Now that our future egg factories are getting bigger, Chareva and I decided we should expand the size of the fenced-in area around the chicken coop. The chickens will have a larger bug-hunting area, and it’s certainly more sanitary if they’re not making little chicken-poops in the same yard all the time. The eventual plan is to fence off more area behind the coop and then use temporary fences to create four distinct chicken-yards, moving the birds from to another.
So on Saturday afternoon, we got busy and pounded in more t-posts (which is a great deltoids-triceps workout, by the way) and strung up more fencing. You can see the before-and-after below.
Since it was a reasonably comfortable and sunny day, I decided to go all paleo-like and stuff and work without a shirt on, hoping to soak up some natural vitamin D. I probably did, but as you can see from the picture below, I also picked up quite a few chiggers as I was working close the ground, attaching fencing to the t-posts. Bad move. In addition to the bites you can see on my arms, I picked up a few on my belly and one on my chest. Some non-paleo Deep Woods Off probably would have saved me a bit of misery.
Calamine lotion didn’t do much for the constant itching, and neither did an anti-itch cream with hydrocortisone. I went scouring the internet looking for alternative treatments and found a post by a woman who recalled that when her father was working as a doctor in the 1930s, he treated chigger bites by pricking them with a needle and dabbing iodine into the wound. So I gave that a shot … and it worked. Well, I didn’t have to stick myself with a needle since I’d already scratched the bites bloody, but the iodine definitely reduced the itch factor by 90%. Some of them don’t itch at all anymore. Apparently, as in many other areas of medicine, the old treatments are still the best treatments.
Our first little flock of guinea fowl ran off some months ago, so we’re trying again with a new flock. This time the plan is to put up a fence they can’t easily escape and keep them penned in for a few months. From what Chareva has read, that’s what it takes to get them thinking of the area as their home. Then we can let them out to go on bug-patrol. We’ll see if it works. If not, we’ll end up providing another tasty guinea-fowl meal for the local predators.
On a completely unrelated note, the girls made me a giant card for Father’s Day. As you can see, they chose their favorite picture of me for the front.
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Keep in mind that guinea can fly much better than chickens. A neighbor has chickens and added some guinea fowl this spring. Only one is left as, like yours, the others took off. I was visiting one day and while there the remaining guinea hen jumped up and flew to the top of the enclosure that keeps varmints out and acts as a shade against the sun. It is something like seven feet high, higher than I have ever seen a chicken fly – they mostly run fast and might get 2 or 3 feet high for a bit.
I should also warn you about mice! They are EVERYWHERE! This fall they will try to get in the house to get warm. Any hole bigger than a dime will be an open door. They also like to nest in cars. If a car is parked and left undriven for much more than a week, they will make themselves at home. They will chew up the headliner, stuffing in the seats and insulation to make nests. The nests can be in the head liner, seat, corners of the trunk and heater – this happened to me at my suburban home one fall. I got in to go to work after a vacation and turned on the heater fan. Suddenly this white “stuff” (like cotton) started coming out of the window defroster vents. MOUSE nest being blown apart by the fan.
We already had a mouse blow out our power this winter by getting itself electrocuted in the main switch box. We also had a weekend where were went through six mousetraps. That was after discovering that country apparently mice can’t be caught in those humane traps.
Actually, it works quite well if you leave your arms bare. Chiggers are soft bodied, so they squish easily. Just periodically while you’re out rub your arms or other exposed areas with your hands to kill the chiggers off.
You may still get a few here and there, but that gets the majority of them. They love to get up under clothes, so it’s actually easier to prevent them in the first place if you’re not covered up.
I’m out wading through brushy areas in shorts and sandals all the time in the summer here in TN and this works.
In Oklahoma, prisoners who escaped from the state pen and hid in the woods would sometimes turn themselves back in because prison was preferable to chiggers in the woods.
After being covered in bites twice now (got a bunch of them on my legs two years ago), I believe it.
