Season Of The Tick....

When we first brought the chickens to the farm, I was hoping that they would have an impact on the tick population on our pasture. They're everywhere! But it seems they are not as interested in the ticks as they are the crickets, moths and grasshoppers. So very little has changed at the farm with tick control to this point.


Last Saturday we started our corral on the back side of our pasture so we would be able to catch the sheep. I've been wanting to do a natural garlic drench to help de-worm the sheep and they are not just going to let me do it, so we have to build a strong corral that they won't jump over or run through.

My father-in-law and I were using a two man auger that I borrowed from a friend so we could get the post in the ground. Well, even using an auger, I couldn't get the holes more than 12" deep because our soil is so hard. Needless to say that neither the holes nor the corral got completed Saturday.

After we got back home Saturday afternoon, I was getting ready to hop in the shower when I noticed a tick on my stomach. Thank God he hadn't dug in, but still, I had a tick on my stomach! After I had killed and dismember the wretched tick, I looked down and saw another one on my knee. He had already planted himself in and was sucking away. I pulled that horrible creature out and gave him a quick end as well. Ok, so now I'm upset. I don't like ticks. I really, really don't like them.

Prior to dinner, the boys wanted to wrestle so I went ahead and took my beating like a man. Camron had his shirt off and while we were wrestling, Mason noticed a tick on his back. It was dug in to him good. This is getting ridiculous! Three ticks in one afternoon.

Saturday night, Nicole and I looked through the Farmers Bulletin to find someone selling Guineas close by. I didn't want to take on anything else right now, but if we were going to solve the problem naturally, now was the time to get them. The Turkeys were only a couple of weeks old, so introducing Guineas right now would be easy to do. Plus, Guineas eat about 10% feed and 90% forage, so feed really won't be much of a cost increase.

Sunday afternoon, we headed to Griffin to pick up ten less than 1 week old Guineas. They are so cute.  They look like little chipmunks with feathers and started to get along great with the Bourbon Red turkeys. So here's to adding one more item to our plate. We are officially done for right now with adding animals - at least until we get our poultry processing facility built!