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Posted on 11/10/2011 9:40:38 AM PST by BuckeyeTexan
Does anyone have recommendations for treating heavily wooded property for ticks? My one-year-old basset hound (Sophie) is an indoor dog, but she has free access to a little over an acre of heavily wooded property. (300+ oaks and pecans.)
I've tried every treatment I can find to put on Sophie to prevent ticks, but I'm still finding them on her once every few days. She sleeps on my daughter's bed, so I'm worried about a tick dropping off in the bed. She's a lemon basset hound so the ticks are easy to see unless they're really small.
Is there anything I can do to treat the property? I don't want to poison the land or kill the trees, so I'd prefer something natural, but I'm not strictly opposed to pesticide if it'll work.
Guinea hens. They are natural born tick gitters. Just let them free range and they will eat every tick on the place.
Guinea Hens. They make great watch dogs as well.
Alternatively, call your local exterminator and have them spread some granules around. It will knock the ticks down for a couple of months.
I suppose chickens would do but I like Guineas.
Interesting thread. I can be no help with the ticks but like the sound of guinea hens roosting in your trees at night, cooing away and eating ticks and fertilizing the land during the day. I have one question: A little over an acre with 300+ trees? Isn’t that an awful lot of trees for one acre? How do that many trees fit on one acre? Are they all saplings? — City girl here but I’ve got a friend who lives on a house on an exact one acre lot and it’s big but not 300 trees big.
We have white oaks and a few pecans. The oaks in Texas tend to grow in very thick clusters. So the trunks are small and the branches don’t spread out as they normally would. The branches tend to grow upward vying for sunlight. About 150 trees are 1.5 feet wide and 25 - 35 ft tall. The rest are just as tall but only 10 inches wide or so.
I’ll post a pic if you’d like to see them.
No pun intended, but if I have guinea hens roosting in my trees is that going to tick off my neighbors?
Are you kidding? I'd LOVE to see a picture or pictures (hint, hint). Do you have to irrigate the trees? Are you going to get some guinea hens to control the tick population? You can put all that poison stuff on your dog you want, but the ticks will still be out there, enjoying the shady coolness under your trees. Do the trees shade your house and keep it cool/cooler?
I hear Guinea Hens are great for ticks, too. Don’t think they have the fresh eggs advantage. If you have a mean rooster (like my sister-in-law’s infamous “Big Daddy” who attacked anything that came near his hens, including people) he may torture the dog. We also had ‘Bruester Rooster’ - when his last hen died (we think she committed suicide in the horse water trough to permanently get away from BR) he began to follow my horse Henry around .... talk about the ‘odd couple’! I eventually found him some old laying hens (free to a good home) to keep him company. Then again, you may end up with a rooster like “Freckles” that my young niece (6-7 yrs old) could ‘hypnotize’ and carry around under her arm. Your dog may chase chickens - not good. SIL has a Brittany & he has killed a few chickens - will take the ‘hit’ & run the invisible fence to get to them. He’s either tied up or in the dog pen when the chickens are out of the coop/pen and in the yard. Another Brittany would tolerate baby chicks climbing all over her & she was a great pheasant hunter. Depends on the dog. You will also have to look out for raccoons, possums, hawks, foxes, maybe even coyotes, etc. getting into the chickens - need a secure coop/pen. Chickens do require some work. BTW, last batch of chicks was ‘mixed’, about a half dozen breeds - some had feathered feet, some laid green eggs ..... lots of fun. Personally, I’m fond of Rhode Island Reds - brown eggs, large, pretty chickens.
Free documentary on Tick borne illness: http://www.hulu.com/watch/268761/under-our-skin
Guinea hens.
That's because they have more time to learn stuff.....
There ain’t no ticks on me,
There ain’t not ticks on me,
There might be ticks on some of them chicks but there ain’t no ticks on me.........
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