What's safe for treating the yard?

[Mamato6]

My chickens free range (and we have dogs, plus wild deer and bunnies) We want to treat the yard for ants and fleas (ticks too but haven't seen any in a while) but want to make sure it's safe for the animals to be around

 

[chickengeorgeto]

It should be a no brainer that any insecticide that is safe for animals with a backbone and are warm blooded as well will be safe for dogs, deer, and bunnies. Because all three of these animals are warm blooded as well as vertebrates.

 

[Mamato6]

What I'm asking is what is out there that I can use that is safe for the animals but will get rid of the bugs.

 

[Ren2014]

Good question. I was using food grade DE and then I saw an article on it and not sure what to use now http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/05/diatomaceous-earth-de-benefitrisk.html
Tonight I tried the boiling water, lol. Can't wait to see what the mound looks like tomorrow.

 

[Sara Ranch]

Aren't the chickens eating the bugs?

Powdered garlic (sprinkle it in the yard) will keep fleas and ticks away. It's a weird thing, but it works. The other approach would be to add garlic to the animals and to your diets to keep the fleas and the ticks away.

I add it to my animal "houses" and sometimes to their feed. I use essential oils on me to keep the ticks off. Next year I will be doing heavy planting of those plants (the essential oils I use) to see if that makes a difference in the area. Some of my animals will eat ticks and bugs too.

I've heard DE works, although I don't use it for any landscaping.

Try a few things. Plan how to measure what what works and how well. Please keep in mind that the bug cycles change each year. Some years are really heavy ticks and others are really heavy stink bugs or grasshoppers.

 

[Ren2014]

The boiling water works, lol.

 

[Mamato6]

Shoot, I'll go buy garlic powder in bulk if it will kill everything! And @Sara Ranch yes the chickens eat bugs while free ranging but there is no way they could get rid of the ants, there are just SO many! And the fleas, they're so hard to see unless one jumps on you. They kept accumulating because there are 4 dogs, each dog ended up getting infested with them because of a stray puppy that my mother in law rescued from the middle of the road who was beyond infested and she didn't have her treated before bringing her home. Somehow the 4 dogs got the land infested in several areas while we were trying to treat them

 

[Sara Ranch]

Add powdered garlic to the dog's feed. It will make them (the dogs) taste nasty to the fleas and the ticks. We've used this method for years with success!

The tick repellent I use (essential oils) is also safe for dogs, if you want to give a try. They just need a smaller dose.

Cornstarch will get rid of ants. Sprinkle on the ground where they travel. They take it back home and don't come back. I've used it successfully with carpenter ants.

 

[Mamato6]

@Sara Ranch what oils do you use? I'm with Young Living so use oils frequently. I'll try the other tricks!

 

[Mamato6]

@Sara Ranch, do you think the cornstarch will work on little red fire ants?