Ticks

[jenny4749]

We seem to be having a tick issue this year, I've found 3 in the last couple weeks. Do ticks get on ducks? I wouldn't even know how to tick check a duck. Do they eat ticks? I'm a little tick freaked out.

 

[dotknott]

I was thinking about this myself. Was actually considering Guinea fowl for ticks then went to a poultry show and reaized how loud they were.

Here's hoping ducks eat ticks (and mosquito larvae while they're at it.)

 

[Amiga]

I have been told Muscovies are great for clearing out ticks.

 

[dotknott]

I've never been overly found of muscovies, though I may need to make room for some in my coop/yard.

 

[Quackalackin]

I've been thinking about getting a few Muscovies to battle the flys in our pasture. It may depend on the ducks, but my Anconas would garble a tick down without second thought. Though i am unsure about the risk of ticks biting ducks and am now curious myself

 

[Ravynscroft]

Ducks are great for clearing out ticks... I think a lot of people go towards guineas since ducks have that irresistible urge to bill holes anywhere and everywhere they can, lol... but I haven't found a single tick in our yard since we started free ranging our Calls... and ticks are awful here...

As for ticks on ducks, for the most part ducks are extremely resistant to external parasites... as long as they have access to a bathing pool and preen themselves properly, their waterproof oils keep their feathers nice and shiny and too slick for nasty little bugs to get a good grip onto... plus if it is small and moves, well you know that is food, right?

And yes, if the water that mosquito larvae is in is within duck bill reach, they will eat those too...

 

[dotknott]

Yeah I figured the best mosquito control had to be ducks. If there's standing water, the ducks will make it not standing. Perfect for disrupting the reproductive cycle of skeeters.

I live in a swamp, so I'm 99% sure I won't notice any population drop.

We were free ranging the ducks before we had one go broody. Still had a boatload of ticks. Again not sure if be able to notice a population decline due to my locale.

Oh well, free duck food!

 

[cayugaducklady]

Wild turkeys love to eat ticks. We have various flock sizes traipsing through the yard at various times during the year. We also have a healthy bat population in the area that comes out nightly for fine dining.

Ducks help with ticks and mosquitoes, too. I don't have to tick myself or my dogs when they've been in the yard. I DO still have to tick us when we go hiking in our woods. I stopped taking the ducks back there when the bears came out hibernation this year.

We moved from a swamp, chronically moist & 100% shaded lot to our farm. We had mosquitos year round due to Asian Tiger mosquitoes proliferating in that area. As soon as its above freezing they're flying around. That town did not allow backyard birds/poultry of any kind.

The only thing that helped there was the mosquito magnet https://www.megacatch.com/

It was crazy expensive but worth every penny. Without it we couldn't spend any time outdoors with exposed skin at all.

 

[dotknott]

Funny. My partner and I are getting married at the end of the summer.. We were thinking about registering for one of those, but hadn't known anyone who had one.

 

[Orca5094]

Funny you should mention ticks. I've had to remove 2 so far this year from around duck eyes. That's the only place I've ever seen/noticed them on any duck. They have been on my special girl on her "bad" side twice. She has a special leg, which makes it difficult for her to properly scratch/preen one side of her face. That was the side the ticks have been on. Other than that, ducks are really good at preening away/eating ticks so they don't usually present a problem for them.

I just used the same tool I used to remove ticks from dogs, where you kind of grab it and twist them until they let go. Pretty easy, but a delicate process when it's right by their eye.