ANTS

[DuckDuckCluckCluck]

WOOHOO IM NUMBER 4,000!!!! Thanks for all of the suggestions where do I get DE? I have heard of Diatomatious Earth before but not a clue where to find it, and someone else suggested the Triazawhatever. That stuff did work around my house. They were in my car too!!!! I have never had so much trouble with ants. I noticed everyone posts what kinda friends they have. I have two ducks and a small mix of laying hens, a few game chickens, and a couple of bramas. I have also gotten the batam bug. I have three baby blue japs and a pair of old english japs. I am absolutely in love with those tiny babies!

 

[TxChiknRanchers]

Quote:
I was surprised, any bug that comes into view will be attacked by our chickens. However, They will not touch fireants(smart chickens)( is that an oximoron?), or any other ant as far as I can tell

 

[kcfuerst]

Joanm, if you follow the directions on the box of stakes for the Grants Ant Stakes you will find that it works best if you run hot water over them and stir them up through the little hole with a nail or a toothpick to activate the contents.

If you are indeed swamped with ants, it works best to place them at most every six feet around the perimeter of your house, barn, etc. Then give it a week or so to work.

Good luck!

 

[Chelly]

We have a HUGE nest of ants in the yard, its off the beaten path so for now its not a problem, but when we want to go that way they're ALL over us - the nest would cover a car tire lying down - and its taller than a tire staning upright - !

We were thinking winter might be a good time to tackle that - dig it up or something when its FREEZING outside, will that take care of that nest? Will the cold kill them?

 

[TxChiknRanchers]

Quote:
No!

 

[Chelly]

But if we dig it up when its cold, will that kill em - I'm guessing they go pretty deep to keep warm - but I don't know if us digging up the nest in winter will kill them if they're exposed to the freeze.

 

[SandraChick]

Your better off pouring boiling water into their nest--now!

Sandra

 

[Chelly]

Mmmmmmm its a long way to carry alot of boiling water, perhaps we'll pour poison down into there - just soak it in something to get rid of as many as possible...

 

[eggzettera]

I just finished pouring boiling water with vegetable oil & cayenne pepper into a nest that runs along a crack in my cement. The next day I saw major activity further along the crack so will have to do it again. I know the cayenne pepper works, I had ants in the house & I spread a trail of cayenne pepper along the wall I believed they were entering through - not an ant since.....

I added oil to the water hoping it would be a "sticky" agent to the cayenne & help disperse it more evenly......I am thinking the reason this works is that cayenne is supposed to mess with your sense of smell and ants follow scent trails. So I think this just relocates them & doesn't kill. The boiling water will kill and the pepper will confuse the ants that live (are off wandering @ time of boiling water) that this is no lnger there nesting spot and wander off & die alone (due to the need of communal nest).

 

[silkiechicken]

I had an ant pile about 3 feet across and 2 feet tall by my chicken run. Ants here are about quarter inch long but harmeless. For fun I'd stick a shovel into it just to watch them run around confused... well, after a few weeks of doing that they all died and I didn't have anymore fall out of the tree to crawl down my hair.