Are there any products that could be used in the
>yards to keep the tick numbers down.

While living in a VERY rural setting in Kentucky, I was also worried about
Lyme disease.  (My brother was infected with it in Wisconsin).  An old
farmer told me not to worry since we had plenty of wild birds on our
property (turkey, pheasants, quail, etc.)  He said if I was really concerned
I could buy a couple guinea hens.  We never did that, but we got a flock of
chickens and let them free range.  In the two years we were there, we spent
MANY hours walking our woods and camping in the clearing in the woods.  We
only had two ticks in two years!!  The kids spent almost all day in the
woods in the summer and they never stayed on the trails.  We had more
problems with poison ivy than ticks.  Is it possible to encourage wild birds
in your bee yard?  We never had a problem with anything trying to get our
bees there, but lost many chickens to fox, owl, weasel, & coyote.