Ants in coop

[RCMomto4]

As the summer heats up I've noticed lines of ants going into my coop. We have the base of our house sprayed for ants but nothing where the chickens are allowed to be. I don't like the idea of ants inside with the chickens----Is there anything anyone recommends to keep ants out? They don't eat them---darn it!

Janet

 

[barbieszoo]

I don't have any answers but am subscribing to this topic to see what answers you get. I have some ants in mine too, and don't want to spray where the chickens will be. Wish chickens did eat ants! They seem to eat any other bug!

 

[Love2Homeschool]

diatomaceous earth

 

[t/m]

I agree, DE... make sure it is food grade

 

[southerndesert]

Yes DE in the coop and run will help allot and AMDRO outside the run, we do not like the idea of chickens getting to it either so we use a small plastic container buried in the ground a little bit with a few pencil size holes for the ants to get to the AMDRO. They take it home and everyone dies. Been using it for years without incident.....

 

[prov31gal]

why dont chickens eat ants? ive never noticed my chickens not eating ants.

 

[southerndesert]

Quote:
Chickens are funny that way and we have 2 flocks in different coops, one flock eats ants they find except the very small ones and the other flock ignores them...

 

[abercrombie575]

Mint oil will kill ants and other creepy crawlies and it is not poisonous.

 

[BooBear]

Quote:
Chickens are funny that way and we have 2 flocks in different coops, one flock eats ants they find except the very small ones and the other flock ignores them...

Ants tend to be acidic, so not very many chickens will want to eat them. Also, ants have numbers; their come in volume overload. Food grade DE helps deter them some. We are in a draught down here so the ants sre looking for water.

 

[RCMomto4]

You all are awesome!! I have DE but don't know if it's food grade. We have a big bag we use on our pool filter--I will check. I will also try the AMDRO.

Thank you!!