Arizona Chickens

[chicksurreal]

There is an ant poison called Amdro. It is small yellow granules, you sprinkle a spoonful near an ant hill, and they will take it into the nest. It takes a day or two, but it will wipe out the nest by killing the queen.
DO NOT put it where chickens can eat it! The only ants I've found that it is not effective on are leafcutter ants, they ignore it.

This is what we do too, Amdro works well on the big red ants we have. We put a board over the hill after treating it so the chickens can't get to it.

We've had tons of ants this year, our whole driveway had become an ant highway, so we had to do something.

 

[FeatherPugs]

Is it me or is AZ having a mass ant invasion?? The ground of my ducks enclosure is crawling with ands, my tortoise burrowed a hole and got stuck so we had to dig her out and ended up hiting an ant hill which then caused the ants to attack the tortoise! Then I took my dog to the park and ants were crawling all over me while I was just sitting there. Any ideas on controlling ants without harming other pets?

Funny you should mention this - I was cleaning up my "chicken pasture" and apparently didn't see the red ants where I was working and I ended up being covered with them - many, many bites and a spray off with the hose, then a shower then benadryl cream I was able to breathe again. Boy did I itch most of the night!! Is this a place where diatomaceous earth would be useful??? Just wondering as I was looking into getting some.

 

[City farm]

Here's a question for all you chicken experts.  Do you think chickens respond to baby talk?  If they don't then I need to rethink my vocal nuances but if they do then I will continue in my idiotic ramblings while holding a petting my chickens.  I know they recognize me and my voice and come running.  Am I an idiot whispering sweet baby talk nothings into my chickens ears, or at them - whatever?

You are hihilariously do whatever makes you smile!!
Our flock understands , bug, bug, or treat.. I might try speaking it in French

 

[City farm]

Is it me or is AZ having a mass ant invasion?? The ground of my ducks enclosure is crawling with ands, my tortoise burrowed a hole and got stuck so we had to dig her out and ended up hiting an ant hill which then caused the ants to attack the tortoise! Then I took my dog to the park and ants were crawling all over me while I was just sitting there. Any ideas on controlling ants without harming other pets?

So glad you joined in,
IDK, it is the summer.. Does not seem different than last year.. We did finally get some ant killer pellets.. Once it rains we have to re apply.. We do keep them away from our animals.. I put it under the potted plants..

 

[City farm]

Did anyone else in Avra Valley/Tucson get hit by that huge storm? We had hard rain for about an hour and hail for a while at my place. The dogs and the chickens loves the mud afterwards though

Did you use a filter on the photo?? I like it.. Love to see the girls out playing..

 

[Timskins]

Funny you should mention this - I was cleaning up my "chicken pasture" and apparently didn't see the red ants where I was working and I ended up being covered with them - many, many bites and a spray off with the hose, then a shower then benadryl cream I was able to breathe again. Boy did I itch most of the night!! Is this a place where diatomaceous earth would be useful??? Just wondering as I was looking into getting some.

I use De for my ants. They usually won't cross a white line so I circle the mound and cover it with de. Sometimes they just pop up else where but after a few treatments they usually get the message. Not as quick and effective as poison but much better for a chicken environment.

 

[Macboat]

My EE laid an egg last night between 10 and midnight....anybody has similar experiences? I thought that they don't lay when it's dark?

 

[a little chiken]

so we just had our worst monsoon of 2014. poor chickens got indoor pools and are not appreciating it however the ducks wonder why I waited so long to give them this gift. lol

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

so we just had our worst monsoon of 2014. poor chickens got indoor pools and are not appreciating it however the ducks wonder why I waited so long to give them this gift. lol

That looks like the best monsoon storm of 2014 to me!

We just caught the edge of it here.

 

[K9Dave]

I use De for my ants. They usually won't cross a white line so I circle the mound and cover it with de. Sometimes they just pop up else where but after a few treatments they usually get the message. Not as quick and effective as poison but much better for a chicken environment.

Yes I did DE and watched. I thought they were gonna die instantly or something. Very disappointed to see they just slowed down a bit. The the next day, poof no ants. Dawn dishwashing detergent kills tons of stuff. The earliest I can remember in my childhood, we had 14 Walker Hounds amongst other animals on maybe 3 acres. They were kept behind an Electric Fence and had many pests trying to get at them being in Lousiana. My grandpa had a large holding tank sprayer and could hear the water too. We would put Dawn and water in there and mix it up good and pull it around the property spraying the grass, trees, roof of the house and roof of anything on the property and well you get it. We sprayed every square inch of the property with the mix. You wouldn't believe how well this did. Fleas die instantly on contact. (I still bathe my dogs with it)

so we just had our worst monsoon of 2014. poor chickens got indoor pools and are not appreciating it however the ducks wonder why I waited so long to give them this gift. lol

Those Ducks are loving it I bet. Good. Red is we needed the rain so bad. Still haven't gotten any real rain yet here near downtown Phoenix. Hope I get some too.