What home improvement work did you do today?

Bought the nicest spreader I have ever had... and then laid down 50lbs of bifen... Mowed, sprayed weeds, pest control and then hid in the AC.

 

Mole crickets, ticks?

 

fn ticks...

we really didnt want to treat because we have some awesome life in our yard.. dung beetles, fireflies, butterflies and more.... but... the fn ticks....so we are creating a "play zone" that we will treat while leaving the rest alone. once I get a job again, we will look at putting up a picket fence to mark this area.

 

You got a lot of scrub palms around you? A lot of rodents in your area?

I got deep in the woods a lot when I was down there, and I would never get into ticks until I got up in the scrub palms. But that said, if you have rodents in your area, I've heard nothing but positive things about tick tubes. Basically, camo tubes with permethrin-laced cotton inside. Rodents come along, being a typical host for baby ticks, snatch the permethrin cotton out of the tubes to nest with, and the permethrin kills the ticks on them every time they go to the nest. The general concept is, by controlling ticks on the smaller hosts in the area, you can destroy the population nearby.

We're going to be doing a lot of the same shit in midcoast Maine where we are. It's 1¼ acres and pretty substantially grassy, wooded on the back half.

Fireflies, butterflies won't be impacted by bifen, I don't think? Those guys usually get popped by people misting pyrethroids with a backpack sprayer. As long as you're not misting in your yard, only sticking to granules, it's only going to get at stuff that's crawling on/in the soil.

 

yeah, I am not 100% sure so we are sticking to granules and a dedicated zone for our walking path to the barn. We do have a lot of scrub palms, but we mowed them all down in our main area, so its all open... the issue is these damn deer the fam likes looking at... we dont have rodents, I have seen 7 different cats on property, a hawk and an owl... so I am convinced its from the deer... anyway, I am making my own tick tubes just in case. I will be treating the immediate area around the house in hopes to reduce the insects that make it in the home and then our play area/walk area... the rest will remain untreated for now. on 5 acres, I have 3 cleared and almost 2 in heavy sun. So it is a mystery on the rest

 

Guinea hens, get about a half dozen of those and your ticks will be gone. Chickens are second best.

 

once I get back to work, qual are on the roster... we talked about the hens, but they are loud AF.. so we will see... but yes, that is solid advice!

 

Guinea hens are loud, but they are funny. They react to many different things, all differently.
My daughter's circled a rubber tire dog chew toy like it was a snake. They make different sounds for different threats.

They also lay decent eggs. But not like chickens. The eggs will pop out anytime, any place. You have to search the yard for them. Nice dense yolks, but not much white.

 

I have done a lot of research on our fowls plans and these birds are great for a lot of reasons! with our acreage, they may make the list.. but we will see.

 

That's some really nice work there, my girls would be so jelly!
I did this around our chicken "hanger". Coyotes and bobcats (occasional bear) here.

 

Lent a couple long folding tables to our neighbor for their yard sale, they gave my wife the first dibs on everything pre-sale.
She came home with this little gem for me for the shop. I'm Livin the dream boys!


Oh, and a couple other things.