Flea infestation in the house

[llnmaw]

And not the chicken house!!!

Our home/dog/life is infested with fleas. We are working on that and I think making headway. I moved the babies and their brooder out to the patio while we treated the house. Chemicals and all of that being bad for the animals.

It was time to move them out anyhow, the flea issue just made it happen - NOW! They are still in their brooder not with the big girls in the coop.

My question is this:

How can I tell if my chicks (4 weeks old) have fleas? They are black feathered and at that stage where pretty much every speck on them looks like a flea due to feathers coming in!! If I figure that they have them - how do I treat them? Should I just treat them anyhow?? I'm concerned that the yard is also infested so leaving them untreated seems to leave a gap in my quest to get this under control.......

Ideas??

 

[macdoogle2]

There is poultry dust available that helps with mites and fleas. You can also use Sevin Dust.

 

[macdoogle2]

Sorry, I had to take a call while posting. You can dust the chicks and coop. You can also use DE in the coop and yard.

 

[xxxgeorgiexxx]

its easy to tell if they have mites and fleas because when you pick them up the fleas and mites climb up, you can get powder or spray for the coop but do clean the coop out first and for in the house you can get spray.

 

[shamrockmommy]

Frontline on the dog, vacuum the house really well, wash any bedding where the dog hangs out. Then get a general house flea spray (such as Adams) and spritz areas where the dog hangs out, carpet, everywhere and then clear out for an hour or two. Come back and vacuum. The nice thing about Adams is that it controls fleas for 3 months and doesnt' have a terrible odor once dried.

When we lived in CA, we would have sudden crazy flea infestations like yours, so I finally learned to just keep frontline on monthly. We'll see what happens here (VA).

Good luck!

 

[shamrockmommy]

Oh, also, your vacuum- if you have the bagless, spritz flea spray or place a flea collar in the bottom of the canister. Empty the canister OUTSIDE in a garbage bag and tie it off. If bagged, put the bag in a garbage bag and tie it off.
Good luck!

 

[gg706]

I use TriFexis for our dogs. It takes care of heartworms, fleas, and worms. They take a pill once per month and I dont worry about anything. As soon as the flea bites the dog it dies so it breaks the lifecycle of the flea as the female needs to feed before she lays her eggs. That of course will not get any fleas off the chickens but it will clean up the house and yard. As well as prevent any future outbreaks. I would start with getting the dogs on trifexis and then dust the chickens.