Guinea fowl eat huge numbers of ticks. When my daughter first bought her small farm, ticks would cover my legs when I walked in the pastures. The chickens were not making a dent in the tick population. Two weeks after acquiring 4 guinea fowl, the ticks were gone. The ticks have not returned.
This morning with 2 inches of snow on the ground I pulled 2 ticks off my dog. Considering last year I had fleas and ticks even with frontline plus . I think we are creating super ticks and fleas.
I have nothing but sympathy for you all who are tick-infested, because ticks CREEP ME OUT like almost nothing else. :dead: :dead: :dead:
But I must thank you for cheering me very slightly on this late March day when it’s 25 degrees and snowing hard–we have virtually NO ticks here. 
I hate you deltawave 
As hot as south GA was/is I didn’t appreciate life without ticks!
The paddocks have heavy woods on the back side (short side), but are very open with virtually no grass or weeds. Red clay is what I have a lot of - ground cover, not so much.
I’ve been thinking about getting a few guinea hens. I’ve been around them before and don’t care for them. That might not be as painful if the neighbor’s dogs thin the flock. I’d get attached to chickens & turkeys for sure.
I wrote this a few months ago as a lark - i just like to write and this was on my mind!
My Dark Side
I step to the edge of the barn door and peer at the frozen world. The paddocks and fields are sheathed in shimmering white – icy diamonds glimmering in the noon day sun. The deep snow and brisk wind remind me that we are mid winter with more frigid temperatures to come. My horses stand in their deeply bedded stalls; warm blankets on, fresh hay, heated water buckets casting small wisps of steam. The wind begins to blow again. It’s cold tendrils snaking around my neck, seeking small gaps in my jacket collar to chill my spine; I stamp my feet and shift from leg to leg, hands deep in my pockets. My eyes are drawn to the edge of the field, to the dark pine woods, branches swaying as the frigid wind begins to blow. “Die!” I shout. “Die, die, die! I know you are out there! I know you lie in wait for us! You shield yourself with the fallen leaves! You cling to the grasses and wait for us to pass! You bring disease and destruction to the unsuspecting and innocent! Now your repulsive body will freeze one molecule at a time! Your nerveless head and legs will cease to move one millimeter at a time! You will fall into the earth and be absorbed for eternity! Yes, you! I mean you, you foul Lyme disease carrying ectoparasite! You member of the Animalia Kingdom! You card carrying Phylum Arthropoda Class Arachnida in the Order lxodida! You nameless tick, you! You will die…… and I rejoice!” Then I say to myself – geezzzz……get a grip! Go clean some stalls!
I’m very appreciative of this thread. I know it’s going to be a BAD tick season here because we have had virtually no winter.
My poor gelding gets huge welts and hives from ticks. I found that Buggzo did a great job of keeping him mostly tick free…and if he did have a tick, it would not be as “attached” as some of the other horses.
We moved barns this winter, so I’m curious to see what the tick population is like at the new place. I haven’t started him on anything yet, because I would like to see…and I’m hoping that since all the pastures are treeless, that the ticks won’t be much of an issue.
We have had ticks all through winter here in SC. I am worried about how bad it will be once it warms up even more. Interestingly enough, my chestnut mare gets ticks like crazy, and my roan (nearly grey) gelding barely has any. They are in the same pasture and eat the same food. I find this very strange, I guess they are attracted to the chestnut mares too!
A friend of mine had a farm in Missouri, and they used turkeys to get rid of their tick problem. Worked like a charm, and may not take too much guff from the neighbourhood dog.
We moved to a new farm last year and were faced with the most terrible tick problem. The horses pastures ARE mowed down, the hay fields are not, and the horses do have some woods. Guinea’s, while awesome, are an excellent snack for the tons of coyotes and raccoons, foxes, etc. etc. surrounding us.
Smart Bug Off worked WONDERS! I literally picked HUNDREDS of ticks off the horses on any given day and after adding the Bug Off to their diet it would be 2-3 (which I was rejoicing over compared to the before - YUCK!!). It’s cold and supposed to snow here but I have everyone on the Bug Off already as I know it’s just a matter of time…I also spray myself with deet prior to walking out the door when the weather warms up.
We flyspray, used equi spot, etc. but the Smart Bug off seemed to have the biggest results.
Not for the easily squicked…
http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/ag72/fatappy/Tick_zps2d95f8f9.jpg
(for scale, he is sitting on my gate latch).
I pulled that sucker off my gray mare( I SWEAR had done tick check on less than 24hours prior).
I took a picture post squish… but since this is a family website, I decided not to post.
Most impressive picture!
FYI , still no tick since the double ivermectin… and the nasty bite abcesses on the old man are healing.
So, normally when I find ticks on my horses, they are crawling freely on their legs or chest b/c we’ve just been out for a ride and picked them up. I rarely find them attached. This spring I’m experiencing something weird - I’m finding attached ticks to my horses, and when I remove them, they are not at all engorged (even though it appears they’ve been attached for a while since there is a raised welt and crusty scab), and the ticks appear lifeless. I have not wormed my 2 horses in years (I test their manure periodically) and it is so early in the spring here in Maine that I have used fly spray maybe twice on just their faces. What gives? I find engorged ticks on my dogs all the time. What are my horses superpowers?
