Ticks taking over in 2025

[bmaverick]

We worry about ticks on our dogs. One of them came down with tick paralysis when he was just a year and a half old. A pregnant brown tick's bite causes this on some dogs with minor immunity issues. Symptoms are clumsiness, then not being able to get up, then their organs start to shut down until the dog dies. This happens over the course of a week. The tick has to be found and removed to stop this, and it has to happen before the internal organs shut down. Usually you have about 3 to four days to find the tick.

Since then, we use Nexgard to protect our dogs, which works good.

We also have free range chickens and guineas. They never stop looking for bugs to eat, and our tick sightings are very very rare.

The dog yard is fenced in, and the chickens and guineas walk around the dog yard all day long. They literally do laps working their way around it.

Because of all our animals, spraying chemicals isn't an option.

The chickens do an amazing feat ridding all the ticks. And keep the grass mowed!

I cross over the road to the other farm to chat at times on the weekend, they are very infested with ticks. They keep their chickens penned up and they seldom mow the property. The grass is 8-inches or higher. I only walk on their gravel driveway.

Not only do they have ticks, they have chiggers too! Just as NASTY !

 

[Grumpycat]

Downey fabric softener is a good tick and chigger repellant. A friend's wife uses a heavy dose in the washing machine. He and I walked through a field. I got eaten raw by chiggers, he wasn't bit at all.

Some time later I ran across mention of using fabric softener to repel ticks then remembered that day I got covered with chiggers.

Commonly mixed with water then applied with a spray bottle.

 

[Jstpssng]

keep the grass mowed!

You can do that now, no mow May is over!
I always get a kick put of it. Anybody who mows fields knows how quickly crows and other predators show up to feast on snakes and rodents; the latter being a host for ticks and other parasites.
So let's give them a place to live right next to the house!

 

[EddieWalker]

June 1st and I found these three while mowing. I left the area and will try again in a few weeks

 

[Jstpssng]

June 1st and I found these three while mowing. I left the area and will try again in a few weeks View attachment 3540052

Good eye!!!!
I imagine those of you who mow regularly keep a close watch for the little buggers.

 

[EddieWalker]

I've been here over 20 years and this was the first time I found fawns in my pasture. I've seen them when they were older, and following momma around, but never so small that they were still unsteady just standing up.

 

[Alvito]

I've been here over 20 years and this was the first time I found fawns in my pasture. I've seen them when they were older, and following momma around, but never so small that they were still unsteady just standing up.

I've been here over 20 years and this was the first time I found fawns in my pasture. I've seen them when they were older, and following momma around, but never so small that they were still unsteady just standing up.

Over the years I've found annually 2 or more fawn carcasses mowing, usually only hoofs and harder parts of skeleton, coyotes I guess got em, usually mother is nervous and alert snorting, to distract tractor away from heathy a fawn, once I couldn't figure out what mother doe was so nervous about, I found a fawn inside a live catch cage groundhog trap set along barn wall, after releasing, they quickly reunited and I watched them both all season, a regular nature show, lost track of them when deer hunting season opened.

 

[Torvy]

I've been here over 20 years and this was the first time I found fawns in my pasture. I've seen them when they were older, and following momma around, but never so small that they were still unsteady just standing up.

Seems late around here. I've had some on my cameras for maybe 2 months.

 

[EddieWalker]

This was last weekend while on my tractor. I don't know how long they will be there, and I'm worried there will be others somewhere else. I'm thinking that I'll wait two weeks before mowing again. I've hunted deer all my life, but the idea of mowing over a baby fawn just terrifies me.