A N Ts

[City Farmer Jim]

Good evening all, I asked earlier about roaches I the coop and the consensus was "no big deal its extra protein and I'm good with that. How about ants ? We do feed and water in the coop but have not had any issues with them in 2 years. I'm asking for advice on the safest way to deal with them for the chickens. I only see them in the feed. I'm still in the planning stages of building a new coop but food will mostly not be in the coop this time around. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[PioneerChicks]

Do you know where the ant colony lives? You could try soaking them out, or feeding them cornmeal. They carry the cornmeal inside their holes and feed it to each other and the queen. They can eat it, but can't poop in out, and therefore die.

You could also try fermenting the feed or just soaking it.

Good luck!

 

[Alaskan]

I'm still in the planning stages of building a new coop but food will mostly not be in the coop this time around.

Yes, having a fully sheltered area in the run for feed and water would be best.

Ants can be insane....

Are they "normal" ants... or fire ants (or some other highly problematic kind)?

If they are "normal" ants, I would probably ignore them... problematic ants... and you probably need to declare war.