Fleas are a nasty problem. I spent the entire spring with bites from them and couldn�t figure out a good remedy. Don�t go with the garlic salt and feeding everyone garlic that is in my section. It didn�t work. Go to the feed store and get a bag of Diatomatious Earth (white powder for sprinkling around the yard.) Randy didn�t want me to use it inside so I had him get some commercial  insecticide for using indoors on both animals and floor carpet. It isn�t easy to kill out the ones indoors.

What worked best was to keep a small  glass of water about half full handy for dropping the fleas into when captured. You cannot kill them with the fingers but they are easy to drown. Some people say you have to put oil and such in the water but it isn�t necessary. (make sure when you get the DE

that you get a human friendly variety, as there are several)

When I noticed that the only place I was getting the fleas was when I went out to the chicken coop, I wrote to Backwoods Home Magazine and Jackie Clay. She had an elaborate method of moving all the hens and thorough cleaning. But it was a bunch of stuff we just couldn�t do.

But it did get me to thinking about what was different from years past. Light. This was the first year that we�d left the lights on 24/7. I had been reading everything I could find about fleas and there was a note about how they would avoid the dark and go for the light. For about a month I didn�t turn on

the lights at all, the hens only had daylight. I powdered the pathways with the DE and kept the jars with water handy inside the house. I do still see a few now and then but none lately. They don�t bother Randy at all but feast on me. Sigh. If I find one now, I capture it between my fingers and head to the

kitchen sink to drop it into a bit of water to drown it. I was also keeping a jar of water setting under the nightlight in the kitchen. Always found some in the mornings.