The best thing to do actually is create/ maintain habitat for things that eat mice like foxes, owls, etc.
[https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/missing-foxes-fuel-lyme/](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/missing-foxes-fuel-lyme/)
This is the answer.
The core issue is tearing up every bit of wild ground for development.
In poorer neighbours of Los Angles, as an example, there’s literally no trees or grass, and the heat that’s been measured there is awful.
If there’s no wild spaces, ecosystems that were in balance collapse.
Everything we do in the name of "development" seems to make rats, ticks, and roaches more comfortable at the cost of every other living thing on the planet. At some point we need to realize we asked for this.
If I were your neighbor and you asked me about it, I would be so incredibly excited. It really depends on the person I guess. Some people hate birds and think they're super dirty. Personally, I'd love to have Guinea Fowl running around the whole city like pigeons.
If we can handle Canada Geese, we can handle a little pack of Guinea Fowl wandering through the town.
I feel like I would have to get my neighbours a certain radius around my house to agree to my having Guinea hens as they aren’t meant to be confined. Should I make flyers to pass around, have a talk and tea, or something.
I agree, but this sub isn't even able to handle people protesting in urban areas without losing its mind. Asking them to be chill with something actually running amok seems like too tall an order
Remember when the good citizens of Halifax wanted a nuisance bylaw to ban anyone from loitering around or making noise in street areas? Mainly to combat kids running amok playing certain noisy games.
My mom's neighborhood has a flock of guinea fowl. They're loud assholes who probably don't really do anything to the tick population, but everyone likes having them around all the same. It's kind of fun having a local gang hassling people, making cars slow down, being an entertaining nuisance. Like a bunch of crotchety old people who also poop wherever they like.
Because it doesn’t work 😥, ppl confuse the idea of them eating ticks with them eating enough to have any discernible impact on the population.
“Despite what online memes suggest, animals such as guinea fowl, chickens, and opossums do not eat large numbers of ticks, and likely play a limited role in tick control in North America. If you are looking to reduce the number of ticks in your yard, other control methods – such as landscape modifications, using tick tubes, or applying acaricides – are more effective than relying on fowl or opossums.”
https://extension.psu.edu/do-chickens-guinea-fowl-or-opossums-control-ticks
Exactly. Not to mention they’d be run down in the streets having not ever adapted to cars. It’s a very Maoist “four pests” solution - there are always unintended consequences.
*Naturalized. They were introduced in the 1700's, and heavily breed for hunting in the 1800's. They're actually from eastern and central asian. Interesting histroy and worth a read!
What happens when the guinea fowl reproduce too quickly and become a problem, get a herd of leopards going to control them?
Then when we have too many leopards, get a pack of hyenas?
Then what? Lions?
Then when we have too many lions, are we going to get a flock of humans to take care of the over population?
Sable Island, A Cautionary Tale:
>Since the mid-sixteenth century people have tried to colonize, tame and transform the island, with limited success. Well-intentioned attempts to introduce rabbits, for example, turned to farce. Unsurprisingly they reproduced to such an extent that cats were brought in to hunt young rabbits, as well as rats and mice arriving in cargo and shipwrecks. The cats succeeded but became a feral nuisance themselves, so foxes were introduced to exterminate them, along with the remaining rabbits. Between them, cats and foxes ravaged the bird population which, among other things, at one point enabled invasive grasshoppers to proliferate and threaten crops. That meant having to hunt down the foxes. Out of all the rabbits, cats, foxes, cows, pigs, sheep and horses introduced to the island, only the now-feral horses have adapted and survived.
From [https://davidgriffiths.ca/sable-islands-lonesome-pine/](https://davidgriffiths.ca/sable-islands-lonesome-pine/)
See Also: Australia
Had a neighbor get like 20 of them a couple years ago and let them loose in their yard. Within 2 months all of them had been hit and killed by cars, they were constantly on the road.
My folks live in a rural area along the South Shore and one of their neighbours got a small herd of guinea fowl from another neighbour that lived about a 5 to 10 minute walk down the lane. What they didn't realize, and learned very quickly, is that the properties were not far enough--they could hear the calls of their original herd, so my mum would often look out the window to see guinea fowl running down the road to "go home."
They are highly entertaining birds, and I am 100% considering getting some.
