Chicken Appreciation Day

We spend nearly $6,953,781 a year to keep fleas and ticks off of our pets. A fe w years back, we had the worst outbreak of fleas I have ever seen anywhere. A perfect storm of heat, moisture, and overgrowth at the side of our large dog pen created a nightmare of fleas. The high cost drops we put on our animals had stopped working. My dog Buddy was attacked and I literally sprayed and washed him for 45 minutes before I could get all of them off.  We called an exterminator to get rid of them, and, thank goodness, they were successful.

Since that year, I’ve been extra vigilant. Our little cavalier spaniel is allergic to the little monsters,  and breaks out in red splotches when they get on him. This summer, a lengthy dry spell left us flea-less for a very long time, then the rains came. I started seeing the signs right away, the signs that the usual treatments, pills and baths just weren’t going to work.

I’m not awfully fond of using  chemicals on animals anyway, and really didn’t want to call in the exterminator again. Enter…the chickens!  A friend had told me, before I had chickens, that his girls got rid of the flea problem in his yard.

So, I set out to relocate my “experienced ” chickens to the front yard.  Coincidentally, the same chickens we needed to move anyway because the squirrels were having a field day with their eggs. Perfecto!

It took about 48 hours and 11 chickens. They turned that front yard upside down, leaving no pine needle unturned. They’re still at it, and I love them for it. The dogs don’t really have a problem with them. (My dogs are elderly). And I am so happy to have a problem solved in a natural way.