Tick control

[CrashingPines]

Now that it’s spring here, I’m realizing that my property is crawling with ticks. So much so, a trip outside pretty much guarantees a tick or too latched on discovery later. The ticks are “lone star” variety and their bite leaves an intensely itchy welt for days. Kind of like a chigger bite.

My chickens are in a run and currently not free-ranged. Lots of predators here! My plan was to get guineas on the property until other longer term planning allows my chickens to free-range ...but my question for anyone who knows is, what is the efficiency of guineas compared to chickens in combating ticks? What else works? Thanks!

 

[Gray Farms]

Guineas seem to be more driven to forage for their feed than other birds. So they are generally better for tick control. If you get guineas don't just turn them loose they will take off never to be seen again. Pen them up for a couple months then let them free range.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

One study to see if guineas really ate more ticks than other fowl such as chickens, as part of an effort to control Lyme disease, found that guineas weren’t really any better tick eaters than chickens...

https://tickencounter.org/tick_notes/turkeys_and_ticks

... so it seems that Granny had that wrong when she told us that... she probably fell victim to media hype of the “Big Guinea” industry of the day...

Apparently possums are the real tick eatin machines:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bo...s-help-fight-ticks-and-lyme-disease/768984007

Since I learned that I’ve been thinking of getting me a herd of possums, painting them pink and turning them out around here

 

[CityslickerHomestead]

I was about to post about the tick infestation we are having right now, but I did a search instead and found this one! So I’m commenting to promote this and hope others will respond with tried-and-true tick control measures.

I read a gravel barrier of 3 feet wide around the perimeter of the yard would keep ticks away. However my basement window screens are crawling with ticks, and we have NO grass! We recently built this house so the ground is all upturned. How are they getting in?

 

[RustyBucketFarmGirl]

So i started doing supervised free ranging to assist with bug control. We have some problems with chickens leaving our 3 acres and going to neighbors flower beds as well getting into some freshly started veggies.

So i have been letting them out for an hour in the evening. I get my wine and my gravity chair and my broom. Most of the time i just sit and watch and drink my wine. But every 10-15 minutes i take a lap around the barn to make sure they are staying in our yard. I get to relax and enjoy them and they get some time out of the run to eat all the bugs they can handle.

And i don’t always have time to do it with 2 little girls but it’s got to help more than keeping them in the run!

 

[CityslickerHomestead]

So i started doing supervised free ranging to assist with bug control. We have some problems with chickens leaving our 3 acres and going to neighbors flower beds as well getting into some freshly started veggies.

So i have been letting them out for an hour in the evening. I get my wine and my gravity chair and my broom. Most of the time i just sit and watch and drink my wine. But every 10-15 minutes i take a lap around the barn to make sure they are staying in our yard. I get to relax and enjoy them and they get some time out of the run to eat all the bugs they can handle.

And i don’t always have time to do it with 2 little girls but it’s got to help more than keeping them in the run!

That sounds like a great way to get them acclimated to free-ranging!

I found more ticks this morning, this time crawling at my front door and on the exterior of the coop. What in the world is going on? All deer ticks from the looks of it. My skin is crawling just thinking about ticks. I was born and raised in a big city, so ticks never crossed my mind. I know ticks are no big deal to a lot of people but UGH I’m creeped out.

 

[Ginmary]

I'm on an acre in a development. Lot of big trees in the rear of the yard. The grass got rather long and my daughter used the old ride on to cut it. Later that eve she said she had a brown patch on her stomach. Then she says "Mom, it has legs!" It was a lone star tick that had its head stuck in. SO GROSS!!! I got it out but she still has a large red bump. Thankfully it wasn't filled with blood yet.

So we researched it and not only can lone stars carry various diseases, but they can also cause a person to become allergic to red meat! They pass this substance called "alpha-gal" to the blood which then causes the body to produce anti bodies to it. Well, red meat also has "alpha-gal" so when eaten it produces an allergic reaction which can be as severe as anaphylaxis. And the reaction doesn't occur until 2 - 6 hours after eating the meat.

I purchased a pyrethrin spray that is meant for clothes and gear. It says it kills ticks. I am going to spray her lawn cutting clothes with it. I wonder if you could spray pyrethrin around the windows and door where you see the ticks. I would almost prefer deer ticks since at least antibiotics will work against lyme disease. Nothing works against "alpha-gal" I would die if I couldn't eat red meat again. Thankfully my daughter hasn't shown any ill effects from her encounter. I got it off in time. Now I'm going to look into getting the property treated. We also have found out that deer have been jumping the fence and eating plants in the yard. I'm sure they have been bringing deer ticks in with them.
Here's one just before feasting on the big hosta.

 

[CrashingPines]

I read a gravel barrier of 3 feet wide around the perimeter of the yard would keep ticks away. However my basement window screens are crawling with ticks, and we have NO grass! We recently built this house so the ground is all upturned. How are they getting in?

What kind of ticks are they? Dog ticks will breed and live inside. Don’t ask me how I know this, I still have PTSD from the experience.

 

[CrashingPines]

So i started doing supervised free ranging to assist with bug control. We have some problems with chickens leaving our 3 acres and going to neighbors flower beds as well getting into some freshly started veggies.

So i have been letting them out for an hour in the evening. I get my wine and my gravity chair and my broom. Most of the time i just sit and watch and drink my wine. But every 10-15 minutes i take a lap around the barn to make sure they are staying in our yard. I get to relax and enjoy them and they get some time out of the run to eat all the bugs they can handle.

And i don’t always have time to do it with 2 little girls but it’s got to help more than keeping them in the run!

This is a great idea! I might try it just before dusk so it will hopefully be easier to get them back into their coop. I do have large raptors though, so that’s a concern.

 

[CityslickerHomestead]

What kind of ticks are they? Dog ticks will breed and live inside. Don’t ask me how I know this, I still have PTSD from the experience.

Ugh.

No, these looked like deer ticks. We are surrounded by grasslands and mule deer.