This is our 4th summer here in suburban southeast Davidson County, and we're having a MAJOR problem with ticks in our yard! Aside from the creepy annoyance of finding a live animal attached to our flesh, this is a dangerous problem due to potential disease. Today at Lowe's and Home Depot, i checked the insecticide products available for killing ticks in lawns - Spectricide, Bayer, and a couple other major brand names i can't remember now. The cautions on the labels are SCARY. If they are so toxic that humans have to immediately remove and launder any clothing that comes in contact with them (in addition to thoroughly washing any skin and throwing away any kitchen measuring utensil), how on earth could they be OK to spread on a lawn traversed by small animals??? We feed the birds year-round, and of course most of them feed on the ground at least part of the time. I REALLY don't want us to have any more ticks on us, but i certainly don't want to harm the birds we're feeding. (Now, the rabbits and the squirrels might be a different story...) Has anyone successfully dealt with a tick infestation in a way only toxic to the ticks? A friend said what we need are chickens, but that's not really a viable option for us. I found a super-potent garlic spray advertised on the internet, but that seems somewhat iffy. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance! Sylvia Anglin =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to SIGN YOUR MESSAGE with first and last name, CITY (TOWN) and state abbreviation. You are also required to list the COUNTY in which the birds you report were seen. The actual DATE OF OBSERVATION should appear in the first paragraph. _____________________________________________________________ To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx _____________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. ______________________________________________________________ TN-Bird Net is owned by the Tennessee Ornithological Society Neither the society(TOS) nor its moderator(s) endorse the views or opinions expressed by the members of this discussion group. Moderator: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ------------------------------ Assistant Moderator Andy Jones Cleveland, OH ------------------------------- Assistant Moderator Dave Worley Rosedale, VA __________________________________________________________ Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ARCHIVES TN-Bird Net Archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/tn-bird/ MAP RESOURCES Tenn.Counties Map at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/states/tennessee3.gif Aerial photos to complement google maps http://local.live.com _____________________________________________________________