How do I get rid of ticks ???

[dave1949]

Another natural recipe we are going to try is a dust made up of food grade (not swimming pool) diatomaceous earth, yarrow powder and neem powder. People say they are having good results with that. Those ingredients can be ordered from Amazon.

I'll re-post this DE recipe

[CNC Dan]

I'll re-post this DE recipe

please do.

[dave1949]

Regarding DE: Equal parts of the ingredients.

Fleas Powders are effective remedy to kill the Fleas and Ticks | Dogs Data

[Soundguy]

neem is pretty good stuff all by itself.
clove oil can kill bugs too.

[scollins]

Hi... Here in SW Virginia we are inundated with ticks. I have had Lyme's disease twice, and now possibly Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. ( Waiting for the blood work to come back. ) We have a lot of trails thru the woods, fields, and small creeks. We really enjoy being out and about on the property. However, we are constantly pulling off ticks, ( yes we have tried deet ). I would welcome any and all remedies. Even the whacky ones. Thanks.

Get another trail, at least 10 feet wide, all around your property before tick season. Talk to someone with the Virginia Department of Forestry about a prescribed burn plan and assistance.

Right now, research is being done by a graduate student in GA and they are finding that this works. You don't need 10 foot flames running with the wind, A slow moving, backing fire after a "black line" is established on the downwind side off yur trail, and then narrow strips are ignited (under the right conditions) to consume the duff and leaf litter. That is where the ticks over-winter. The slower the fire moves, the better.

There is not the space to give details on control burning, but your local state farm forester or district forester can give you technical assistance on that - maybe a forest stewardship plan, while you're at it?

Meanwhile, during the cold weather, establish all the trails you can as they help with a control-burn.

They also have synthetic pyrethrin products that can be applied with a small 25 gallon sprayer along your trails during tick season. Near the house, they sell tubes filled with cotton that is treated with arachnicide. The mice take the cotton into their dens and it kills the ticks. The name escapes me for that product right now. For insecticides, consult your County Extension Agent.

Keep the trails and vegetation mowed near the residence as short as possible. Some folks duct tape their pant legs and shirt sleeves,

I HATE those things!!!

Good luck.

SC

[scollins]

As has been said earlier, the best and non-toxic way to get rid of ticks is free range guinea fowl. I always have 5 -10 guinea fowl on my farm. I also have free range chickens. Chickens eat ticks, too, but guinea fowl are the best. Between them, I have no ticks on any of my animals, dogs, cats, goats, sheep, horses or llamas.

I also don't use frontline on my dogs. It's a systemic pesticide that goes in their bloodstream. And I don't want pesticides on my farm. Don't need any of that with guinea fowl.

Ya know, I have heard that, about guinea fowl many many times, but have not tried them. I have also heard that ticks are a large part of the diet of wild turkeys. I do not know how well guinea fowl would survive up in this cold place that is the Siberia of the continental U.S., but I am going to recommend to my dad to get them for the 40 acres in Illinois. It might be the extreme cold, or the isolation of the plains, but so far as I know (knock on wood) we do not have the black-legged tick up here in ND yet that carries lyme Disease. Rocky Mtn. Spotted Fever - yes.

Ticks REALLY like, moist green, tall vegetation. They can survive I think months without a blood meal, but need moisture. They are blind and climb up on a piece of grass or brush and extend their greedy little legs and can sense carbon monixide from your breath, like a mosquito can. They need the blood to re-produce. The "seed ticks" are just immature regular ticks. Up here, they are out in droves in late spring and early summer, and then seem to slack off, except in the tall grass where it is moist, during mid to late summer when the mosquito population thrives.

Here is a tick eradication web site:

Tick Control & Management

My tick control "plan":

1. Continue to keep the area near the house and along the road mowed frequently to 1.5" high (7 hours a week during mowing season).
2. Eliminate "mouse" habitat near the residence and farmstead like old wood piles, logs where I frequently find them, etc. They are the primary spreader of ticks, along with the deer poplulation. The cats control a lot of them too. Hantavirus is a concern with mice, as well.
3. In early spring, burn off the tall grass near the residence, along the fence lines, between the road and the plowed fields. (in a controlled fashion from wide fire breaks)
4. Conduct understory burns in the oak stands every few years (the effects are temporary for a few months). This also controls understory brush where the ticks sit and wait.
5. Look into guineau fowl (if the racoons, skunks and coyotes do not get them)
6. Continue to encourage prescribed grazing (not over-grazing) of the pasture and mowed trails to control dense tall grass where the ticks like to hide.
7. Keep the trails brushed and sprayed to keep down over-hanging brush and weedy growth. (Remedy Ultra 1/4%, Forefront HL 1/2% Surfactant or MSO 1/2% with spray wand and 2 nozzle 25 GL Fimco sprayer)
8. During tick season, apply Permanone to clothes and let dry and stay out of the tall grass. (Not sure on any long term effects, so I don't apply this unless I have to)
9. As a LAST RESORT, spray the yard, trails with arachnicides listed in the above web site. This would be done if Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Lyme disease or West Nile Virus from mosquitos occurs here and becomes more of a threat than any carcinogenic (cancer-causing) effect from chemical application. This diatomaceous earth is worth looking into and I will contact some entemologists at some universities and some extension agents to check into this. Bacillus thuringensis is a naturally occurring agent, but I do not think that it controls ticks. Even though Pyrethrin comes naturally from a flower, it is a nerve agent.

SC

[RichZ]

I think Guinea fowl can survive your winters. Our winters are not as bad as yours, but it frequently goes below zero, here in upstate NY, and as long as you feed the guineas some feed in the winter, and they have a sheltered place to roost, they should be fine.

I think your tick control plan is very sound, and if you follow it, I don't think you'll have to resort to pesticides. Good luck and let us know how it's working once the weather is warm again. One good thing in your climate, it should stay cold enough so that you shouldn't be bothered by ticks in the winter. Around here, during warm winter spells, ticks come out again.

[g0rd0]

we had sheep and noticed that once we started an ivomec protocal (injecting the sheep) the ticks majically dissapeared. My daughter has horses and ivomecs them yearly (useing a paste that you feed them). I have also used the same horse ivomec on my dogs but, you must weigh the dogs and measure the ivomec carefully. And I have been told that some dog breeds dont take well to ivomec. So, take this as you may.
All I can say is that we no longer have tick problems whereas our neighbors still do.

[grsthegreat]

when i lived in southern California, i used to constantly be bothered by ticks..the dogs, the horses...all of us.

i found the perfect solution...


I moved to North Idaho. Havnt seen a single tick, black widow spider, rattlesnake or any fleas. dont miss any of them

[sjerden]

Here's photo of my Tick Pickers.

I never have to feed them. They get enough on our property and the fields around us. They do a pretty good job keeping the ticks down in the summer.

You have to raise them on the place for them to stay around. They return to their pen in the evening.