the poisons did.

 

[ShellLea]

Thanks! Hopefully I can find a way to control them next year. Our basement was infested this year with no pets in the house! Had to bomb it to be able to use the basement. So I'll water regularly and let the opossums and groundhogs get bit!

 

[CarolynF]

Lavender repels fleas. Grow it, use it, enjoy it!
Good story... During the black plague in the middler ages, the undertakers were thought to be blessed by god because they weren't stricken by the plague. It was actually the lavender oil that permeated their clothes and premises. Since the plague was carried by fleas and the lavender repelled them, the undertakers were well protected.

English varieties of lavender are best suited for cooking and are easy to propogate, too. I get lots of volunteer seedlings from mine. And when the chickens scratch around near the bushes it smells lovely.

 

[dreamcatcherarabians]

Guinea hens! Natures best bug control. We had ticks and fleas galore here when we first bought our place. I got a bunch of Guineas and end of problem. Lavender is great too, put that around your perimeter of your yard and between it and the guineas, you'll be walkin' in tall cotton.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Decide which you'd like. Fleas like dry areas, but ticks like it wet. If you spray things down to discourage fleas, you'll encourage ticks.

Since vet-prescribed flea control for cats and dogs is easy and tick control is hard (and ticks just freak me out more) I'd rather discourage the ticks. Keeping your grass short will help with that a lot.

But you don't really have to worry about fleas and ticks on your birds, because they're avian, not mammals and get different pests. You do have to think about control for mites and lice in chickens, which are different species than infest mammals. We use an all-in-one dewormer and mite and louse preventative twice a year--in spring and fall.

 

[tadpole98]

you know whats great at doing those bugs? guineas, wow they do an amazing job. but chickens are easier to care for, so i would get them. it shouldnt be a problem once you get them!