diff --git a/freebsd/sys/sys/kernel.h b/freebsd/sys/sys/kernel.h
index c739cd55..687ee531 100644
--- a/freebsd/sys/sys/kernel.h
+++ b/freebsd/sys/sys/kernel.h
@@ -68,8 +68,12 @@ extern int profprocs;			/* number of process's profiling */
 #ifndef __rtems__
 extern volatile int ticks;
 #else /* __rtems__ */
-#include <rtems/score/watchdogimpl.h>
-#define ticks _Watchdog_Ticks_since_boot
+/*
+ * This must be a singed integer type, otherwise expressions like
+ * (x - ticks) > 0 would yield unexpected results.
+ */
+extern volatile int32_t _bsd_ticks;
+#define ticks _bsd_ticks
 #endif /* __rtems__ */
 
 #endif /* _KERNEL */
diff --git a/rtemsbsd/rtems/rtems-bsd-init.c b/rtemsbsd/rtems/rtems-bsd-init.c
index f7fcd270..fefcee33 100644
--- a/rtemsbsd/rtems/rtems-bsd-init.c
+++ b/rtemsbsd/rtems/rtems-bsd-init.c
@@ -85,6 +85,13 @@ SYSCTL_INT(_kern_smp, OID_AUTO, maxid, CTLFLAG_RD|CTLFLAG_CAPRD,
 SYSCTL_INT(_kern_smp, OID_AUTO, maxcpus, CTLFLAG_RD|CTLFLAG_CAPRD,
     &maxid_maxcpus, 0, "Max number of CPUs that the system was compiled for.");
 
+RTEMS_STATIC_ASSERT(sizeof(int) == sizeof(int32_t), ticks);
+
+volatile uint32_t _Watchdog_Ticks_since_boot;
+
+extern volatile int32_t _bsd_ticks
+    __attribute__ ((__alias__("_Watchdog_Ticks_since_boot")));
+
 rtems_status_code
 rtems_bsd_initialize(void)
 {