Best, cheapest, lowest-toxicity bug bite treatment you will find:
http://www.5orangepotatoes.com/blog/2009/09/01/plantain-insect-sting-and-bite-remedy/
Most of us never look at all the plantain underfoot but it’s only here because the early colonists brought it over and planted it so they’d have a good supply of medicine. I can attest that just chewing it to a paste and applying to the site is effective for bug bites, poison ivy, eczema reduction, and wound healing, but making a tincture may be more convenient in the long run.
Tom – Thanks for the Farm Reports, my friends in in southern Maryland have a similar small farm set up. They have chickens, goats, one donkey and every year they raise a couple pigs. This year though, they’ve added turkeys to their complement. I was going to make the same comment as Ray did above – are those abs I see in the background?? Keep up the great work !!
We’ve got wild turkeys on the land pretty frequently, so I hope we can bag one someday without raising it first.
I’d call them “almost abs.” My belly is nearly flat these days, but I’ve never had much definition, even in my skinny-boy youth.
In Oklahoma, prisoners who escaped from the state pen and hid in the woods would sometimes turn themselves back in because prison was preferable to chiggers in the woods.
After being covered in bites twice now (got a bunch of them on my legs two years ago), I believe it.
Best, cheapest, lowest-toxicity bug bite treatment you will find:
http://www.5orangepotatoes.com/blog/2009/09/01/plantain-insect-sting-and-bite-remedy/
Most of us never look at all the plantain underfoot but it’s only here because the early colonists brought it over and planted it so they’d have a good supply of medicine. I can attest that just chewing it to a paste and applying to the site is effective for bug bites, poison ivy, eczema reduction, and wound healing, but making a tincture may be more convenient in the long run.
Clear nail polish. Try it.
Tom – Thanks for the Farm Reports, my friends in in southern Maryland have a similar small farm set up. They have chickens, goats, one donkey and every year they raise a couple pigs. This year though, they’ve added turkeys to their complement. I was going to make the same comment as Ray did above – are those abs I see in the background?? Keep up the great work !!
We’ve got wild turkeys on the land pretty frequently, so I hope we can bag one someday without raising it first.
I’d call them “almost abs.” My belly is nearly flat these days, but I’ve never had much definition, even in my skinny-boy youth.
My grandparents used to keep a little brown bottle of what looked like nail polish around the house for chigger bites. It was specifically for chiggers. I can’t find it anywhere online. Anyone know what this might be? I remember it working really well when I got attacked after working in the garden.
Avoid the ticks or you’ll end up a vegetarian.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/allergic-meat-lone-star-tick-spreading-vegetarianism/story?id=16610228#.T-IoIsV7R8F
I can’t even IMAGINE a meat allergy. NO BACON?.
I cannot let that happen, period.
Clear nail polish. Try it.
My grandparents used to keep a little brown bottle of what looked like nail polish around the house for chigger bites. It was specifically for chiggers. I can’t find it anywhere online. Anyone know what this might be? I remember it working really well when I got attacked after working in the garden.
Avoid the ticks or you’ll end up a vegetarian.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/allergic-meat-lone-star-tick-spreading-vegetarianism/story?id=16610228#.T-IoIsV7R8F
I can’t even IMAGINE a meat allergy. NO BACON?.
I cannot let that happen, period.
Hi Tom, thanks for the update! I hope the guinea fowl work out better than last time.
How are the pups doing? I imagine they look even less like puppies compared to the last update.
Thanks,
Rob
They look like dogs now. They’ll still get bigger, but they don’t have puppy faces anymore. They also produce rather impressive barks when some other critter approaches their domain.
My husband and I are avid backpackers, and we have tried everything to replace DEET. Tried Avon’s supposably amazing lotion and got eaten alive… as well as other “natural products”. But we finally landed upon one, that we believe works as good as DEET, if not better. It’s Repel Plant Based Lemon Eucalyptus Insect Repellent. Hard to find in stores, I found it online from reviews about it.
It really proved it’s test a couple of years ago. We were in the deep woods early spring with another couple who despite the DEET, were getting bitten, but us and our dogs, who I sprayed ahead of time with this stuff, were spared. Dunno if it will work for chiggers, but it sure repels the mosquitos. Yes, you smell a little bit like a Hall’s cough drop, but hey, it’s way better then smelling like a citronella stick. 🙂
I’ll give that a try. I tried some “all natural” insect repellent last summer and still got eaten alive by mosquitoes during one of my evening walks.
