Ants in my chicken feed

[juliapotts4]

Just recently, I bought a new bag of chicken feed (which we always mix in food grade DE) however, when I went to fill up the chicken feeder from the feed bucket, there was an ant infestation. It is already mixed with DE & I don't really want to waste an entire bag of feed by dousing it with poison. Has this happened to anybody else? Is there a way to fix this issue naturally & still be able to feed the new feed to the chickens?

Thanks!

 

[0die]

I would think the DE would take care of the ants

 

[juliapotts4]

That's the thing, DE isn't taking care of the ants. They have been in the feed for two days now.

 

[Percheron chick]

I prefer to not buy feed with bugs in it but the way I look at it bugs are chicken treats so I'll feed it. If you have room in a freezer, you can put the bag in it and kill them.

 

[quackingdom]

That happens to our ducks' feed, but only if we leave the food out all day. We offer our ducks food only once a day (though you would probably have to do it twice a day). Every evening, we lock our ducks in their pen (they are free-range for the day, so they find most of their own food) and let them eat for 15 minutes or so, until everyone has had enough and wanders away. Then we take the food back home and put it in a safe, ant-proof place. Don't worry about them not getting enough food, as long as they can forage during the day.