Ticks, a serious problem.
On our new property we have some woods and are surrounded by woods from neighboring properties. We've cleaned up and cleared out brambles and such making the close proximity of the house more open and deer stay further away. But our barn cats venture out and come in contact to where the ticks are still prevalent. And so do we if we're working around the property which happens to be more often now that we're going into the summer months.
My question is how to best protect my family from these pests so we don't get sick or worse catch Lyme disease. After working outside we always check ourselves before showering. And I buy a natural bug spray from our local natural foods store that says it helps protect against ticks. But surely there's more I can do. We're still at the beginning of the season, summer is right around the corner. There are many more months of work to be done outside.
Does anyone have any recommendations on further steps we can take to protect ourselves?
Comments
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Do you have opossums? They eat a ton of ticks.
If you can build a predator proof coop even a few chickens will help keep ticks down.
There are herbal sprays you can make.
Lymes is also a big issue in my area. I use knotweed tinture in tick season and take it daily. Its supposed to help prevent lymes if your bit.
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There are a few steps you can take to lessen the chances of a tick being attracted to you. This is a link to a brochure put out by the Canadian government on Ticks and Lyme Disease.
Light coloured (white) clothing helps. Black really seems to attract them. I wear a bandana (white) on my head when I am in tick habitat. Particularly when out picking. Gaiters are a good choice, especially if you are in long grass or brushy areas. Long socks with the pant legs tucked into the socks works, too.
While Lyme disease is a very serious illnesses, there is a more immediate concern to be aware of with ticks. Tick paralysis. Even though it is said to be rare, I have heard of several cases, one in which the child nearly died. This was due to an incomplete physical exam by several different health care providers before the grandmother found the tick when combing the child's hair.
So be vigilant about examining bodies after being out for a walk. Comb your hair with a fine tooth comb.
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@JennyT Upstate South Carolina Guinea hens are voracious eaters of ticks, grasshoppers, crickets...any bug that moves, really.
I wish we could let ours roam free, but we'd only be feeding sly foxes and the great horned owl.
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We do have some possums. Eventually, we'll have some chickens close to the house and others in movable pens so we can move them around the property after the other animals we eventually plan to get.
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That was a helpful brochure thank you for sharing, @torey.
I have heard of tick paralysis but I couldn't remember the name. I knew there were several serious diseases that come from ticks.
And I'm trying to get everyone a hat to help keep them out of the hair. Only my youngest has had them in her hair. Thankfully she's a dark blond so it's easier to spot them.
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Exactly, @LaurieLovesLearning! That's one of the main reasons I wanted to get some guinea hens.😁
We'd have to keep their wings clipped and provide a movable safe shelter so they can clean up over all the property. Or get a dog to help keep an eye on them.
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@JennyT Upstate South Carolina chicken coups on wheels make for easy moving, in fact, the chickens could move the coup actually.
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One recommendation used by hikers is clothing thoroughly sprayed with permethrin. Never spray it on skin, but it is safe on clothing. It is absorbed by the fabric and stays there.
If ticks get on clothing well dosed with permethrin, they will die there. Flying insects will avoid such clothing, either staying away from it, or landing briefly and then immediately taking off again.
The danger of ticks is high enough that I am willing to use products like this that I wouldn't normally encourage.
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I've not heard of permethrin before. I'll look into that.
Thanks, @VermontCathy. 😊
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I found this article on making a permethrin-type insecticide at home. Its made from crushed Dalmation Chrysanthemums (Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium). They may also be called Pyrethrum Daisies or Painted Daisies and are known by several Latin names: Pyrethrum roseum, Chrysanthemum roseum, Chyrsanthemum coccineum or Tanacetum coccineum, depending on the age of the literature you are looking at. This species has changed taxonomic classification a few times.
It says that the shelf life isn't very long but can be frozen for up to 6 months. So, probably the best way to do this for spring ticks would be to harvest your daisies late in the season and then freeze them til spring.
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I wonder why tick diseases are so prevalent now. i mean we didn't want to get ticks when i was younger but there was no fear behind getting bit- they just sucked {no pun intended but that was pretty funny}!
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Awesome thank you for the help @torey! I just love this group!😘
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Oh, I thought I had already commented - maybe I did but hit the wrong button. THe best solution is guineas. THey eat all ticks... drive you crazy, but taste better than chicken.
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Thanks, @judsoncarroll4. I hope you're doing alright and healing well. 😊
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@JennyT Upstate South Carolina Thanks for posting this question, I had been wondering the same thing!
Will be checking out some of the options offered--Thanks everyone!
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I would like to second what others have said- our guinea hens really do a great job! They are absolutely tireless big eaters. If you raise the guinea hens with chicks they will think they’re chickens and roost where you have your chickens roost. For he most part they lay their eggs with the chickens too. My personal feeling is they are just too hard to control to worry about keeping them perfectly safe. Raise a BUNCH of them. They are my favorite eggs. I use two for every chicken egg but the yolks are unbelievable and the color is always orange.
We met a local couple in Columbia who gave us 40 eggs to hatch. We made lots of mistakes (including tripping and dropping all the eggs when we brought them home) but we have maybe 8 guinea hens who roam around and make noise all day. If we are late to feed them they knock on our windows to get us up!
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Awesome, thanks @Megan Venturella!
I have a local friend who found a source for guineas. I'll be talking to her for sure. 😊
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Of course, @water2world. Glad this is discussion is helping out others as well.😁
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We had a guinea hen who thought she was a chicken. She fought other guineas, do we put her back in with the chickens.
