I grew up outside. When I was a kid we weren't in the house unless we were eating or sleeping; every other minute of the day (when not in school), was spent OUTSIDE. I also spent a lot of time around horses, in stables and on my Uncle's farm in the Missouri Ozarks, so I have had about a billion ticks in my lifetime. We still vacation in Missouri, and almost moved there before we bought this farm. I have spent much of my adult life outside as well, gardening and landscaping. As a result, ticks have just been a fact of life for me.
I have NEVER seen them as bad as they are this year.
Last year, I bought 17 guinea keets and we raised them with our baby ducks. I knew that living in the country we would need guineas to reduce the tick population. I also knew that guineas were ridiculously loud and exceedingly stupid, but figured those negatives were outweighed by their tick eating ability. Guineas are well known for their ability to decimate tick numbers.
After butchering three and losing six to owls, we have eight left. They roam all over the place, eating and eating and eating. And STILL, every day that I am outside, I find a tick on me. Perhaps they can "smell" my blood disorder ( I have a clotting disease that makes me bleed profusely), and figure I am going to be a great food source, because no one else in my family gets ticks as much as I do. ;)
I know my guineas are reducing the ticks because I have a friend who also lives in the country and the ticks at her place are really bad. However, even with the guineas here, and finally resigning myself to spraying bug spray on myself from head to toe, I still get them. Late Lyme disease is still on the table as a diagnosis for me, and so I worry about the rest of my family. Here are some tips from www.thesurvivaldoctor.com about how to deal with ticks and how to identify early Lyme disease.
I have NEVER seen them as bad as they are this year.
Last year, I bought 17 guinea keets and we raised them with our baby ducks. I knew that living in the country we would need guineas to reduce the tick population. I also knew that guineas were ridiculously loud and exceedingly stupid, but figured those negatives were outweighed by their tick eating ability. Guineas are well known for their ability to decimate tick numbers.
After butchering three and losing six to owls, we have eight left. They roam all over the place, eating and eating and eating. And STILL, every day that I am outside, I find a tick on me. Perhaps they can "smell" my blood disorder ( I have a clotting disease that makes me bleed profusely), and figure I am going to be a great food source, because no one else in my family gets ticks as much as I do. ;)
I know my guineas are reducing the ticks because I have a friend who also lives in the country and the ticks at her place are really bad. However, even with the guineas here, and finally resigning myself to spraying bug spray on myself from head to toe, I still get them. Late Lyme disease is still on the table as a diagnosis for me, and so I worry about the rest of my family. Here are some tips from www.thesurvivaldoctor.com about how to deal with ticks and how to identify early Lyme disease.
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