Ticks! Lots of ticks!

My two fellas are covered in ticks! I have never seen anything like it before! My first horse must have 50 bites on him, they are all swollen, had, crusty, and oozing. I have tried pulling off as many as I can, they seem to mosty be in the "armpit" area! I am unable to get them all off!!! And I am unsure of what to do with the infected pus wounds they are leaving! How can I prevent more ticks, and deal with the ones and the wounds that my horses already have?

Thanks!
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I so hate ticks. Get itchy just thinking about it. It was a real mild winter. I think the ticks are going to be awful everywhere.

Pull the ticks out and make sure you get the head. Spray the horse with a good fly repellant that lasts a few days. Ticks are tough and it takes a good strong one to kill them. If you absolutely can't get the tick pulled out then you can suffocate it with petroleum jelly.

Clean the wounds that look irritated or infected and put a topical on it. I know from myself that tick bites can be very itchy.

It's going to be one of those years where you are just going to have to watch and treat constantly. Watch yourself too.

Icky bugs!

There product that was approved for dogs a few years ago that is up for FDA approval on horses - wish I could remember the name of it. Vet used it on his mother's horse - poor horse had so many ticks last summer that she wound up being anemic and came down with tick fever. The product is actually a flea and tick killer that you use between the dog's shoulder blades. Vet used a ton of it on the horse, but it should be on the market in a reasonable horse dosage by now, I am thinking. You might check with your vet to see if he knows anything about it.

I know I'm going to ask about it again when I take my Dancer in for her annual...

I was reading that Guinea Fowl love to eat ticks. They are fliers though and you have to start out with chicks. Mature birds will return to their original home. I've been thinking of getting some.

Our Winter was extremely mild, too. Our ten acres is surrounded in all four directions by timber and underbrush and we have ticks year round. ACK!! Ticks are especially drawn to the roots of the mane and tail dock, too.

Dee, it maybe Frontline that your thinking of that is used on the wither area of dogs and cats.

Guinea Fowl and the larger breeds of chickens make a feast of eating ticks. If you have the facilities for chickens do get some.

Love, love, love my guinea hens! The first year we lived here my horses were COVERED in ticks. We got a bunch of guineas and I haven't seen a tick in eons. That's the best advice I can give, the others are good in their removal tips but prevention is worth a whole bunch of cure.

Thanks for the ideas! We do have chickens, but right now they are still too small to let out of the coop. I went to tractor supply and purchased some freedom spot treatment...I guess it id pretty similar to frontline, but is made for horses...I am hoping it gets rid of these pesky ticks! Is there anything I need to be look for to make sure the wounds are healing okay and what signs/symptoms of diseases from ticks? Also, does anyone know how long it should take these wounds to heal?
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Deworming a horse with any Ivermectin product will kill all ticks that are actually sucking blood at the time. Of course, 2 days later they can get a bunch of new ones.

When we get in horses with a bunch of ticks, we give them Ivermectin and 4 or 5 days later we dust them all over with Sevin Dust. We put the Sevin Dust in an old sock, tie it shut and it will lightly dust anywhere you pat the horse with it. They do not get too much and they get enough to kill all of the live ticks and keep them off for several days. If it rains hard, you need to do it again after they dry off completely. Very effective, easy to do and cheap.