badgerhill
|
TicksOn our lovely land we have an infestation of ticks. Now it's not as bad as on the moor but it's bad enough for me.
Last year I was wild camping in Dartmoor and my dog constantly had at least 20 or 30 young ticks crawling up her legs (her legs are white , that's how we could see them, so god knows how many she had all over her!). Aside from the huge number of adult ticks I had to remove from her. This has left me a bit irrational about them.
I've been removing a handful of ticks off my dog now everyday (I haven't had any yet). Last night I saw that one of the bites on my dog had a red ring around it, which has thankfully died down now. It sent me over the edge though!
So... my questions are...
How do you reduce the numbers of ticks in a large area of pasture (I wont even try in the woodland)??
Do chickens actually work?
Will leaving the land for a year or so without livestock and then having a low numbers of animals help?
Any other ideas??
|
judith
|
Bleeech. Ticks give me the heebie-jeebies.
On the US poultry sites, they generally recommend guinea fowl, rather than chickens, for tick control. Unfortunately they aren't the easiest critters to contain.
|
Jamanda
|
Be very careful, the ticks on Exmoor carry Lymes disease.
|
Cho-ku-ri
|
Tick numbers have seemingly rocketed due to there being less sheep (spounges) and less dipping going on nowadays due to the ecconomic crisis in farming.
|
mihto
|
Re: Ticks | badgerhill wrote: | On our lovely land we have an infestation of ticks. Now it's not as bad as on the moor but it's bad enough for me.
Last year I was wild camping in Dartmoor and my dog constantly had at least 20 or 30 young ticks crawling up her legs (her legs are white , that's how we could see them, so god knows how many she had all over her!). Aside from the huge number of adult ticks I had to remove from her. This has left me a bit irrational about them.
I've been removing a handful of ticks off my dog now everyday (I haven't had any yet). Last night I saw that one of the bites on my dog had a red ring around it, which has thankfully died down now. It sent me over the edge though!
So... my questions are...
How do you reduce the numbers of ticks in a large area of pasture (I wont even try in the woodland)??
Do chickens actually work?
Will leaving the land for a year or so without livestock and then having a low numbers of animals help?
Any other ideas??
|
Now some answers and a handful of new questions...
Leaving the land without livestock would maybe alleviate the problem but not stop it, not by far. The young ticks are quite happy with rodents, deer, foxes, stray cats and just any other animal you can name.
The best way to spare your dog the mess is simply treating it with tick repellent. Helps a great deal. Not ecologically friendly, but sometimes we go for what is practical.
Have never heard that chicken can rid land of ticks. You would need an indecent amount of chicken!
Big question: what kind(s) of ticks do you have? Latin names, please. English lingo goes way over my head.
Do you have tick borne fever (Babesia canis) in dogs in England/Scotland?
Beware of Lyme's disease in people. Ask me or others if you want to know more. VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!
|
Rob R
|
| Cho-ku-ri wrote: | | Tick numbers have seemingly rocketed due to there being less sheep (spounges). |
I don't understand the logic there, could you explain?
|
mihto
|
| Cho-ku-ri wrote: | | Tick numbers have seemingly rocketed due to there being less sheep (spounges) and less dipping going on nowadays due to the ecconomic crisis in farming. |
Tick numbers have skyrocketed due to a general warmer climate and due to fewer grazing animals. The long grass and bushland is perfect for harbouring ticks. Long grass will lure an occational deer to the area, spreading the ticks and giving the tick moms a healthy start for egg laying.
|
badgerhill
|
Ticks totally give me the heeebys! Imagine sharing a tiny tent with a dog covered in the little beggars!! eeeeuuuuurrrgghhh!!!
I think this is the latin name for the common deer tick - Ixodes ricinus.
I am very aware of Lymes disease which is one of the reasons I freaked when I saw the rash on the dog. I'm afraid I do use Frontline on her and had prepared by using it a few days before we left to go to the land last week. Doesn't stop them biting her though.
So... is there any hope or will I have to start wearing armor every time I go to the land?
|
mihto
|
Seems you have done your preparations correctly... Ixodes ricinus - from now on called the tick-, the one and only, is as nasty a bugg(er) as one could wish. One good thing is that is not known to cary tick bite fever (Babesiosis) in dogs. Ask your vet if there is resistance in ticks aganist Frontline in the area.
|
badgerhill
|
foook!!  resistance to Frontline!! If there were, is the active ingredient in other pesticides different?
|
mihto
|
Fook indeed.
Yes there are different ingredients in different tick repellents. Resistance to one may mean resistance to other ingredients closely related. However, different formulas may work beautifully. Some repellents which are used on sheep or cattle may be poisenous to dogs or cats. Fighting ticks is not an easy pasttime. Ask your vet.
There is also stuff you can use on your clothing to protect yourself. Maybe the pharmacy can give some advice? Again I cannot give any names because I have no idea what things are called on your side of The Sea.
