In the northeast we are having a terrible time with ticks, particularly the tiny deer ticks that carry lyme disease. They are so small that they are hard to detect on your body. I was on a garden tour yesterday in town, and one gardener had erected a 6 foot tall deer fence around her property. I can hardly guess what that would have cost. I spoke with another garden owner about the tick problem and heard he has had the lyme rash 5 times. He said he is lucky because he always seems to get the rash, so knows to start the antibiotic. He named 3 other neighbors on his road who were currently being treated for lyme. So, Stewbies, is anyone else coping with this problem? Has anyone had a luck reducing the ticks/deer on their property? I have been making tick tubes & distributing them around my garden. I don't know how effective they are, but I do find the cotton balls in mouse nests. I also shower and scrub after walking in my garden every time. Needless to say, I am feeling overly squeaky clean. Suggestions, comments, commiseration anyone?
CM, I got guinea hens a few years ago after my daughter got a tick extremely early in the year....but I hated the noise raucous, up on the roof, squawking at everything birds, who also picked on my chickens unmercifully, so I didn't keep them very long, but We do have chickens and I never find fleas or ticks on the dog or any of the cats. The must help keep the population of insects under control. I also plant mint all around the deck. The mint is supposed to repel insects and fleas. Some breeds are better than others at not scratching everything up in the yard/garden/flowerbeds, too. If you can have chickens (even bantams are a great choice, just use two eggs instead of one if you use eggs) I would suggest a few just to pick the insects and such as much as possible out of the surrounding area.
Interesting article on opossums as vacuum cleaners for ticks that carry Lyme disease. Encouraging. http://www.caryinstitute.org/newsroom/opossums-where-lyme-disease-goes-die Here is another article about ticks & Lyme disease, albeit a discouraging one: http://www.caryinstitute.org/newsro...e-are-arriving-earlier-expanding-their-ranges
Ticks were really bad here last spring! They prefer the cooler weather. All 3 of my children and myself had gotten one at some point. I looked up all the facts I could find about ticks. One of the natural remedies I found was a half and half solution of water and vinegar. I would spray everyone down head to toe multiple times during the day and it seemed to work! We did smell like pickles all summer but it worked. The one day I forgot to spray everyone down was the day my daughter had gotten one. Nightly checks are a good idea if you going to be in the yard a lot.
Thanks for the tip D'sG. I am glad to hear it seems to be working. Do you have a lot of deer where you live? We see packs of them almost every night here (west of Boston MA). A friend of mine is currently being treated for Lyme arthritis. I had invited her to join a group of woman walkers & she declined, saying she can't due to the pain. Pretty awful, huh?
Ticks and Lyme Disease is something that no one seems to know about here. I didn't know what they were until my dog got bit by one years ago - in a subdivision! Having since moved to the country and regularly seeing deer I educated myself on what they were, and how to know if bitten by one. I found one, fully engorged, on the carpet where my dog lays last fall and now I am paranoid. Lyme is ofter misdiagnosed, and I know a Lady that was diagnosed with ALS and swore until the day she died that it was Lyme Disease.
Yes cay, just last weekend on my way to town (15 min drive) my daughter and I counted almost 75 deer and they were on the side of the road. We had a hard winter, so seeing so many is just crazy!
