You have my
Sympathy
The re-introduction of the turkeys here , really does piss me off , because the re-introduction of deer years ago , brought about a LARGE increase of TICKS , and then the turkeys brought about even more TICKS .
Its unbeliveable how many ticks there are now , and as kids [ in the early 50's ] we constantly were playing in the woods , I had only ever saw a dog tick , the big slow ones .
But now , good grief .
in one flock I counted 28 birds
http://www.harrisoncountyhealth.com/ticks_and_diseases.htm
The lone star tick is slightly smaller than the American dog tick, but has much longer mouth parts. The female has a single white spot near the center of her back. The males and nymphs are much smaller than the females. All three stages -- larvae, nymphs, and adults -- are quite active and walk fast. The lone star tick differs from the American dog tick in that all three active stages will attach to humans. The immature stages of the lone star tick are sometimes referred to as "seed ticks" or "turkey ticks", "turkey mites" or even "deer ticks", and will attach to ground-feeding birds and be carried to distant locations. Lone star ticks are very common in southern Indiana, and high populations can be found in Harrison County. Adults appear in late March. Their numbers peak in May and June, declining in July. Nymphs appear in April, peak in May and June, and can be found throughout the summer. Larvae appear in the spring and again in the fall, but are not usually encountered in the middle of the summer.
The lone star tick can also harbor the bacterium that causes Rocky Mountain spotted fever (see above). In addition, lone star ticks infected with Ehrlichia chaffeensis, the cause of human monocytic ehrlichiosis (HME), have been collected Crawford, Perry, and Orange counties, as well as others. Human ehrlichiosis can be treated with antibiotics such as tetracycline
The
black-legged tick is the smallest of the three ticks described here. In the picture at the left, blacklegged ticks are shown compared with sesame seeds and a dime. The female, the largest, on the left, is oval in shape, mahogany in color, and has long mouth parts. The male, center, is smaller and has shorter mouth parts. The nymph and larva are very small; the nymph is not much larger than the size of the period at the end of this sentence
. Adult blacklegged ticks appear in Indiana in September, seeking their preferred host, white-tailed deer. They can be found in October and November and on warm days throughout the winter. Nymph activity peaks in June; larvae peak in August.
Nymphs appear to be the main vectors of Lyme disease to humans and pets. Adult black-legged ticks are rarely found on humans, but they do feed on dogs and cats.
The blacklegged tick arrived relatively recently in Indiana -- the first specimens were collected in Porter County in 1987. Established populations have been found in the northwest quadrant of the state, though they have been found throughout the State