Lastly: where do I find the spellcheck on this thing?
|
sean
|
| mihto wrote: |
Lastly: where do I find the spellcheck on this thing? |
There isn't one. If you use Firefox as a browser there's a spell check available for it as an optional extra.
|
mihto
|
Thank you.
No Firefox. No spellcheck. Interesting results. Hope you people are patient and have a sense of humor!
|
sean
|
I don't think that any of us would be much use on a forum written in any of the Scandinavian languages, don't worry about it.
|
mihto
|
| sean wrote: | | I don't think that any of us would be much use on a forum written in any of the Scandinavian languages, don't worry about it. |
 no, but when in Rome do like the Romans.
Now I'm interested in more comments/experiences with ticks. Those of you with cattle or sheep: how do you treat (dip, spray, pour on) your animals? Can you control the diseases that are carried by ticks? To what extent is babesiosis a problem in the different areas of GB?
|
Erikht
|
On this forum they mostly sacrifice to to old and terrible gods. Or read John Seymour.
|
Jamanda
|
| Erikht wrote: | | On this forum they mostly sacrifice to to old and terrible gods. Or read John Seymour. |
Blimey Do we? I've not been doing that.
|
Frewen
|
Damn - found out ! (puts knife down quickly) 
|
Rob R
|
| Erikht wrote: | | On this forum they mostly sacrifice to to old and terrible gods. Or read John Seymour. |
Who?
|
vickersdc
|
That's Saint Seymour to you... 
|
TAVASCAROW
|
When we first moved here all the ground was down to unimproved permanent pasture that was just cut annually for hay.
We were infested with ticks.
Over the years we have ploughed & reseeded & I haven't seen one on my dogs or livestock for years so I would say bury them.
But it could be all the sacrifices I've made to the ancient gods.
|
mihto
|
| TAVASCAROW wrote: | When we first moved here all the ground was down to unimproved permanent pasture that was just cut annually for hay.
We were infested with ticks.
Over the years we have ploughed & reseeded & I haven't seen one on my dogs or livestock for years so I would say bury them.
But it could be all the sacrifices I've made to the ancient gods.
|
Wonderful!
You took away those nice little crannies where the big mothers would hide to lay their eggs, and the just-high-enough grass where the ticks would lie in wait for the grazers to come along and provide a nice meal. Yes, cultivating land helps. Alas this is not an option for the wild heathers and the poor suffering campers.
May I repeat my question? How do farmers treat cattle and sheep in areas where there are plenty of ticks ? To what extent are tick borne diseases a problem?
|
mihto
|
| TAVASCAROW wrote: |
But it could be all the sacrifices I've made to the ancient gods.
|
Be glad that you are not a seaman. They can tell you a thing or two about sacrificing to ancient gods.
|
Simon
|
I had a tick in my belly button the other day. That was pretty grusome.
With regards to Guinea fowl ... yes they are difficult to contain. It was their fault that I got 'ticked' in the first place. Chasing them around the field nextdoor in the long grass when they escaped last week. Give them a huge compound of grassland to raom in and they still choose to move further afield. 
Back on topic, ticks are quite abundant here. We remove them from ourselves and our cats with a pair of tweezers - turning them anticlockwise. My belly button is still itching like hell.
|
Slim
|
A) use a tick repellent on your dog, They are often made with pyrethrin (there are organic and non-organic pyrethrins, I'm not sure if any brands offer the organic formulation)
B) If you saw a bull's-eye ring on your dog, you should get it tested and probably treated for Lyme. It does effect them, they can get some pretty bad arthritis. Also, they can carry it, and then a tick could spread it from them to you.
C) Guinea fowl are the recommended tick-eaters for sure. If it were me, I'd set up a nice shelter for them, with some laying boxes and food and water, and other than that, let them be fruitful, multiply, and wander all over eating critters. I don't know a thing about raising poultry though.
|
Slim
|
Don't forget that deer ticks are the most worrisome (and hardest to see) in their nymph stage.
The good news is that a tick needs to be in you for at least 24 hours in order to pass Lyme to you.
The bull's-eye ring symptom is a dead give-away, but by no means is it always present. Go for a test if you ever have a bad flu at an odd time (like the summer)
|
badgerhill
|
Just a quick update...
I used Advantix on the hound and she has only had a couple of ticks now in odd places (on her snout by her nose and in-between her paw pad). This is in fields that gave us about 20 odd ticks per trouser leg in a few strides and over a week of running around in those fields.
That was a couple of weeks ago. Now there are only one or two ticks to be found. We walked through those fields and had no ticks show up at all. So it seems we have got through the worst of it.
We wont be ploughing those fields, although that does sound like a good idea, so we might do it in the areas that we hang out in most.
Our vet pointed out that the blood test for Lymes in dogs is very unreliable and probably not worth it. So we'll be goin to a different vet nearer to the land. Trouble is as soon as she goes on the right antibiotics our dog insurance will shoot up. Bum.