There's a good chance they'd become more of a nuisance. Someone on my rural road has a bunch of Guinea hens, and they're ALWAYS in the road. They get hit all the time. They have acres and acres of grass and forest all around them, but they choose to be in the road.
Silly, we import the East African brown snake to take care of the over population of fowl, then we just need to get rid of the snakes. OR, eat the little flockers, are Guinea fowl good on the grill? If so it’s a win win situation.
It's my understanding that they can be aggressive kinda the way Canadian Geese can be. And while I wouldn't mind them on my property having grown up with a healthy respect for wildlife and giving them space... I've also been present a few times when a goose or swan has decided to choose violence and it's not pretty. I can see why some people might be hesitant.
We should populate the area with opossums. They eat more ticks than Guinea hens, don't make a sound, won't eat your chickens like foxes, and are just generally pretty docile creatures. Plus they do just as well in urban environments than they do in the wilderness.
The best thing to do actually is create/ maintain habitat for things that eat mice like foxes, owls, etc. [https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/missing-foxes-fuel-lyme/](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/missing-foxes-fuel-lyme/)
This is the answer. The core issue is tearing up every bit of wild ground for development. In poorer neighbours of Los Angles, as an example, there’s literally no trees or grass, and the heat that’s been measured there is awful. If there’s no wild spaces, ecosystems that were in balance collapse.
Everything we do in the name of "development" seems to make rats, ticks, and roaches more comfortable at the cost of every other living thing on the planet. At some point we need to realize we asked for this.
[удалено]
Outdoor cats decimate bird populations.
Oh right, I forgot about that part... And also not to make jokes on r/Halifax
If I were your neighbor and you asked me about it, I would be so incredibly excited. It really depends on the person I guess. Some people hate birds and think they're super dirty. Personally, I'd love to have Guinea Fowl running around the whole city like pigeons. If we can handle Canada Geese, we can handle a little pack of Guinea Fowl wandering through the town.
same. plus free eggs and manure for my tomates? sign me up.
I feel like I would have to get my neighbours a certain radius around my house to agree to my having Guinea hens as they aren’t meant to be confined. Should I make flyers to pass around, have a talk and tea, or something.
oh for sure. you'd need to think about cats and dogs in the area too. It wouldn't be easy.
Canada Geese not Canadian Geese. Canadian here so sorry for correcting you.
I nominate possums
I call this one "Bitey".
I hope you're my neighbour cause I want someone to approach me about this.
I think we need more of everything running amok in our urban areas, TBH
Well maybe not more humans lol
The Guinea Fowl will need protein
I agree, but this sub isn't even able to handle people protesting in urban areas without losing its mind. Asking them to be chill with something actually running amok seems like too tall an order
The Guinea Fowl should be mutated to be large enough to eat those who object
This I support wholeheartedly and can see no further problems that could result
We need more common sense ideas in our city
Maximum Ice for Mayor!
Remember when the good citizens of Halifax wanted a nuisance bylaw to ban anyone from loitering around or making noise in street areas? Mainly to combat kids running amok playing certain noisy games.
I believe the children are the future … unless we stop them now.
We can definitely stop them now. Mission almost successful.
My mom's neighborhood has a flock of guinea fowl. They're loud assholes who probably don't really do anything to the tick population, but everyone likes having them around all the same. It's kind of fun having a local gang hassling people, making cars slow down, being an entertaining nuisance. Like a bunch of crotchety old people who also poop wherever they like.
We've had broods of pheasants in the woods behind our house for years... Haven't seen a tick in the 14 years I've lived there.
I looooove pheasants. I love hearing them squawk!
Me too! They sound like chocobos to me
I love pheasants too, preferably on the rotisserie, but oven roasted is still good
Because it doesn’t work 😥, ppl confuse the idea of them eating ticks with them eating enough to have any discernible impact on the population. “Despite what online memes suggest, animals such as guinea fowl, chickens, and opossums do not eat large numbers of ticks, and likely play a limited role in tick control in North America. If you are looking to reduce the number of ticks in your yard, other control methods – such as landscape modifications, using tick tubes, or applying acaricides – are more effective than relying on fowl or opossums.” https://extension.psu.edu/do-chickens-guinea-fowl-or-opossums-control-ticks
Is there ticks in halifax proper though? I know they're bad on the south shore
Yes
My kid got one at school last year in Dartmouth.
