NY chicken lover!!!!

[Lynzi777]

Stony, do you teach chicken math?

I think the very little ticks are the ones that are more likely to transmit Lyme Disease. You can take them off and put them in a Baggie and have them tested. I have done this for my dog. But my dog has gotten the Lyme Disease shot that they don't give to people. Doesn't that seem strange?

Very Odd thats why I worry more about my kids than my dog! He's fine as far as I'm concerned. LOL

 

[Lynzi777]

I second that plan. We have WAAAYYYY fewer ticks now that the chickens free range every day. Maybe only feed the chickens in the evening when they go back in to roost, hungrier hens may eat more bugs during the day?

I think I'm going to cut down on the amount of feed I'm giving them daily. I HAVE noticed my silkies going in and out of the coop all day and I know it's because they have food in there. Maybe I'll just supply them at night with a cup instead of filling the whole bowl and see if that keeps them out during the day longer. (and keeps more feed in my tin cans!

)

 

[happyhensny]

I think I'm going to cut down on the amount of feed I'm giving them daily. I HAVE noticed my silkies going in and out of the coop all day and I know it's because they have food in there. Maybe I'll just supply them at night with a cup instead of filling the whole bowl and see if that keeps them out during the day longer. (and keeps more feed in my tin cans!

)

Let me know how that works for you. I would have a hard time just because I cannot let out every pen at the same time. Stinking fighting boys!

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Two more babies hatched! Thats 5 so far! Go chickies!!! Second bator went on lockdown tonight.

 

[ChickPrincess]

Thanks I will! And I know! I've heard of a few people getting lyme disease last summer. It just freaks me out. I turn into such a nut in the summer when the kids are anywhere remotely close to the woods. LOL

Not a nut at all! It's a very real threat. You can use neem safely on people and pets and it is very effective. You can use it in place of DEET. And it is completely safe and all natural. It does, however, stink to high heaven. It was discovered in India, thousands of years ago. The locust swarms would come through, and the ONLY thing green left untouched was the neem tree. Any type of sucking, parasitic insect will not go near it. Check out discoverneem.com or neemtreefarms.com. I make neem products in my lotion/soap line. It is HEAVEN for your hair. The oil may not be ingested, but there's still the leaf and bark which you can get in full form, powder or extracts (which do not smell like the oil). Research it... very interesting.

my property used to be loaded with ticks until I got chickens. They eat all of the ticks, the ground hornets, snakes , ants etc. So I guess my answer is, just get more chickens

Sigh. Oh, okay. I like the fact they get rid of hornets. I'm allergic and we have had MAJOR nests the last few years. Don't they get stung?

How far do chickens typically wander when they free range? I'm thinking about just opening up the fence and letting them go. Our property is long, parallel to the road, but narrow. We have woods behind our house (vacant) but we don't own it.
If the hens free range do they often lay eggs outside of the coop?

 

[Cass]

Guinea hens eat ticks. Chickens, not so much. But they do eat a lot of other bugs.

According to the doctor Ray went to ( to have a embedded tick removed) it takes 24 hours of "feeding" for the tick to transmit the lyme disease to you...and it is done when the tick is done feeding and disengages, so it kinda spits into the open wound. That is why they say to check your entire body for ticks daily....so none goes unnoticed for 24+ hours. It is only the little deer ticks (about the size of a seasame seed) that is currently infected with lyme disease. (someone chime in it Misquitos have also been found to be infected. Since I no longer have kids in my care I am not totally current on the threats to their health) (and I am not worrying about my spelling, does it show? LOL)

To avoid ticks on your kids spray their lower pant legs with repellant with DEET in it. Not on the skin, please, DEET can be toxic to little humans. Tuck their pants in their socks and spray the lower leg. Ticks can't fly, they crawl up the leg to the warm parts of the body; groin, back of neck, armpits being favorite places, but not aren't really picky....ray's was in the middle of his chest. I am a tick magnet. You want your yard cleared of ticks, let me walk through it with bare legs and then we'll knock them into a can of kero to kill them. Reduce the population by half each time I walk through.

My experience with chicks and a rooster is that mellow roos are fine with chicks, and wild and rowdy roos wind up killed by momma. LOL Well, he messed with her babies and I found him dead on the floor a couple days later. Don't mess with the chicks. Didn't someone put up pictures last spring of their white rooster rounding up all the yellow chicks and keeping them warm?

