Delisha: I loved your insect repellant list, I saved it to my favorites. I think in the spring, I'll plant some seeds in the skirt of my hoop coop. Perhaps, tansy, marigold, wormwood. Any other recommendations? I've been battling red mites in my coop for the past month. I think and hope that the problem is under control. I hope to start building up DL again for the winter.
Borax is a useful product. For about 50 cents, you can make a quart of borax sugar solution for ant control which is similar to exorbitantly priced "Terro." But my preferred ant control is to open up a nest with a garden fork, and turn a few zealous hens loose on it. (much to my husband's dismay!) Borax is also useful for correcting boron deficiencies in the garden. If your root crops are not growing well, that may be the problem. I'll leave it up to the reader to do the research on this topic. I personally would not use borax on animals, or where animals/people would come in contact with it.
Re: fleas and ticks: Since getting chickens this year, I've noticed a huge drop in these pests. Last summer, I had to treat my 2 cats monthly with Advantage + to keep fleas under control. Even though that product is supposed to control ticks, it didn't touch them. I was pulling at least several, and up 5 ticks off the cats each week. This year with the increased rain, is supposedly a worse year. I've only seen a few ticks on the cats all summer. I've only seen a couple of fleas. I'll treat the cats as a precaution around the first killing frost, just to be sure they don't bring in any hitch hikers for the winter. Re: ground insects, there's been a huge drop in populations, especially grass hoppers and crickets. The girls have just about wiped out my snail population, and are making a huge dent in the slug population. The only slugs they won't eat are the huge brown ones. (They are bigger than my thumb.) And next spring, when all those little brown babies hatch out, the girls will eat them before they get a chance to get big. (YUM!) The girls have performed far better than expected for pest control!
Borax is a useful product. For about 50 cents, you can make a quart of borax sugar solution for ant control which is similar to exorbitantly priced "Terro." But my preferred ant control is to open up a nest with a garden fork, and turn a few zealous hens loose on it. (much to my husband's dismay!) Borax is also useful for correcting boron deficiencies in the garden. If your root crops are not growing well, that may be the problem. I'll leave it up to the reader to do the research on this topic. I personally would not use borax on animals, or where animals/people would come in contact with it.
Re: fleas and ticks: Since getting chickens this year, I've noticed a huge drop in these pests. Last summer, I had to treat my 2 cats monthly with Advantage + to keep fleas under control. Even though that product is supposed to control ticks, it didn't touch them. I was pulling at least several, and up 5 ticks off the cats each week. This year with the increased rain, is supposedly a worse year. I've only seen a few ticks on the cats all summer. I've only seen a couple of fleas. I'll treat the cats as a precaution around the first killing frost, just to be sure they don't bring in any hitch hikers for the winter. Re: ground insects, there's been a huge drop in populations, especially grass hoppers and crickets. The girls have just about wiped out my snail population, and are making a huge dent in the slug population. The only slugs they won't eat are the huge brown ones. (They are bigger than my thumb.) And next spring, when all those little brown babies hatch out, the girls will eat them before they get a chance to get big. (YUM!) The girls have performed far better than expected for pest control!
but I will not spray or bomb my house with that stuff.