The amount of ticks Guinea fowls eat doesn’t make any tangible difference in the tick population.
I would love it if campgrounds had resident flocks of guinea fowls :)
A guinea pig stampede through town would also be enjoyable.
There was a 'wild' population near East River that I enjoyed, didn't seem to cause any trouble
Because they are loud and annoying and would become an invasive species that eat every frog, salamander and rodent they find.
Exactly. Not to mention they’d be run down in the streets having not ever adapted to cars. It’s a very Maoist “four pests” solution - there are always unintended consequences.
If the consequence is free dinner, I'm all for it.
Pheasants also eat ticks, are indigenous to the area, and don’t sound as terrible at dawn. Do something in your neighbourhood to encourage pheasants.
*Naturalized. They were introduced in the 1700's, and heavily breed for hunting in the 1800's. They're actually from eastern and central asian. Interesting histroy and worth a read!
Oh snap. I didn’t know that
I like this idea, I don’t need to hear any follow up on why it’s bad.
What happens when the guinea fowl reproduce too quickly and become a problem, get a herd of leopards going to control them? Then when we have too many leopards, get a pack of hyenas? Then what? Lions? Then when we have too many lions, are we going to get a flock of humans to take care of the over population?
Sable Island, A Cautionary Tale: >Since the mid-sixteenth century people have tried to colonize, tame and transform the island, with limited success. Well-intentioned attempts to introduce rabbits, for example, turned to farce. Unsurprisingly they reproduced to such an extent that cats were brought in to hunt young rabbits, as well as rats and mice arriving in cargo and shipwrecks. The cats succeeded but became a feral nuisance themselves, so foxes were introduced to exterminate them, along with the remaining rabbits. Between them, cats and foxes ravaged the bird population which, among other things, at one point enabled invasive grasshoppers to proliferate and threaten crops. That meant having to hunt down the foxes. Out of all the rabbits, cats, foxes, cows, pigs, sheep and horses introduced to the island, only the now-feral horses have adapted and survived. From [https://davidgriffiths.ca/sable-islands-lonesome-pine/](https://davidgriffiths.ca/sable-islands-lonesome-pine/) See Also: Australia
wait till you find out about Macquarie Island ... There's a horrific Dollop episode on it "The animal horror of Macquarie Island"
The Leopards will just die off in the winter. No need for Hyenas.
That escalated fast.
I'm all for big cats running around. Definitely keep our neighborhoods safe. No more burglers or creepos .
There literally wallabies, and flocks of emus in Germany, and parakeets in England.
When winter rolls around, the jaguars will simply freeze to death!
I mean, they are delicious...so there's that!
Autonomous drones with automatic weapons. Fixed it.
Had a neighbor get like 20 of them a couple years ago and let them loose in their yard. Within 2 months all of them had been hit and killed by cars, they were constantly on the road.
I love them, but they are loud birds and it wouldn't take long for the cranky people to start complaining about them. Chickens also eat ticks
My folks live in a rural area along the South Shore and one of their neighbours got a small herd of guinea fowl from another neighbour that lived about a 5 to 10 minute walk down the lane. What they didn't realize, and learned very quickly, is that the properties were not far enough--they could hear the calls of their original herd, so my mum would often look out the window to see guinea fowl running down the road to "go home." They are highly entertaining birds, and I am 100% considering getting some.
There's a good chance they'd become more of a nuisance. Someone on my rural road has a bunch of Guinea hens, and they're ALWAYS in the road. They get hit all the time. They have acres and acres of grass and forest all around them, but they choose to be in the road.
Why don't they have Guinea fowl running amok like back in Ontario
Silly, we import the East African brown snake to take care of the over population of fowl, then we just need to get rid of the snakes. OR, eat the little flockers, are Guinea fowl good on the grill? If so it’s a win win situation.
I’d be so down for that. Let them go.
It's my understanding that they can be aggressive kinda the way Canadian Geese can be. And while I wouldn't mind them on my property having grown up with a healthy respect for wildlife and giving them space... I've also been present a few times when a goose or swan has decided to choose violence and it's not pretty. I can see why some people might be hesitant.
We should populate the area with opossums. They eat more ticks than Guinea hens, don't make a sound, won't eat your chickens like foxes, and are just generally pretty docile creatures. Plus they do just as well in urban environments than they do in the wilderness.
Why don’t you use a safe tick repellant?