sweettractors
Advertiser
The Turkey mites are now a bigger problem in our area than deer Ticks. The bite is also worse. Ken Sweet
As the Turkey Population grew, so did the # of Turkey Mites
- Thread starter sweettractors
- Start date
Phils
Platinum Member
DANG Ken!!
We have 4 dozen wild turkeys in our yard a few times every day.
I've never even HEARD of Turkey Mites until your post and the obligatory Google search after I saw it.
[hesitating to post] We've been pretty much tick-free for many years. Maybe due to my constant clearing of brush and vegetation more than anything else?
I was infected with Lyme disease in the early eighties but it was cured by a long prescription to antibiotics. I'd just started working at a job requiring hard physical labor and thought my sore shoulder was due to that... it was at least 3 days later that I discovered a tick had remained lodged in my armpit. Fortunately, the second doctor I consulted believed me, read some books for 1/2 hour, and prescribed tetracycline tho he stated "we don't have Lyme disease around here" (the symptoms started showing 6 months after I removed the tick). The evening I came home from seeing him the paper reported the "first case of Lyme" in our county. "WAIT!! I've been reporting this for over a month!"
These 'turkey mites' sound smaller and harder to find than grown ticks.
Do I need to forbid DW from feeding the wild turkeys now? (already changed her habits years ago because of TBN posts, and she no longer feeds racoons on our deck)
Phil
We have 4 dozen wild turkeys in our yard a few times every day.
I've never even HEARD of Turkey Mites until your post and the obligatory Google search after I saw it.
[hesitating to post] We've been pretty much tick-free for many years. Maybe due to my constant clearing of brush and vegetation more than anything else?
I was infected with Lyme disease in the early eighties but it was cured by a long prescription to antibiotics. I'd just started working at a job requiring hard physical labor and thought my sore shoulder was due to that... it was at least 3 days later that I discovered a tick had remained lodged in my armpit. Fortunately, the second doctor I consulted believed me, read some books for 1/2 hour, and prescribed tetracycline tho he stated "we don't have Lyme disease around here" (the symptoms started showing 6 months after I removed the tick). The evening I came home from seeing him the paper reported the "first case of Lyme" in our county. "WAIT!! I've been reporting this for over a month!"
These 'turkey mites' sound smaller and harder to find than grown ticks.
Do I need to forbid DW from feeding the wild turkeys now? (already changed her habits years ago because of TBN posts, and she no longer feeds racoons on our deck)
Phil
OP
sweettractors
Advertiser
Scroll down this link for more info from University of Ky. Ken Sweet
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/kpn/kpn_07/pn070723.htm
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/kpn/kpn_07/pn070723.htm
Phils
Platinum Member
Thanks for the link Ken.
Dang but those things are SMALL! I am, though, a little more careful than many when it comes to ticks.
On the other hand, since they give Lyme inoculations to dogs, am I possibly "inoculated" because of my prior infection and can't get it again?
Of course, it also reminded me of black widows, but I'm careful to look before proceeding when I must venture under the house!
Phil
Dang but those things are SMALL! I am, though, a little more careful than many when it comes to ticks.
On the other hand, since they give Lyme inoculations to dogs, am I possibly "inoculated" because of my prior infection and can't get it again?
Of course, it also reminded me of black widows, but I'm careful to look before proceeding when I must venture under the house!
Phil
creekbend
Super Star Member
North Carolina has an estimated wild turkey population that is 130,000+. The County that we live in, Caswell County, has the largest number of birds with the adjacent Counties of Rockingham and Person also having large populations. There have not been any recent reports here of excessive mite infestations here. It is not my intention to alarm anyone, but mites are everywhere. Most everyone has heard of dust mites.There are even mites that live on our eyelashes. Mites are like cockroaches. Remnants of mites were even found on the remains of the "Ice Man" exhumation whose body was buried in glacier ice over 10,000 years ago. Mites are everywhere. An increase in infestations are the result of increased populations of the species and the closer proximity that they coexist. The same results occurred in regards to tick infestations in the deer herds. Most anyone that has raised chickens are aware of explosive mite infestations when there is an increase in the number chickens confined in the same area.Just a thought. BTW, thanks for posting.
MotorSeven
Elite Member
Turkey mites? .........oh, you mean Seed Ticks? We've always had 'em here in TN(even down in South Louisiana)...some years are worse than others.
creekbend
Super Star Member
I haven't heard them called that in years. I grew up and was raised in Hawkins County Tennessee.
buck12
Veteran Member
We had seed ticks in MS long before the wild turkey population was restored in our area.
