Ticks In The Bee Yard

[Rebel Rose Apiary]

I am not sure where to post this, so please forgive me if I have it the wrong place.

The problem is that I have ticks in my bee yard! I have the grass cut as low as possible and I took the precaution of burning off the grass in the bee yard early this spring. I also had removed most of the trees around, leaving only some pines and cedars. The land around my property is farm land and no tall grass or trees there. I have had too many ticks get stuck on me and I want to know what to use to get rid of the ticks and not harm the bees or leave residue that will contaminate honey later on. Of course this is a prime area for Lyme disease.

Brenda

[Pond Creek Farm]

Why not wear deep woods off on your legs.  I do not know if the smell would upset the bees, but it keeps the ticks off of me while in the field.

[doak]

Deep woods off not only for tending your bees but any& everything else you do out side.
Can't beat it. deet!deet! doak

[fermentedhiker]

Maybe get some Guinea Hens.

[doak]

Don't know how the Guinea hens are with Bees. My Guineas was gone when I got my bees.
BUT, had no or very few ticks.doak

[fermentedhiker]

Don't know how the Guinea hens are with Bees. My Guineas was gone when I got my bees.
BUT, had no or very few ticks.doak

I had worried about that as well.  I didn't actually end up getting any this year(maybe next), but I saw a couple posts of people on here who had them with no trouble with them eating the bees.

[JP]

Check the camping section at Wallyworld for a permethrin product that you apply to your clothes. Once dry you put your clothes on, its labled for ticks.

Sulfur powder also helps, put it in your socks.

Careful with Deet, I wouldn't put it directly on the skin and the 100% stuff melts plastic.

Ticks crawl up high waiting for a host to come by. Make sure if possible you've eliminated any vertical harborage areas.


...JP

[Natalie]

Someone here has guineas and bees( I think it might be Robo?) and said they aren't a problem with the bees.
Someone else told me once that the guineas will sometimes eat a few bees on occasion but he said it was never enough to matter any.
I have chickens and they eat any insect they can find but I haven't seen them bother the bees.
I would check out wally world like JP said or you might find some all natural product online.

[bassman1977]

Put on panty hose.  I have heard of a lot of people using them to keep the ticks off when I was in the military (yes even the guys  :roll: ). 

[Rebel Rose Apiary]

Put on panty hose.  I have heard of a lot of people using them to keep the ticks off when I was in the military (yes even the guys  :roll: ). 

Will the tiny seed ticks, or deer ticks get through? Those are the ones that worry me the most.

Brenda

[eri]

This has been the worst year for ticks I have ever seen and I've lived here almost all my life. I've had dozens of bites, mostly from the little seed ticks, which I rarely see even when I check. They're in the woods, in the mulch, in the grass, come from on high and down low. I've had bites everywhere from neck to ankles. I think the dogs probably bring some in the house because I've been bitten even without going outside. I hate the thought of bathing in insect repellent every day but may have to. I need a full suit of panty hose armor! If only there was Frontline Plus for humans ...

[Rebel Rose Apiary]

I have been told to wear white or light colored clothing, as ticks were attracted to darker colors. Well, the hives are covered with the seed ticks and the hives are all white. Why are they attracted to the hives?

Brenda

[cundald]

There is some products out there that are natural tick and mosquito repellents, based on garlic. 
There is one that you spray on the ground and other you can use on humans and dogs. 

Around bee  :? :? :?.

Around friends and wives it maybe very lonely.   :tumbleweed:


cundald

[Rebel Rose Apiary]

Around friends and wives it maybe very lonely.   :tumbleweed:


cundald

As long as my cat still likes me, I do not care about what my friends think of a garlic smell.  :-D The cat I have had for over twenty years...my friends, well...
Since I am female, I do not have a 'wife'!  :roll:

Brenda

[poka-bee]

Ticks are just nasty, we don't have many but they gross me out when I find one on an animal. Guinea fowl are great with ticks, & they won't bother the bees. Best thing is they will take care of the whole property, not just the beeyard so the general population of ticks will be way lower. PLUS they are just so darn fun to watch run around, busy always foraging.  They won't scratch up your plants like chix either. My chix don't bother the bees, they won't even eat the dead ones around the hives. J

[Brian D. Bray]

I think this is going to be a very bad tick year.  I observed the post between the garden and my bee yard was literally covered with ticks this afternoon.  Luckily the post is only about 5 feet high so they have a hard time getting to my skin.  Still I had to brush some off my pants as I walked by.  I then made sure my grandkids, who were helping me install 2 packages of bees went the long way around that post.  I will have to get some deet or other insecticide to treat that post with to kill the ticks, and any other post I find loaded with ticks.  I really can't remember seeing that many ticks together in one spot before in my life, but then I don't live in a tick rich environment.

[Two Bees]

Seems like we always have a great many ticks every year.  Talking to a friend of mine who keeps snakes says that he had seen several snakes that have ticks riding on them!  Snakes?

[JP]

Seems like we always have a great many ticks every year.  Talking to a friend of mine who keeps snakes says that he had seen several snakes that have ticks riding on them!  Snakes?

Yep, ticks do get on snakes. When buying a pet snake always check it out thoroughly for ticks.

I knew a guy that worked at a pet store that kept his nails long so he could more easily remove the ticks on the new snake arrivals.

More and more snakes in the pet trade are captive bred now so this diminishes the problem greatly.


...JP