Deer ticks used to be found primarily in wooded areas of the northern United States, but the tiny bugs and the diseases they transmit are now in every state in the country. If you want to protect your yard from deer ticks, there are animals that can help you win the fight against them.
Cry Fowl Guinea hens have become a popular defense against deer ticks. They can be allowed to roam your property and will eat any insect in their path. They prefer bugs that they can see on the ground or on plant leaves, and deer ticks are one of their favorites.
They also devour weed seeds and snakes. They can be loud as they roam in packs about the property. Guineas are best suited to larger parcels of land they can roam freely, and they must be in an area zoned for poultry.
Chicken Feed Chickens are second to guinea fowl in eating deer ticks. They are not as effective because they won't roam the property as guineas do. They like to scratch the ground, so chickens can damage gardens or landscaping. They are prey for animals such as coyotes since they don't move as quickly or fly as well as guinea fowl. They must also be kept in an area zoned for poultry.
Talking Turkey Young wild turkeys are known to eat deer ticks, but not to the extent that they are effective in controlling the tick population. Wild turkeys enjoy small, crawling insects and can eat up to 200 ticks a day, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission. A flock of wild turkeys that regularly visits an area can reduce the number of ticks, but there is no concrete evidence that they seek ticks out.
Dangerous Bugs Lyme disease was first identified in 1975, and the transmitter named as deer ticks. The insects do live on deer, but prefer smaller animals such as mice, chipmunks and squirrels.
Infected ticks carry bacteria that causes a range of diseases. In addition to Lyme, a tick bite can result in ehrlichiosis, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, tick paralysis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Colorado tick fever and others. Symptoms can vary, making the illness difficult to diagnose, but frequently include fever, headache, fatigue and a skin rash.
I also found these> Natural predators of ticks also include wild song birds, amphibians such as frogs and lizards, insects such as fire ants, and nematodes or microscopic round worms.
Steve
Posted by I'm done (Member # 43735) on :
Yep. they will clean your yard quickly but they are quite noisy.
Also, in country setting they are hunted by hawks and cats and whatev's lives in nearby woods. Historic site nearby had them and they were all taken over time.
Even our natural defenders can't really be defended, huh? I thought of getting some but it would break my heart to put them in place to be killed eventually. Posted by MannaMe (Member # 33330) on :
We let our young guineas out to roam for the first time yesterday. They are quite tame. Busy eating bugs in the garden!
The cats are half scared of the guineas because the big laying hens will chase our cats. The guineas are almost as big as the hens.
Posted by hiker53 (Member # 6046) on :
I read that possums are good tick eaters, too.
But possums are so ugly!!
Hiker53
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
And possums carry diseases!
I thought most people put the guinea fowl in cages at night to protect them?
Posted by Catgirl (Member # 31149) on :
Very cool!
Posted by MannaMe (Member # 33330) on :
Yes, they are penned up at night for protection. At least we put ours in a pen! There are foxes out in the meadow/wooded area.
It was funny to see them come up to the back door of the house and peek in the window this afternoon.
They ate any ants crawling around on the patio.... now if they could eat all the pesty flys around here that would be wonderful!
Posted by Razzle (Member # 30398) on :
I think trying to reduce the rodents would also be good to do...
Posted by seibertneurolyme (Member # 6416) on :
Steve,
Don't think there is any recent research on the Western Fence Lizard. But if I remember correctly that lizard can eat lyme infected ticks but the lizard does not get lyme. Also I think if the lizard is bitten by an infected tick it will not get lyme either.
Pretty sure songbirds can be infected with lyme from a tickbite -- don't know about guineas though.
![[Frown]](frown.gif)