# Guineas really eat chiggers (urban legend or not?)



## Bricore (Sep 8, 2007)

Our land is infested with chiggers. I have read that Guineas will eat them but when I talked to the feed store guy he said that was an Urban Legend (they love ticks but that chiggers were too small for them to see.) So, is it true or not? I'd love to know because those nasty bugs got to me again this year... 

Thanks in advance,

Dora Renee' Wilkerson


----------



## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

guineas eat ticks fleas and any other bad bugs, we had guineas back home in kansas and had no fleas or tics as long as the birds were on the place, when i had to get rid of them a couple months before the move we all of a sudden started seeing ticks and fleas on the dogs, and i wouldnt dare walk out in the tall grass with out getting bug bit


----------



## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

chiggers are probably too tiny for the guineas to find and eat. They are meat eaters, and eat up every tick and flea they can find, but chiggers are so tiny they are hard to see. They live inside flowers of plants where the guineas would not see them. 

I doubt guineas would make a large impact on a chigger population, but that's only my opinion, not based on any known facts.


----------



## tailwagging (Jan 6, 2005)

I have seen them scape the grass blades but not sure for what.


----------



## fastbackpony (Aug 30, 2006)

My neighbor swears they do ! ! Our kids are getting bug bites all the time, and she said she can roll in her grass without getting a single bug bite, while we are just across the road and will not even sit in our grass. Its always a welcome site to see her guineas sneaking over here for a snack


----------



## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

Well,,,I have seen guineas carefully scrape out the insides of the pea flowers to remove the little green catapillars. They have great capability for precision.

But! how many calories are in a chigger? A bird would surely starve to death hunting chiggers. I just highly doubt they could forage enough to make it worth their time.

OOh, I hate chigger bites! Why oh why do I always forget (at least once) to wear my boots while mowing? I have 7 bites on one ankle and 4 (only) on the other.


----------



## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

One more thought on this. If they eat chiggers, why do they also get poultry lice? Those lice are bigger than chiggers. :shrug:


----------



## Pat (Jul 24, 2004)

We live in North Central Arkansas (known for ticks and chiggers)... last night after I got back home, I went back outside for a smoke. I heard a lamb in our orchard. I went up and moved her back into the corral. 

Doesn't sound like much, except we don't really mow the orchard, and I was only wearing shorts and flip flops. (and wondering through thigh high grass). Didn't get one tick nor chigger bite.

(we currently only have about 8 guineas... but brooding keets)

Pat


----------



## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

gone-a-milkin said:


> One more thought on this. If they eat chiggers, why do they also get poultry lice? Those lice are bigger than chiggers. :shrug:


The lice sneak up on them from behind.
Stealth Lice


----------



## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

Bearfootfarm said:


> The lice sneak up on them from behind.
> Stealth Lice



Plus, the guineas gotta sleep sometimes.


----------



## Pat (Jul 24, 2004)

I should have added to more comments to mine.

1. (and most importantly)... I always forget when I'm helping someone that they don't have guineas... after the first day with all the bites I remember to spray my pant legs every morning.

2. We have a neighbor (right next to our property) that works 6 days a week. He works in a town about 30 miles away, and they start work at 76:30, so he's up those 6 mornings at 5. When we got our first guineas (and released them after brooding) they would visit his property every morning about 7. He told me that fall, he was going to come over and complain as they would gather under his bedroom window and discuss things... Then he realized he could mow do things in the yard etc., without any ticks nor chiggers, and he figured their 10 - 15 minute disussion was well worth it.

Pat


----------



## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

I don't get chiggers.
Ever.
They don't like me.
I consider myself fortunate.
So, who hates me now?


----------



## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

chickenista said:


> I don't get chiggers.
> Ever.
> They don't like me.
> I consider myself fortunate.
> So, who hates me now?



That must be because you are not as sweet as I am.

Who could hate you for that?


----------



## tutufay (Jun 18, 2009)

When I first moved here to Arkansas, my property was infested with chiggars. The house had not been lived in for a while and the yard was so overgrown. My husband and I were covered in chiggar bites, so I researched on line. This is what I found out. Chiggars hate cleared and clean. Chiggars will cling to clothing and bite you later (NEVER wear the same clothes twice, and this goes for canvas shoes, without washing.) They brush off quite easily with a dry washcloth. They HATE sulfur. I keep a sock full of sulfer powder by the door and beat it on legs before venturing into the woods or tall grass. It can be applied with a spreader to lthe yard or pasture areas. There can be a million chiggars in one place and 20 feet away, none. Maybe birds would eat them in their fully grown stage, but a chiggar is a larvea of the Harvest Mite. If it is any consolation Harvest mites eat mosquito larvea. My chickens do not eat the mites, but they love ticks. After four years of clearing and mowing, I have no more chiggars close to the house. I do not go into the woods June-Sept. I have named our ranchette "Chiggaritaville".


----------



## harrisjnet (Jul 13, 2006)

I used to have chiggers, ticks and fleas really bad around my place. The first year we had guineas, there was a huge reduction in bug population. Second year there were very few of any of those bugs and several others. This is like year 6 and the abundance of rain brought out an explosion of ticks and fleas, but I haven't seen a chigger bite from my yard in years. The guineas have just about got the ticks and fleas back under control again to. I wouldn't be without guineas running loose around here. They are well worth their keep.


----------



## mommagoose_99 (Jan 25, 2005)

Chickenista, bugs don't like me either. I have had three bites this summer and hubby out there less hours than me is covered. I am Rh - I wonder if that is why 
Lind


----------



## patsdogs (Jun 18, 2009)

Chiggers are microscopic, and I'm not absolutely 100% positive, but I think they are too small for the guineas to even see, let alone eat. Chigger bites can last for weeks, and itch like fire! However, I do have a couple of tips for products you can use that will help control the biting. 1) if you can find any pine tar soap, it seems to really relieve the itching almost immediately. 2) An amazing product for treating your clothing is Sawyer permethrin spray that will last for 6+ washings. It repels and kills chiggers and mosquitos, and it's a lifesaver if you have infested property. 3) if you're into spraying for really awful bugs like fleas, ticks, and chiggers, I recommend triazicide that comes as a hose-end bottle that will cover about 15,000 sq ft. Pay special attention to areas of lush, heavy growth, and dampness. Chiggers seem to love that. They will pick an area they like and stay there, so an infested patch may only be a 6' circle, while the lawn a few feet away is chigger-free. But I wouldn't necessarily count on it. : (


----------



## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

Do guineas eat foliage? I was curious and reading up on chiggers and it seems that they inhabit dense, lush foliage. Maybe guineas cut down on their habitat? Just a thought.


----------



## PKBoo (Apr 10, 2008)

mommagoose - my DH and DDs are B+ blood type, and they get mosquito bites all the time. I'm O+ and I don't get bit as much. I wonder if there's a correlation?


----------



## patsdogs (Jun 18, 2009)

Hmmm. That's interesting. All I need to do is walk outside to have something munching on me. Chiggers in particular. My daughter doesn't have nearly as much trouble with it. I'm B+ and she is not. I wonder if it makes a difference??


----------



## waterpossum (Apr 19, 2009)

i/m o+ and believe me they still eat on me!! i think it depends on the meanness in the person...chiggers just don/t like mean people...they llike em sweet as sugar...least thats what my wife says i am so it must be true cause women always tell the truth!!!


----------



## Jennifer L. (May 10, 2002)

chickenista said:


> I don't get chiggers.
> Ever.
> They don't like me.
> I consider myself fortunate.
> So, who hates me now?



I don't even know what chiggers _ARE_!

Anyone want to move to New York State? 

Jennifer


----------