LOVE THE DISC GOLF BASKET!
Hi Tom, thanks for the update! I hope the guinea fowl work out better than last time.
How are the pups doing? I imagine they look even less like puppies compared to the last update.
Thanks,
Rob
They look like dogs now. They’ll still get bigger, but they don’t have puppy faces anymore. They also produce rather impressive barks when some other critter approaches their domain.
My husband and I are avid backpackers, and we have tried everything to replace DEET. Tried Avon’s supposably amazing lotion and got eaten alive… as well as other “natural products”. But we finally landed upon one, that we believe works as good as DEET, if not better. It’s Repel Plant Based Lemon Eucalyptus Insect Repellent. Hard to find in stores, I found it online from reviews about it.
It really proved it’s test a couple of years ago. We were in the deep woods early spring with another couple who despite the DEET, were getting bitten, but us and our dogs, who I sprayed ahead of time with this stuff, were spared. Dunno if it will work for chiggers, but it sure repels the mosquitos. Yes, you smell a little bit like a Hall’s cough drop, but hey, it’s way better then smelling like a citronella stick. 🙂
I’ll give that a try. I tried some “all natural” insect repellent last summer and still got eaten alive by mosquitoes during one of my evening walks.
LOVE THE DISC GOLF BASKET!
I’m tempted to photoshop some tats on those arms…
If you do, send them to me so I can indulge my fantasy of being a bad-boy type.
I’m tempted to photoshop some tats on those arms…
If you do, send them to me so I can indulge my fantasy of being a bad-boy type.
Whenever I see your chicken updates, I think about the doc Fresh because one of the farmers they focus on has the setup I want someday (gotta buy the farm first, though…)–good to see you are planning on movable pens at some point 🙂
I’ll have to look for that one.
Whenever I see your chicken updates, I think about the doc Fresh because one of the farmers they focus on has the setup I want someday (gotta buy the farm first, though…)–good to see you are planning on movable pens at some point 🙂
I’ll have to look for that one.
The Bug Bite That Could Turn You Vegetarian
New research from the University of Virginia finds that lone star tick bites can have a really unpleasant side effect.
Being turned in a vegetarian by a bug. That’s like a horror-movie plot.
The Bug Bite That Could Turn You Vegetarian
New research from the University of Virginia finds that lone star tick bites can have a really unpleasant side effect.
Being turned in a vegetarian by a bug. That’s like a horror-movie plot.
I have an infestation of chiggers in my anus! I cannot get rid of them and need a way to kill the boogers. They sit within the groin and eat their lunch. The only thing that has worked so far is sitting in a tub of hot water, which kills only the ones, which did not make it back into their hidey hole. Nail polish stings like hell and is unusable for this. What can I use that will KILL them. I am past worrying about the itch. That I have been able to control. Thank You all for any help.
I have an infestation of chiggers in my anus! I cannot get rid of them and need a way to kill the boogers. They sit within the groin and eat their lunch. The only thing that has worked so far is sitting in a tub of hot water, which kills only the ones, which did not make it back into their hidey hole. Nail polish stings like hell and is unusable for this. What can I use that will KILL them. I am past worrying about the itch. That I have been able to control. Thank You all for any help.
So, evidently covers are not one of the types of bugs that these type of fowl eat? We are hoping to get a few chickens or possibly guinea-mainly to let loose in the garden. ..but I’m thinking that’s where I found the lovely chiggers myself. ..what is the smallest size bug these birds will eat? Fleas? ?
I believe they’ll eat any bug they can find.
So, evidently covers are not one of the types of bugs that these type of fowl eat? We are hoping to get a few chickens or possibly guinea-mainly to let loose in the garden. ..but I’m thinking that’s where I found the lovely chiggers myself. ..what is the smallest size bug these birds will eat? Fleas? ?
I believe they’ll eat any bug they can find.