Safe Mosquito and Tick Control: Raise Chickens, Guineas or Ducks

These reader reports tell how you can control ticks, mosquitoes and more by raising chickens, guineas or ducks.

June/July 2009
By MOTHER EARTH NEWS readers 
chicken mealworm
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Chickens have a knack for scratching up food and seeing tiny bugs to eat.
DELLA CALFEE/GREEN STOCK MEDIA
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Chickens and other poultry are a wonderful addition to any backyard or homestead. They’re entertaining, easy-to-care-for pets, and they provide flavorful, nutritious eggs. Plus, the nitrogen-rich droppings they produce will help your garden flourish (after some time composting). But poultry have another advantage that’s often overlooked — they can provide outstanding tick and mosquito control and have voracious appetites for slugs, snails and other pests. They even eat mice and snakes sometimes!

RELATED CONTENT

We’ve been collecting readers’ Poultry Pest Patrol reports for several years, and your latest reports are presented below. Read more amazing accounts about how poultry can control ticks, mosquitoes and many other pests, or share your own experiences at the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Poultry Pest Patrol Page.

Farewell to Ticks and Flies

Last summer, I pulled at least a dozen ticks every night when I took my dog in the house. Then I got 200 chicks in two batches: the meat birds first, then the egg breeds. Within two weeks of letting the chicks out of the brooder, the ticks were gone, and we had few flies or any other type of bug.

The first set of birds did swimmingly. I trained them to come when called by throwing scratch on the ground. I started using the feed to lead them out to the woods, where I knew there was a lot to eat.

The second batch didn’t fare as well. (The first batch had eaten all the close-in feed and the second batch was too small to go too far.) When I do it again, I’ll have a much larger brooder and brood all the chicks at once.

Evelyn Hansen
central Missouri

All My Heroes Are Chickens

I love my chickens! They control all manner of pests, from grasshoppers to scorpions, centipedes to black widow spiders — even mice! Whenever we clean up the backyard, we invite the chickens. Every trough, board and boulder that’s flipped over is followed by chickens ready to attack those big, scary and creepy things. Call me crazy, but my hens are my heroes. And I’m not eggsaggerating!

Tina Yarbrough
central Arizona

Market Garden Organic Pest Control

We have a five-acre market garden coexisting with 36 free-range chickens. (Their beautiful eggs are a fantastic hit at market!) In addition to the pleasure of their company, the chickens provide us with excellent mosquito control and the greenest lawn in the neighborhood. We also see the occasional chicken running from the flock with a small snake dangling from its beak.

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