Arizona Chickens

[dofnup]

Quote:
This reminds me of the following convo I had with my husband:

Me: any eggs?
Him: four!
Me: yay!
Him: ... there was poop on one of them, though.
Me: Oh, so you washed it?
Him: no, I threw it out
Me: WHAT?! Why didn't you just wash it?
Him: I'd rather have you clean out the nestboxes everyday so the eggs are never dirty
Me:

 

[maggiemooscluckers]

Hey my Arizona chick friends. I have a real problem with ants. Last night I went out to the coop to check on my babies that I just put out into the coop. I have them on pine shavings with some DE added in. The floor was crawling with big red ants. I went crazy with the DE and the chicks were trying to do their share by eating them but there were just too many. I went outside and the ground was also crawling with the same red ants. The Run is under a palo verde tree. Not sure if that is what they were after. They were not in the feed. I also have moved a hibiscus plant near the run and they have almost eaten all the leaves off of it. Help! What can I do to rid this brand new coop and run with my precious little ones of these pesty predators! I've also planted a small raised garden that I have things planted for the chicken. I just know after seeing this army of ants that they will surely eat it as soon as it comes up if I don't get a handle on them. I dug up one of the main holes this morning to find handfuls of winged ants. I game them a DE and gasoline bath. HELP!

 

[Beckyhsinglsc]

Quote:
We have a problem with ants at our house but usually the little biting ones. First I try DE directly on and around the ant hill. That usually works.
Second line of defense... boiling water on the ant hill, dig, boiling water, dig...
We try to stay organic, but if neither of those work we use Amdro ant bait. We just put a pile of it close to the hill and cover it with something so that animals can't get to it.
After the ants are gone we pick up whatever Amdro is left. They carry most of it undergound.
We've only had to use Amdro a couple of times when the hill was not accessible to DE or digging.
If you do use Amdro make sure the chickens and other animals you have can't get to it!!!
Good luck.

 

[maggiemooscluckers]

Thanks for all the help with the ants. We also have those little bitty biting ants but they aren't as creepy as those big, ugly ants that seemed to just to be taking over my coop. I have dug up what appears to be the main nest and poured gasoline in the hole. My chicks don't free range so they can't get to the hill. This evening I poured boiling water in all of the remaining holes that were apparent. Between all that and the tons of DE I put all over my yard (looks like I went nuts with the baby powder!) I am hopeful. I will check later to see the results. If there are still ants I will keep trying more of the suggestions given. I really appreciate all your help. These BYC folks are the BEST friends a newbie could ever have!

 

[vegaschick]

I have the huge ants too...and my hens don't even try to eat them. They just watch them as they carry away the BOSS and crumbles. It's totally bizzare to see...like they are at a picnic or something. I watched to see where they're coming from and it looks like they live in the neighbors yard. Hmmmm...I will have to brush up on my espanol and go visit I guess. Maybe take a few eggs over.

 

[Bob's Henhouse]

I have both the little and the big ants. DE hasn't made much of a dent in them, and the chickens only eat them occasionally. What seems to slow them down for me is to leave a hose trickling in the middle of the mound. It drowns the ones in the water and keeps them from digging the hole back out. I don't think it does away with them permanently, but the hens are more apt to eat them when they are floating in water. Before I had chickens I used Amdro and it worked really well, but my hens free range, so I don't use chemicals anymore.

 

[NoSkiveez]

Quote:
I found someone to process cattle. $75 to slaughter .55¢ a pound to package/prepare. He's in buckeye. A bit further than I wanted but the only one I could find.

 

[tofuranch]

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I am off to work too....at least I work from home,except when I go and do other peoples chores which I need to do this morning

It is 52 deg out right now up here...I LOVE it

Mahonri...love your egg avatar, nice looking eggs

 

[maggiemooscluckers]

Bob's Henhouse :

I have both the little and the big ants. DE hasn't made much of a dent in them, and the chickens only eat them occasionally. What seems to slow them down for me is to leave a hose trickling in the middle of the mound. It drowns the ones in the water and keeps them from digging the hole back out. I don't think it does away with them permanently, but the hens are more apt to eat them when they are floating in water. Before I had chickens I used Amdro and it worked really well, but my hens free range, so I don't use chemicals anymore.

Never heard of Amdro. Where can I get it? Last night after pouring gasoline and boiling water in the main hole I only saw a handful of the little buggers and none in the coop. I'm sure they aren't gone though. I will continue to stay armed and ready. I made my DH go out with me last night to check. It's spooky like something out of a horror movie with that many ants crawling around.​

 

[rufus]

We also have had problems with ants, mostly the little black devils. My son dumped moth balls on the nest, not to get rid of the ants, but to get my wife's cats to stop using the area as a toilet. Pooping in an ant hill just goes to show you how dumb they are. Anyway, the ants moved the exit to their nest about six feet away. If we do this a couple of more times, they will be in the neighbor's yard.

I have been told that if you whip up orange peels and water in a blender and then dump that on the ant hill it will cause them to move their exit hole. I haven't tried it yet.

I draw a circle around the feed barrels with Chinese chalk. It is sold in Asian stores. It says very plainly in English on the box "Read and follow the enclosed instructions." which by the way are only written in Chinese.

When I first bought this stuff, the kids said "that has to be bogus." But I drew a circle around the cats' dish before I fed them. Within minutes, just like clockwork, the ants appeared. They walked across the chalk line and promptly died.

After that, I was a believer. But I also made real certain that I never touched the stuff with my hands. I always put a plastic bag over my hand first. Then the bag goes into the trash when I am done with it.

I remember when I was a kid, one summer we had such a plague of black ants. We had to put the bed legs in cans of water. Finally, my father noticed that the black ants would not crawl on black rubber. He cut up old tires and inner tubes to put under things. It worked. Why they don't crawl on black rubber, I don't know.

I think the only real way to get rid of ants is to move.

Good luck,

Rufus