 

[Tough Old Bird]

Stony, do you teach chicken math?

I think the very little ticks are the ones that are more likely to transmit Lyme Disease. You can take them off and put them in a Baggie and have them tested. I have done this for my dog. But my dog has gotten the Lyme Disease shot that they don't give to people. Doesn't that seem strange?

Last spring, after an intensive week of bush whacking in search of migratory warblers, I was scratching at what I thought was an irritated, little pimple on my shoulder blade. I couldn't quite see it, of course, but could feel it and remember a light bulb going off suddenly and the horrifying thought "TICK!" When I asked my son to check, he told me, "It's moving, Mom."

My horse had spring shots that day, and being of sturdy peasant stock, I didn't mind my veterinarian pulling the tick out with his grubby hands. He confirmed it was a deer tick. My (human) doctor put me on a preventive antibiotic after examining the site the next day. He even gave me a refill script to keep on hand, as he knows I'm always traipsing around the woods.

My dogs' vet told me they have been seeing tick cases clear through winter months. How crazy.

TOB

 

[Cass]

Not a nut at all! It's a very real threat. You can use neem safely on people and pets and it is very effective. You can use it in place of DEET. And it is completely safe and all natural. It does, however, stink to high heaven. It was discovered in India, thousands of years ago. The locust swarms would come through, and the ONLY thing green left untouched was the neem tree. Any type of sucking, parasitic insect will not go near it. Check out discoverneem.com or neemtreefarms.com. I make neem products in my lotion/soap line. It is HEAVEN for your hair. The oil may not be ingested, but there's still the leaf and bark which you can get in full form, powder or extracts (which do not smell like the oil). Research it... very interesting.
Sigh. Oh, okay. I like the fact they get rid of hornets. I'm allergic and we have had MAJOR nests the last few years. Don't they get stung?

How far do chickens typically wander when they free range? I'm thinking about just opening up the fence and letting them go. Our property is long, parallel to the road, but narrow. We have woods behind our house (vacant) but we don't own it.
If the hens free range do they often lay eggs outside of the coop?

I hate DEET, but it does the job. As a tick magnet, I will look into neem for myself. Thank you.

Chickens will go as far as the daylight lets them and there is food to be found. If you want to keep them close to the coop, let them out later in the day. If you are not fond of daily Easter Egg hunts, do it after they have laid their eggs. Mine laid their eggs outside the coop for a couple of weeks, then they got with the program and returned to the coop to lay their eggs, usually in mass, causing a lot of pushing and shoving in the favorite nest box, but hey, the eggs were in the coop, so I didn't complain, but they sure did.

Chickens like the edge of roads because that is where the stones are....they need the grit for their gizzard/crop....I put store bought grit at the edge of my driveway to keep them from approaching the road, but my road is dangerously curvy, so I worry they won't be seen and get hit by a car.

I think you live at my house or me at yours, cuz your description of your land is exactly how I describe mine. LOL

 

[rancher hicks]

I think I'm going to cut down on the amount of feed I'm giving them daily. I HAVE noticed my silkies going in and out of the coop all day and I know it's because they have food in there. Maybe I'll just supply them at night with a cup instead of filling the whole bowl and see if that keeps them out during the day longer. (and keeps more feed in my tin cans!

)

Some breeds of chickens are better foragers than others. I've been reducing the feed so it runs empty just so they do have to forage. Then give them a little at night so they eat before bed. Chickens I think are the only creatures who need to go to bed on a full stomach.

As far as ticks to, I wear long pants all year round when I'm in the yard. Long sleeve of a light weight shirt when it is hot. I have heard Guinea hens are good for tick control but they are also noisy. Otherwise I'd have a pair. Just cuz I like them.

 

[Nambroth]

I second that plan. We have WAAAYYYY fewer ticks now that the chickens free range every day. Maybe only feed the chickens in the evening when they go back in to roost, hungrier hens may eat more bugs during the day?


My DD had Lyme, lucklily we caught it very early and she took the antibiotics and has not had any problems at all. The doctor said that unless the tick is engorged it is unlikely that Lyme has been transmitted.

Your doctor may have been uninformed-- MANY doctors are, sadly. I have chronic Lyme. Did they do any blood testing on your Daughter? How was she diagnosed with Lyme?