Tick, chigger, mosquito... Ahh summer.

[StoneHeartFarm]

Re: Tick, chigger, mosquito... Ahh summer. REVENGE

Patrickg

Don't have the killer bee's here yet, either. Don't know if they'll make it this far north without a lot of inbreeding and hopefully, by then they'll tame down a little bit. Just my thought, but this whole killer bee thing seems like a ripple in a pond. As the bees have progressed, there has been some inbreeding, in order to keep progressing, they will have to keep inbreeding. Eventually, they will hit the end of their ability to adapt to the local environment, at that point, it seems like the inbreeding should reverse direction, with the farthest away bees sending DNA back down the line toward the center of the ripple. Once back at the start, the process probably would start back out again.

Am I catching the situation approximately correct?

SHF

 

[patrickg]

Re: Tick, chigger, mosquito... Ahh summer. REVENGE

I'm not a zoologist or geneticist. My concern is that all that I have been able to understand of what I read in trusted sources, scientific journals and the like (not the National Enquirer) nothing to indicate loss of the pugnacity. The Africanized ones don't make as good pollinators, if I recall correctely. Boy I would be thrilled if killer bees went the way of Y2K. Not everything goes away if you ignore it. By the way, what is your crow situation. Before leaving SO CAL the last few years were a crow explosion of near biblical proportions.

Patrick

 

[dmccarty]

Re: Tick, chigger, mosquito... Ahh summer. REVENGE

PatrickG,

The ticks got me the weekend before last. This weekend it was the chiggers turn. %^&*() critters. I had to walk in the woods checking some lots lines and property boundries. At 11:00 it was around 70 degrees and low humidity. Very unusual for this time of year so I figured I would do the walk when it was cooler instead of Hot and Humid.

The property to the east of mine was clear cut a couple of years back. Last year it was really growing out with the saplings about 4-6 feet tall. This year the stuff is well over my head and THICK. I don't think a person could walk through that stuff. Since there are no trees that lets in the light into my woods along the property line so the growth on my side is getting thick as well. Very thick. I was trying to find a survey stake, which I never did, and I looked down and saw a swarm of chigger moving up each leg.

That morning I had put on the ACE bandages around the boots and pant legs. I soaked the pant legs and ACE bandages in DEET, I think its a 30% solution. To try something new I had bought a flea/tick color and put that around my ankles as well. What a figure this must cut! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Of course all of this Chemical Warfare stopped either the ticks or the chiggers. Not one little bit. I just brushed the chiggers off the legs, easier said than done. SOMEHOW the %^&*( chiggers go past the ACE bandages and got my legs. I think they snuck in up the boot tongue and cut under the pant legs.... /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

There were some potential buyers looking at some neighboring land trapsing around in Levis and shorts. I warned them but I'm not sure they listened.......

Anyway here is a website about chiggers.....
http://lancaster.unl.edu/enviro/pest/factsheets/008-96.htm

I also know that there was a company either in Savanah GA, or Charleston, SC that was selling a bio control for ticks. It was very expensive. I can't find a website reference but I think I found it on a gardening website.

If I had a video of my Meeting With The Flying Biting Bugs I would have one 10,000 dollars and I would have a very nice 3PH Sparyer for the tractor.... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Since I'm a Florida boy born prior to the Mouse and Whale Invasion I'm well acquainted with fire ants. They have now moved into the county to my south so its only a very short period of time until I meet with them yet again. Course if they get rid of the ticks and chiggers I'll take the fire ants any day.....

Later...
Dan

 

[patrickg]

Re: Tick, chigger, mosquito... Ahh summer. REVENGE

Dan, Thanks for Chigger URL. I sent it to my brother-in-law who is going to meet me in Iowa. Couple years ago I offered him 2-3 kinds of repellent before going walkabout on my property and fishing. He declined, I insisted, he declined. This was last night of 3 night campout on my place (shop was leased out to magnet QC folk). Anyway I got email back after he went to doctor on his arrival home in So Cal. He was one miserable puppy they really got to his belly. I don't know what it is about my sister-in-law???? Both her husbands have been funny about bugs and animals. First one went up to a cage where I was breeding lab rats to feed to a horned owl that I was rehabilitating to release and as (not before) he stuck his finger into the cage he says, "do they bite?" He pulled his finger out dripping blood at a fairly prodigious rate from the finger tip. I looked down and replied as nonchalantly as I could, "yes."

Oh well, it make life more interesting for the rest of us.

Patrick
(still tick and chigger free since adopting DoD Permethrin regimen even though I usually don't use the deet creme)

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

Re: Tick, chigger, mosquito... Ahh summer. REVENGE

Patrick,

Haven't seen a crow in a few months. Normally, we see them picking the road kill. I think they've been out competed by the buzzards. Seems to be more and more of them and fewer and fewer crows.

The killer bees are one of those deals like the Nutrina (Sp?). And now (maybe) the Tiger Mosquito.

SHF

 

[patrickg]

Re: Tick, chigger, mosquito... Ahh summer. REVENGE

SHF, Nutria shmutria, with any luck the tiger mosquitos will suck them all dry while the fire ants and killer bees help. A large rat (OK, rodent) by any other name would still make a good rifle target.

We have plenty crows and buzzards and they do compete somewhat for the roadside cleanup niche but the crows are just being oportunistic and can fall back on other feeding behaviors (rading crops, eating other species nestlings, etc.) while buzzards are pretty well specialized and stuck in the one job. Soon there will probably be a federal program for retraining buzzards.

