ants ants ants

[bantamsohyeah]

I am being over-run with ants. You can't stand still in the chicken yard without being biten by them. The chickens seem miserable and try to sit on tree limbs I have cut down for them to rest on. It is so bad, I need to find out what to put down to kill the ants that won't hurt the chickens. I have a pretty good size chicken yard that is fenced in. I put down some poultry dust, it helped a few days but the ants just came back again. Any suggestions???? Despret

 

[chick-a-bone2]

Diatomaceous Earth. Sprinkle a good layer it the pen. You can use it for de-miting, de-lousing, and de-worming too.

 

[bantamsohyeah]

Quote:
Where can I find this stuff. Never have heard of it

 

[Jenski]

iamcuriositycat posted a home recipe for ants recently - -

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=226075&p=2

I am going to try this one too, as I refuse to spray poison around the animals. Hope that helps. Good luck!

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

I am not pro-poison but here I have to deal with fire ants.

The local Home Improvement stores (I shop at the chain that starts with L), is a product called AMDRO (comes in a small jug with the shape of an antifreeze jug/bottle). It is a small orangeish granual, ants pick it up, carry it back to the nest and feed it to their queen. Starts working that day.

When I have to use it in a place I worry about feathered picker-uppers, I keep them in their run for a couple hours - until I see the bait has been hauled off.

I have tried all kinds of "home" remedies - grits, pepper, DE, boiling water, peppermint spray, etc. While they may work for some lucky people, they have not been a long term solution for me. After a vet bill for fire ants attacking my sleeping Arabian mare - WAR is on with fire ants.



DE - some feedstores carry it, health food stores and I have read that some people order it online. Be sure to get Food Grade.

 

[jus1jack]

A safe way to get rid of fire ants is to boil up a large pot of water. Then just pour it on the fire ant mound, it works best in the morning or evening when the mound is full and inactive. Repeat as nessary it works real well...

 

[bantamsohyeah]

Quote:
That is a good idea, but these are not fire ants. They are all over the ground. I don't even see any mounds. I do have some fire ant hills in the back yard, but I have just about gotten that under control. These are pesty ants that are there by the zillons. I am still looking for the DE I found some at my local hardware store, but it is not Food Grade. Still looking.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Quote:
I tried this last year with a mound close to the house - I fought it for a month - 30 days of hauling a boiling pot of water to "drowned n boil" the ants. Hah said the ants and the mound grew. (DH silently laughing at me also)

So I wonder if this works in some areas due to the humidity level - here we are in single digits - in fact here at my house this AM it is 8%.

Sorry to hijack the thread.

 

[captdave2612]

You may have what we call crazy ants.

They run around with no real trail to follow like they are lost or crazy. They don’t make mounds they have tunnels all over the yard. They are smaller than fire ants but they eat fire ants. They can mess up electric equipment like pumps and destroy wiring.

I have been fighting them for over a year. I have tried poison and the only thing it killed was the crawfish around the drainage ditch. I’m at a loss with this one because fire ants were easy to deal with compared to these little bugs. (But I wanted to use another name for them) If you live around Houston you know what I mean.

 

[granmahen]

Quote:
That is a good idea, but these are not fire ants. They are all over the ground. I don't even see any mounds. I do have some fire ant hills in the back yard, but I have just about gotten that under control. These are pesty ants that are there by the zillons. I am still looking for the DE I found some at my local hardware store, but it is not Food Grade. Still looking.

Ask your feed store to order it for you. Mine did happily.