Any way, when it comes to getting the sheep on the land we'll update with what we use for them.
|
Chez
|
| Simon wrote: | | I had a tick in my belly button the other day. That was pretty grusome. |
Ooooh, Arvo had one of those last time we went camping. We had a comedy doctor's appointment with the French doctor - you have no idea how difficult it is to mime 'My husband has a tick lodged in his belly button' until you've tried.
Guinea fowl are much better at catching wriggly things than chickens ... I suppose it's like fleas and you need to get in there and stamp on the problem early in the season before the breeding cycle has a chance to get going?
|
dpack
|
i dont know much about prevention on land or critters but to remove them
stun it ,benzocaine cold spray (sold for wasp stings etc ) works well
meths ,petrol etc sting but work
grip head (under the body ) and remove with an anticlockwise quarter twist and a firm but gentle pull
i carry a haemastat in ticky places for the head grip but pliers or eyebrow tongs work( teeth isnt nice but works quite well)
do what you want to it then
ps do not squeeze when attached as their insides become your insides
|
mihto
|
| badgerhill wrote: | Just a quick update...
That was a couple of weeks ago. Now there are only one or two ticks to be found. We walked through those fields and had no ticks show up at all. So it seems we have got through the worst of it.
We wont be ploughing those fields, although that does sound like a good idea, so we might do it in the areas that we hang out in most.
Any way, when it comes to getting the sheep on the land we'll update with what we use for them.
|
....and now for the bad news. What you are describing is exactely text book material. The ticks are most active in spring/early summer and in late summer/autumn. An inborn mechanism makes them syncronise activity (not connected with the syncronised activity in one of the later, rather famous threads...). You can expect more trouble in August/September. Never a dull moment 
|
badgerhill
|
Fook.
|
badgerhill
|
What happens in august?
... or don't I want to know
|
Chez
|
You wake up one morning to a thunderous knocking on your front door and find a zombie-man ENTIRELY MADE UP OF TICKS CLINGING TOGETHER trying to get in to consume you alive.
|
mihto
|
More of the same.
You and your dog will pick up those critters again and have another exposure to tick borne diseases.
So far we have had a bumper crop in Lyme's disease in people where I live, but the docs think it will get even worse towards autumn.
Use external medication, take care to pick off anything you can find from yourself, spouse and children, drink a nice tot of Scotch in the evening (does not help for ticks but boosts your morale to no end) and say a prayer to those who can hear as a thank you for the priviledge to be able to live in the countryside.
|
badgerhill
|
| Chez wrote: | | You wake up one morning to a thunderous knocking on your front door and find a zombie-man ENTIRELY MADE UP OF TICKS CLINGING TOGETHER trying to get in to consume you alive. |
|
badgerhill
|
| mihto wrote: | More of the same.
You and your dog will pick up those critters again and have another exposure to tick borne diseases.
So far we have had a bumper crop in Lyme's disease in people where I live, but the docs think it will get even worse towards autumn.
Use external medication, take care to pick off anything you can find from yourself, spouse and children, drink a nice tot of Scotch in the evening (does not help for ticks but boosts your morale to no end) and say a prayer to those who can hear as a thank you for the priviledge to be able to live in the countryside. |
Thanks Mihto. The praying and the scotch sound good to me!
|
bodger
|
I caught a polecat around my chicken pens the other week and the thing was covered in them.
Going back a few years ago, I caught a ferret that someone had presumably lost whilst out rabbiting. The poor thing was covered from head to toe. I brought it home and had nothing to hand other than household wasp spray. I gave it and them a few quick squirts and in half an hour, I had one happy ferret and not a tick in sight.
One other thing, getting ticks on you is associated with walking through long grass but, I rightly or wrongly associate ticks with sheep, yet sheep invariably graze short grass.
|
mihto
|
| bodger wrote: | I caught a polecat around my chicken pens the other week and the thing was covered in them.
Going back a few years ago, I caught a ferret that someone had presumably lost whilst out rabbiting. The poor thing was covered from head to toe. I brought it home and had nothing to hand other than household wasp spray. I gave it and them a few quick squirts and in half an hour, I had one happy ferret and not a tick in sight.
One other thing, getting ticks on you is associated with walking through long grass but, I rightly or wrongly associate ticks with sheep, yet sheep invariably graze short grass. |
Totally beside the point but cannot resist: How do New Zealanders find their sheep in long grass? Bloody delightful......
Ticks are found in long or short grass, but they prefer bushland and somewhat overgrown pastures, where they are protected. They can multiply almost everywhere, however. Our sheep graze in the mountains during summer and they are sometimes covered in ticks when they come home. Certain species of Alnus are infamous for harbouring ticks. If the pastures are surrounded by these trees just clearing away the bush can make a major difference to tick numbers.
|
bodger
|
I wish i could be a tick expert. 
|
Lloyd
|
One day it might happen, mate?
|
