We have guineas that take care of all ticks, fleas and mites. I prefer
guineas over fire ants. Unfortunately, the guineas won't eat fire ants.
Tina
On Sat, Oct 10, 2015 at 10:29 AM, Dean Hansen <hanse112@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> OK, OK, gotta weigh in here. Thirty-some years ago I brought a
> trailer-load of my honeybee colonies from Minnesnowta to overwinter on some
> ranch land about 60 miles north of Houston, Texas. Fire ant mounds were
> all over the pastures. I said to the rancher who kindly let me put my
> hives on his land, "Don't you just hate those fire ants?" Well, no, was
> the reply. Since the fire ants had moved in, the ranchers there no longer
> had to "dip" their cattle to remove the ticks and mites that tormented them
> and carried diseases. Seems that the fire ant colonies all but eliminated
> the ticks and mites while they were still on the ground. I can't quote any
> peer-reviewed scientific publications on this, but that's what the rancher
> said. But he also added that the fire ants were murder on the young of
> ground-nesting birds such as quail.
> Another non-Minnesota critter that was very common down there was the
> black widow spider. They liked to hide in the hand-holds cut into the
> sides and ends of the bee boxes, and one had to be, well, kinda careful
> before picking up a hive body. They also nested on the undersides of the
> hive pallets that the more mechanized beekeepers used. I'm sure thousands
> of black widow spiders inadvertently made their way to MN and the Dakotas
> on the semi-loads of bees trucked up each year from the south. But our
> northern winters eliminated any survivors here by November or December. It
> was a one-way trip.
> Digest Dean
> --
> _________________________________________________________________
> Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
> Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
> Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
>
>
--
Tina Manley
www.tinamanley.com
tina-manley.artistwebsites.com
http://www.alamy.com/stock-photography/3B49552F-90A0-4D0A-A11D-2175C937AA91/Tina+Manley.html
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|