One day, she got out. We never did get her back in, but she would hang out with them just outside the pen most days. Eventually she wandered out from there. We suspect that she hid a nest of infertile eggs & subsequently got eaten.
She was fun to watch wander in the pasture until then.
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In the forest are many ticks, they just love dropping onto me when I’m out in the garden, on the mower, or out for a walk. They are so small and shaped either round or a teardrop. These have been a dark reddish brown. However, now I spray all of my clothes with a tick repellent and wear white socks pulled over my light colored jeans. All light colored clothing. Then, i spray of mosquito spray as there are huge swarms and they seem to be much bigger in their size individually.
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@nicksamanda11 I don't think tick disease spread has changed that much in recent decades. There are always new diseases appearing and spreading into new areas.
Ticks themselves are not very dangerous to humans. The tick paralysis mentioned is very rare and the cases I've read about typically involve young children having a tick attack somewhere that the tick isn't noticed for a very long time, such as behind the ear. Once the tick is removed, it tends to clear quickly. The problem is that ticks readily carry disease microorganisms, and since they feed directly on human blood they can readily spread these diseases.
Back in the 70s, we were very worried about ticks, but the main threat back then was Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Despite the name, it was endemic in the eastern US. When we found a tick embedded back then, my parents would panic and my father would pull out a lighter and use heat to try to get the tack to let go and back out. (It didn't work very well, and is NOT recommended today, as the shock of the heat can actually make the tick vomit disease-carrying microorganisms into the bloodstream.)
Then some years later, Lyme disease was found and began to spread, but the treatment is the same. Get the tick off as soon as possible.
The most recent concern is that some ticks are now making people the bite develop a severe allergy to red meat that prevents them from eating it at all. This is still very rare, but documented. A local newspaper had a major article recently profiling one man who had this problem.
The recommendation today is still to check yourself frequently for ticks, hopefully finding them before they are embedded, but if embedded remove with sharp tweezers by grabbing the head (not the body, as squeezing the body can inject the contents back into the bloodstream) and pulling it off. If you think it has been there for an extended time, over 24 hours, visit your doctor to get a round of antibiotics to protect against Lyme.
I have done this many times over the years without a problem and without ever getting sick. I rarely even get the antbiotics. So be cautious, but not fearful.
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@torey Pyrethrum is a known organic insecticide, and it does work, but doesn't last very long. If you use it, be prepared to make frequent re-applications.
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@SuperC The ticks we have here in BC aren't usually in forested areas or higher up where they can drop on you. They tend to hang out in the grasses, getting onto your pants and footwear as you walk through.
@VermontCathy Tick paralysis is a bit less rare in my area. There are a couple of cases reported to the BCCDC every year (and most people tend to be quite vigilant about checking themselves after being in tick habitat). The interior of BC (where I live) is the area with the highest risk. We have two species that will feed on humans in my area, Rocky Mountain wood tick (Dermacentor andersoni), which is more common, and the American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis). There is another, the winter tick (Dermacentor albipictus), but it only feeds on moose, deer or large livestock, not humans.
Despite the fact that it is called Rocky Mountain spotted fever, cause that is where it was first discovered, most cases occur in the southeastern states (although, cases have been reported in other areas). I haven't been able to find any reports of RMSF in Canada in recent years, however it is not considered a "reportable" disease.
The species of ticks (in BC) that carry the bacteria Borrelia burgdoferii, that causes Lyme disease, are the Western black-legged tick (Ixodes pacificus) and Ixodes angustus (no common name). They are generally found in southwestern BC where it is warmer and more humid. Both species are less capable of carrying the bacteria compared to the Black legged tick (Ixodes scapularis) which is found in Eastern Canada and the US. So Lyme is less of a concern for us in my area than tick paralysis.
Everyone who is outside on a regular basis should check to see which tick species are most common in your area and how each species can affect humans.
As @VermontCathy has pointed out, most of the homemade "natural" insecticides (such as ones made from pyrethrum, yarrow, mints or some of the essential oil recipes) need to be applied much more frequently than commercial products containing DEET or permethrin.
Edit: I should have said "Both species of Dermacentor are less capable of carrying the bacteria compared to Ixodes species."
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@torey There have been reports that the dog tick, which is common on the eastern US, may be capable of carrying Lyme disease. As far as I know, this has not been confirmed.
Anything involving insects and disease is a moving target. We'll never have a complete understanding of it, and if we did, it would change the next year.
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I just read in the book, John Seymour's The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It, talk about Pyrethrum. It was one of the few "chemicals" he used if necessary.
Which is crazy seeing as we were just talking about it and I had never heard of it before.☺️
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I have what I call tick socks. 😁 I might have shared this before. Anyway, there was another company and they had really cute socks but they sold it to someone else. The new company doesn't have the same cute socks but they work the same. They repeal ticks for 70 washes. I've only had one tick on me since I've been wearing them.
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Where I live, we don't have ticks. Yea!! But when we go over to the east side of the state, we do have to be careful about ticks.
Speaking of possums, I haven't seen any for a few years. But I just recently saw one. I'm glad they are coming back.
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@kbmbillups1 never heard of tick socks. What a good idea. I will check whether they are available in our area.
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Does garlic deter ticks, or mosquitoes?
That is, after you eat garlic.
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@SuperC If garlic does help I just found a jar of honey garlic that had been shoved to the back of the shelf, I can eat before I go outside.😁
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