Has anyone puchased a straight permethrin solution, gallon or more, to mix with some addictive, for use in hand pump sprayer, really bad year for ticks.......just thinking......if host field mice, voles, rabbits , possum, racoon, and deer were not available to ticks, would their life cycle be broken, will need couple of outdoor cats and have to let hunters and trappers on property in season this fall to see if it makes a difference spring of 2026.... before I'm hospitalized with lyme disease.
Ticks taking over in 2025
- Thread starter Alvito
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John0829
Veteran Member
It is just a bumper year for ticks, I am hearing about increased numbers of them everywhere. Not sure spraying will do much, especially with all the rain we have been having this year. Best thing is to remain vigilant about checking yourself and pets for them, time consuming I know. The dog gets wiped down with some kind of a peppermint smelling solution the wife found before going out due to the pup having a bad reaction to the commercial flea & tick treatment and checked over when she comes in. Thankful she is a short hair dog. Wife and I use a through coating of OFF before working outside and check each other over after being out, so we far have managed to stay ahead of the ticks.
Anyone that is outdoors and active is going to get ticks on them, main thing is IF you do get a tick on you be sure to properly remove it and disinfect the bite area.
There is a paper on ticks by the University of Kentucky titled "Ticks and Disease in Kentucky" that is well worth a read to learn facts about ticks.
Anyone that is outdoors and active is going to get ticks on them, main thing is IF you do get a tick on you be sure to properly remove it and disinfect the bite area.
There is a paper on ticks by the University of Kentucky titled "Ticks and Disease in Kentucky" that is well worth a read to learn facts about ticks.
I had to think about this a minute, but believe that you mean additive. One letter really does make a difference!
Gem99ultra
Elite Member
I do mix straight permethrin with water in my sprayer, about a 12% solution. I spray all around the areas that I know where I've picked up ticks, especially around low hanging tree limbs. My best defense is spraying my pants legs and shoes before going into known tick areas. For my dogs, I give them a ticket repellant pill once a month. The pill does kill the ticks but they still hang on (dead) until I brush the dog off good.
Life cycle of ticks is about 3 years, but there's no telling how many eggs they've dropped before the adults die. They just keep getting thicker and thicker around here.
Grahamguy
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Git some chickens. Let them free roam. Thay will feast on the ticks as well as spiders and other bugs.
Right.....in retrospect......might have been spelling kept me out of Harvard back in 1969......will have to see if I can edit original post........don't want to give any crackheads idea of a new high.......just kiddingI had to think about this a minute, but believe that you mean additive. One letter really does make a difference!
Eagle1
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Guineas will really do a job but even ducks eat a lot. Front of the place nearer the pond is mostly tick free, cattle pasture and woods not so much.
Tinhack
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That's the fun part--Checking each other over.
There was just now a tv news segment saying ticks are carrying a new strain of bacteria that can be deadly to humans. It causes HME and kidney failure.
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
We worry about ticks on our dogs. One of them came down with tick paralysis when he was just a year and a half old. A pregnant brown tick's bite causes this on some dogs with minor immunity issues. Symptoms are clumsiness, then not being able to get up, then their organs start to shut down until the dog dies. This happens over the course of a week. The tick has to be found and removed to stop this, and it has to happen before the internal organs shut down. Usually you have about 3 to four days to find the tick.
Since then, we use Nexgard to protect our dogs, which works good.
We also have free range chickens and guineas. They never stop looking for bugs to eat, and our tick sightings are very very rare.
The dog yard is fenced in, and the chickens and guineas walk around the dog yard all day long. They literally do laps working their way around it.
Because of all our animals, spraying chemicals isn't an option.
Since then, we use Nexgard to protect our dogs, which works good.
We also have free range chickens and guineas. They never stop looking for bugs to eat, and our tick sightings are very very rare.
The dog yard is fenced in, and the chickens and guineas walk around the dog yard all day long. They literally do laps working their way around it.
Because of all our animals, spraying chemicals isn't an option.
Hay Dude
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Its amazing how our old-school/farm remedies work today. They laughed at us with Ivermectin, and now they admit it works. Their “money-grab” remedies were ineffective.
All these drug & chemical companies with their much more expensive and toxic remedies are awful.
Just buy some flightless birds, and turn them loose!
bmaverick
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The chickens do an amazing feat ridding all the ticks. And keep the grass mowed!
I cross over the road to the other farm to chat at times on the weekend, they are very infested with ticks. They keep their chickens penned up and they seldom mow the property. The grass is 8-inches or higher. I only walk on their gravel driveway.
Not only do they have ticks, they have chiggers too! Just as NASTY !
Grumpycat
Super Member
Downey fabric softener is a good tick and chigger repellant. A friend's wife uses a heavy dose in the washing machine. He and I walked through a field. I got eaten raw by chiggers, he wasn't bit at all.
Some time later I ran across mention of using fabric softener to repel ticks then remembered that day I got covered with chiggers.
Commonly mixed with water then applied with a spray bottle.
Some time later I ran across mention of using fabric softener to repel ticks then remembered that day I got covered with chiggers.
Commonly mixed with water then applied with a spray bottle.
You can do that now, no mow May is over!
I always get a kick put of it. Anybody who mows fields knows how quickly crows and other predators show up to feast on snakes and rodents; the latter being a host for ticks and other parasites.
So let's give them a place to live right next to the house!
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
June 1st and I found these three while mowing. I left the area and will try again in a few weeks
Good eye!!!!
I imagine those of you who mow regularly keep a close watch for the little buggers.
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
I've been here over 20 years and this was the first time I found fawns in my pasture. I've seen them when they were older, and following momma around, but never so small that they were still unsteady just standing up.
Over the years I've found annually 2 or more fawn carcasses mowing, usually only hoofs and harder parts of skeleton, coyotes I guess got em, usually mother is nervous and alert snorting, to distract tractor away from heathy a fawn, once I couldn't figure out what mother doe was so nervous about, I found a fawn inside a live catch cage groundhog trap set along barn wall, after releasing, they quickly reunited and I watched them both all season, a regular nature show, lost track of them when deer hunting season opened.
Torvy
Super Member
Seems late around here. I've had some on my cameras for maybe 2 months.
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
This was last weekend while on my tractor. I don't know how long they will be there, and I'm worried there will be others somewhere else. I'm thinking that I'll wait two weeks before mowing again. I've hunted deer all my life, but the idea of mowing over a baby fawn just terrifies me.
EscapedSuburbia
Gold Member
We're on a cross country RV trip with our dog and hike most days. We wear permethrin treated clothes and our dog is on expensive tick medication that kills them if they bite her. My wife and I have each found ticks on ourselves hours after returning to the RV and changing out of our treated clothes. What we think is happening is the ticks get in the dog's coat then when we get done hiking they'll hop off of her onto the RV couch/bed or we'll pick them up when petting her. We tried wiping the dog with a permethrin happened rag but it seemed to make her sick.