Interestingly, I was looking at an old (published early in last century) bird book that my aunt (taught HS biology for about 40 yrs) has and I looked up the California condor. Well this book was published before PC was an issue. In this book it is a buzzard with a secondary name (AKA) of "condor". I guess it was harder to stir up passionate support to "Save the Buzzard". so some PR flak dubed it a condor. Glad to see them not going extinct yet. When I was flying in So Cal in the 70's the Condor flyways were marked on aeronautical charts as hazzards to navigation. Hiting something that big could spoil an otherwise fine flight. Used to see them soaring in the back country and mountains east of San Diego, really neat, wish I had as much as 10% of their soaring skill. Idiots used to shoot them, just because they could, you know, like the bald eagles.

If you really do miss the crows, for a small monetary consideration to cover capture cost I could ship you some (you pay fees and shipping charges. I understand they can, if hand raised, make excellent pets returning when allowed to fly free. I have often heard (but not confirmed) that cliping the bottom attachment of their tongue (they are tongue tied) will allow them to speak a little like a parot (not of course like the Norwegian Blue). They are very intelligent and have long been known to be able to tell the difference say between a shovel and a shotgun and stay away from someone with a gun.

Patrick (Let me know when yo want your breeding stock)

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

Re: Tick, chigger, mosquito... Ahh summer. REVENGE

Patrickg

Think I'll pass on the crow offer. Coyotes and bobcats would probably eat em all anyway.

Along with the Nutria, tiger mosquitoes, fire ants, and killer bees, we should add zebra mussels, so that we have an aquatic species.

SHF

 

[dmccarty]

Re: Tick, chigger, mosquito... Ahh summer. REVENGE

PatrickG,

I used the DOD treatment this weekend. I took the Permethrin I already owned, even though its only .5% solution, did some math to get close to the 13.3% mix, and treated my work pants per the website.

It worked. I found three ticks all day long. Two were first thing in the morning. On was on my hand, I think he jumped on when I was checking the lugs nuts on the tractor tires. He was crawling and had not bit yet. The second one I saw moving up my leg. He was pretty sluggish and was not doing the usual tick sprint up my leg to get some food. He died like the first one. When I was taking my boots off I found a small dead tick in my pants leg. The Permethrin got him. Usually I pick at least 6-12 ticks off my clothes. I picked off two. Lately I have had at least one or two get into my boots for a feed. Not yesterday. I did not walk in the woods as much this Saturday as I did last but I was running the chainsaw into some very heavy undergrowth but no ticks or chiggers got me. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif I am glad! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

BUT the $%^&* yellow jackets did get me! /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif My first hour with the chainsaw I was working in one area, needed a break, and put the saw down on this huge pine stump. During my second chainsaw workout, I was in the same area, needed a break and put the saw down on the same stump. I'm standing there minding my own business figuring what I should do next when I feel this red hot pain on my left side! At the same time I notice a bunch of very quick bugs zigging and zagging around me. I quickly dispatched the little #$%^&* that was a litteral pain in my side and ran like heck! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Then I got a case of the stupids. I left my chainsaw behind! Why is this a concern I don't have a clue since the %^&*( yellow jackets can sting the Stihl all day for all I care! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif So I ran back, turned off the saw, and ran like mad. After I put 20 or 30 yards behind me. I put the saw, helmet, and gloves on the ground. I looked at the welt on my side, started to catch my breath and get my heart rate under control when the $%^&* little buggers swamed after me again! YIKES! I bravely left my equipment for the yellowjacks to pester and ran my stung little butt back to the 4700. I took off my orange chainsaw chaps since the $%^&* bugs seemed to hate orange that morning and hung them on a branch. Good thing I'm have a JD tractor. Hate to think what those yellowjackets would do if they saw a Kubota tractor! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif If they hate that little orange chainsaw, chaps and helmets a Kubota would drive them positively bonkers. Likely sting the operator into oblivian! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Good think I have a nice green JD to keep them calm! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

This yellow jacket aversion to orange is something I'll have to remember for the next "Which Tractor Should I Buy" thread. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I got at least two stings that I know about. The one on my left side and one on my right elbow. The elbow sting did not hurt at all. The one on my side is a read rash even today about 4 inches wide and 6 inches long. And its HOT. It does not hurt but my left side is noticibly HOTTER than my right side. My right side is cool to the touch but the left is HOT. Very Strange. After the vicious, uncalled for, cowerdly attack but those ^&*() yellowjackets my left elbow started to hurt as did the left side of my neck. The elbow felt like tennis elbow and even bothered me during the night. Its fine now. The neck swelled up a bit and felt like I had a sore glad in my neck. It is fine now as well. Very strange.

To bad the Permethin does not work on stinging flying bugs! At least it appears to have solved my tick/chigger problem. [simle]

Later...
Dan

 

[Bird]

Re: Tick, chigger, mosquito... Ahh summer. REVENGE

Dan, you have my sympathy; I've gone many a round with those blasted yellow jackets in my lifetime; don't even know how many times I've been stung. I do remember the worst was when I backed into a nest in a honeysuckle vine when I was a little feller and got 7 stings on the back of my neck. And for many years now, I've sprayed Diazinon under the eaves of the house at least twice a year to keep them from building nests there.

Bird

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

Re: Tick, chigger, mosquito... Ahh summer. REVENGE

Dan,

When I was a little boy, my Dad parked his dozer on top of a yellow jacket nest. He was not a pleasant sight when he came home from work that afternoon.

As far as color, I wonder if yellow jackets would respond to white? It seems to work for beekeepers, but I don't know how it would work for other species. Our homemade recipe for bee stings is to make a paste out of meat tenderizer, and place it on the sting site. The enzymes seem to help break down the poision.

Take heart. The news tonight mentioned a 64 year old Arizona man who just survived 800 bee stings. Wow! That qualifies as a bad day! /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif.

SHF