Hello, I am relatively new to forum boards but was hoping that if anyone else looked up tick control naturally could read this post. I have two dogs that I love very much. I live in the tropics of Australia and presumably a very similar climate to Florida and various parts of California. My neighbours dog dug a hole and went to my yard. It was then like a scene from an apocalypse movie tick after tick just came up. I picked a few off and didn't think too much about it. I went on a road trip and had a friend feed them. When I came back my puppy had 83 parasites on her. And 53 on my kelpie. I tried advocates but it did nothing then went to the pet supply store to get the strong stuff but they were sold out three separate shops were because of the epidemic that the city was facing. A man told me that you have to treat your yard or you'll never get rid of them. So I gave my dogs garlic bathed them in the homemade vinegar baths and even to my own disgust gave them chemical baths. Nothing worked and it almost seemed as if there were more. I read on this website that guinea fowl are great but I rent and live in the city. I thought a chicken coop would be cheaper than a vet bill and after extensive research on that's Lyme disease and the fact my children play in my yard I would be an idiot not to do it. Two weeks and six chickens later I have picked ten ticks off both dogs in the past two days. I put their feed where the dogs lay during the day and their dig sites. They are still not laying yet but I have to say they are a wonderful addition to our family. They are really just medicinal to watch and two of them have dog complexes and sleep with the dogs and even come sit on our laps. So for any fellow researchers out there 6 point of lay chickens spending three days in a coop took a 800m square block of 50 to 80 ticks a day per dog down to 4 a day without chemicals. They attack where the animal sleeps and destroy it. You can see chicken markings all over my dogs relaxation spots and my kelpie is happy to round them all up for me at nighttime. 90 bucks for six chickens when they start laying that's three dozen free range eggs a week. They literally pay for themselves in six weeks free fertilizer and are honestly beautiful pets. You figure monthly tick treatment is 50 a month and works debatabley or you can add life and sustainability to your life and get better results that have much more positive benefits. Even from a un humanistic point of view the average household eats two dozen eggs per week. Plus tick control for just your pet is 90 a month or 1800 a year vs chicken feed at twenty every two months at 120 that's 1680 a year saving plus if you use fertiliser you can do your own math. I hope this is relevant to any person reading it and please be aware Lyme disease is in Australia but the government does not want to deal with it. It's your family your home and your life. I Just wanted to share what I learned
Greg
Greg
