Frigging Ticks!

[Wolfman]

Man if we don't get some cold weather and some good frosts next winter i think im moveing to arizona where there's nothing but sand. See if them lil blood suckers can find a blade of grass to hide on or a tree thay can pounce on me from!

I have'nt found any seed ticks yet but them stinking lil yearlings seem to be think as fleas on a dirty dog and everywhere. I can't walk across a plain dirt yard without getting a couple of the things let alone walk through the grass!
Deer ticks are'nt a whole lot better.
A warm winter was nice in a way but man it sure did'nt kill any of the ticks!

[Critter]

I know what You mean.I got a couple on me out in the middle of the lake on the boat even.Jumped outta the trees I think.lol!

[slabmaster]

a nice flock of brown egg layers will solve the problem.i live pretty deep in the woods . when we moved there we had to clear the land. no one had ever lived there before. the ticks would carry you off. i got me some pullets from a hatchery sso we could have brown eggs . the side benefit was that when they got big enough to roam the yard our tick problems dissapeared. i sold my chickens this year because of the bird flu scareand now we have tick problems again. i am ready to say hang the bird flu and get me another batch of pullets. i have a couple of pretty nice chicken coops just setting vacant and them bug feed chickens lay some mighty tasty eggs. i know someone will tell me guinies are the tick getters and i agree but cchickens do a good job and they will stay home.besides i just dont like guinies.

[Wolfman]

Don't sweat the bird flu. Your more likely to et it from a migrateing bird then your own chickens.
Last i heard we did'nt have any reported cases here in the states yet. For the cross species jump you pretty much need to be in constant contact with the birds. Most of the victims in the far east have been folks liveing with(in their homes) or raiseing large numbers of fowl.
So far supposedly there is'nt a virus that will jump human to human...yet.

Best tickers i ever found was muscovy ducklings. Have a hen with about 15 of them roaming the yard and you never got a tick. made for some good duck breasts later on to.
Right now id need a major flock as im liveing out in the middle of the woods. d@mn thnigs would reproduce faster then a flock could eat em...lol

[slabmaster]

i never thought about ducks being good bug eaters . i guess it stands to reason that they would be. i am going to get me some more chicks soon . i agree that migratory birds are the best chance to catch bf. if the canadian geese ever get it every city in the us with a golf course will be in trouble.. i dont eat my chickens anyhow . i like to order a batch of babies and brood them out and wwhen they start laying really good i usually sell them . people around my neck of the woods will give you 10 bucks a head for laying hens. i have a pretty good set up wwith a couple of 8 x 10 chicken coops i built out of rough sawn red cedar. i have zero problems with mites aand other pests plus the laand i am raiseing on has never had aany other chickens raised on it . so far i have had extremely good luck raiseing chickens.

[Wolfman]

We used to keep a couple dozen chickens for the eggs and to butcher at times. Guts made good cat bait to...lol
We started out with one drake and two muscovy hens back when i was about 6 or 10. By the time i was 16 or so we kept an average of 200 or so running around. At one time we had 600+ ducks...lol Did a lot of killin that summer. They have some pretty good eggs to. Slightly larger and just a bit of a different taste but man their good in angel food cakes.
Them duck breasts can't be beat either. Slice each side into about 3 steaks, roll in flour and fry them then smother and make gravy!

The duckling are EXCELLENT tickers, better then the chickens ever thought about being. Taste good after their grown. Down side is they don't do well on the ponds or in the rain untill their about a 1/4 grown or so. They also chit all the time everywhere...lol

[slabmaster]

your family had ducks like my family had rabbits. when i was a kid we had 200 does and 30 buck rabbits we sold fryers to safeway super markets. that was bacck when you just killed em cleaned em throwed em in an ice chest aand carried em to the store. the buutcher looked em over and the store manager paid you cash. now days we have enough law to put you under the jail for doing buisiness like that.

[Wolfman]

LOL...we used to raise rabbits to. had something on the order of 400 of the d@mn things. I used to get to shovel all the rabbit pellets out from under the cages, feed and water them, check for babies, fight with the d@mn bucks and try to keep em from dieing when it got hot in the summer.
Every time i turn around the ex is dragging one home to one of the girls. I hate the d@mn things anymore.
You can still raise them and sell em to buyers who then take em somewhere and sell em to be butchered and sold. There's a couple comes in and loads em up every so often here. Don't know what their selling for a pound now though. Don't care, id rather raise scorpions!...lol

[slabmaster]

lol im with you on that one i hate rabbits to . i like to eat wild rabbit but i wouldn't give you 50 cents for a semi load of tame ones. my wife and kid drag one up every once in a while . usually when they forget how much trouble it was to take care of the last one they had. my wife asked me once to feed the rabbit. she quickly found out that i would just as soon eat it as feed it.

[Wolfman]

They drag em home and i get to take care of them. I told em last time the next rabbir would get eat soon as they brought it home.

Now their yapping wanting one of the pygmy goats. I told em goat taste like deer...lol