Fleas in barn.. Help! Please!

[Diamondinmypocket]

Hi all, I have a huge flea problem...

When we moved here 6 months ago, the landlady (hoarder) had a dog here in a pen. His skin was sooo bad. We didn't mess with the dog, and about a month ago she removed him to her house next door.

I am in central texas, and it seems everyone I know is having a out of control bug problem. Ladybugs, bees, wasps, you name it and its bad. With the weather so warm I assume this is a huge reason.

I have cats who never go outside. Never have a problem with them. My dog is indoors unless she is outside with me. She is on trifectis and frontline 15 days apart each dose for rotation (vet prescribed) and it is so bad that now we only let her outside to potty now... Shes a lab and getting depressed and fat from not being able to be with me outside.

I live on 5 acres fenced with no fenced yard. The barn is the centerpiece of the property. Over 100 years old. The floor is fine red sand.

The fleas are so bad that my hubby and 2 year old are being eaten alive. My mare has them on her, my goat, these fleas are everywhere.. I bomb inside, wash everything in hot water, vaccume the carpet furniture and dog on a regular basis. I keep all pets out of kids room.

I use a spray killer in cat litter box area, on dog blanket. I have to get my house rid of these things first and foremost. So my daily cleaning schedule has grown to fight inside.

Things seem to be getting better inside.

But now my time outside is much smaller. I wont allow my 2 year old outside as she gets attacked. My dog cant go outside. My outside animals.... Just a nightmare...

So far I have burned all junk left behind by past renters. I am pulling as much loose sand out of the barn as I can. This is the first time I have had a chance to clean out the barn. I will need stalls for Diamond if she is pregnant. Have a feed tack room now (my first!) I have done borax... Seemed to help a bit. Pulled loose sand and junk out. Did one yard chemical spray, but I worry about this and animals. So the barn needs to be treated.

Then there are my 5 acres. Red sand everywhere. I am raking up areas close to house and barn and burning it all. The barn yard crew are about to pe pulled from pasture and put in a special paddocnext to barn.

The pasture will be turned into a hunter jumper area since my friend rents the 10 acres behind us for pasture.

I would really like to avoid an exterminators price as I am out of free funds due to x-mas.

I have read of the borax. Tried in feed room as horses can not get in there.

Read of salt.

Know about D.Earth, but texas will not allow shipments of food grade into the state. (?)

Once the paddock is up I have a smaller area to worry about with them. Just stalls and paddock.

So I need advice about that.

And my poor critters. My mare I took down to 3/4" hair wise just to get to her skin. (blanket turnout at ready) she was washed in medicated shampooand sprayed with witch hazel and listerine after long soak in conditioner. Then followed up with fly spray. She has one large sore on underside of belly from itching. Swat went there.

And the goat? Hes my first.... I am still learning about goats.

Just to note: my property was the fire break for the bad wildfires in Texas last year. So I assume things ran here to escape.

I am at my wits end here. Most of this work I do on my own. And my time is limited now. Plus I have surgery soon and who knows how long I will be down from that.

I also decided to adopt 2 feral cats from the t-n-r program to control rodents.

And I have 2 chickens.

 

[Bonny]

Food Grade DE works well. You can put it down in the barn and it wont hurt the horses. I have used it on dogs and horses before just do over do and make things dusty.

 

[John Bell]

I don't have Miniatures but, I do own Quarter Horses. I had a flea infestation in my barn and had to do a lot of research to figure out how to fix the problem. So, I'll outline what I did (in some detail) to hopefully make it easier for the next person.

First, this is not a one simple action and you're done solution. You're looking at around 4 to 6 weeks (once a week) of work to get rid of these pests. This is because fleas are tremendous breeders. The females may lay 10 eggs every time they feed (and they live a long time). The eggs turn into larvae that can be dormant for months before the young fleas come out and feed. And, you have to break the cycle (breeding and live fleas) to eliminate the problem.

Step One - Identify and Eliminate the Hosts
1. In my case, the hosts turned-out to be field mice that brought in the fleas. I also had some barn dogs who got the fleas from the field mice.
a. Removing all pets from barn, preventing any escape routes, and several foggers took care of the mice.
b. Bathed the dogs, using Dawn (kills the fleas instantly) and then treated with Front Line to prevent a second infestation

Step Two - Hamper Potential Egg/Larvae Breeding Grounds
1. Stripped the stalls down to bare concrete. Swept up the rest of the barn as best I could. Spread a thin coating of Borax (20 Mule Strength Laundry Detergent Booster) on the concrete floors. The Borax dries out the eggs and larvae. I used a hand-cranked seed spreader to do it quickly and evenly.
2. Spread the Borax inside the house on the carpet. Let it sit for a day then vacuum it out. Used a fogger in some of the rooms, as well.

Step Three - Kill Existing Fleas and Break the Breeding Cycle
1. You will have to do this once a week for at least 4 weeks. It actually took six weeks in my barn. But, eventually, no fleas.
2. You'll want to get yourself a garden sprayer. One gallon size was very convenient and easy to carry around. And, you'll have to find chemicals to both kill the fleas and break the breeding cycle. In my case, I had the most success with Bifen (killed the adult fleas) and I.G. Regulator (sterilizes the female fleas so they can't produce babies).
3. Mix the two chemicals with water in the sprayer. Spray the ground and any wood (i.e. stall walls) up to 3 feet high (or, higher if your fleas are good at jumping). Also, any barn mats should be sprayed. Words of caution -- Bifen is not very water soluble. So, there are restrictions if you are close to a water source due to potential harm to the environment. When wet, it is also a danger to your animals. When dry, it was not as big of a hazard. So, it's best to remove the horses (and other animals) from the barn while spraying. Once dry, you can move them back in. The mixture dries as rapidly as water. So, the animals don't have to be out of the barn for hours on end.
4. Repeat each week until the fleas are gone. You'll initially see a drop in fleas right after spraying. But, they will multiply during the week until the Iarvae stop turning into adults and the I.G. Regulator has effectively stopped new fertilized eggs. Then, you'll experience a very sharp drop (ours happened after Week 4). I continued spraying for the next two weeks to get the population to zero and as a precaution to prevent a possible recovery from the fleas.
5. Finally, don't forget to re-treat your dogs/cats after 30 days with a second dose of Advantix/Front Line. You don't want them to allow the fleas to come back either.