Calling all southerners.....FIRE ANTS

[CoyoteMagic]

Like wasps, yellow jackets and other thing, fire ants can cause an anaplylatic reaction in some folks (me!) If you feel sick to your stomach, begin to have trouble swallowing, swelling(especailly your tongue) welts, get to the ER ASAP. I have to carry a shot of epinephrin which is just enough to keep me alive until the ambulance gets here(and this is after 5 years of venom shots) with the meds I need. Play it safe, drop a couple of benedryl and get to an ER!!

 

[MandyH]

OK, I am a preofessional (LOL) so don't try this at home unless you are grown. I take a stick and poke a hole in the ant bed, pour a bit of gas in it, run me a trail away from mound an light it. The mound will come about 3 feet off the ground. I figure the ant hill itself is gonna kill the grass anyway, why not speed it along LOL. Works everytime too.

 

[Preservation Acres]

Quote:
Yep. I grew up near New Orleans where it's a constant battle with these pests. Hit them with a big pot of boiling water. The ones the survive will build a smaller mound closer to the surface. Hit them again. After 2 or 3 rounds with boiling water on a huge mound, it will be gone. A small mound will be gone with the first application.

It's the best way if you want to avoid using chemicals.

 

[RasMama]

I lived in Gainesville FL & had lots of problems with fire ants. We would use cinnamon to help dispatch the mounds. It works best on smaller ones, but just sprinkle it all over & around the mound, repeating if it rains shortly after. Sometimes it would just make them move away (usually if it was a large mound), but it would often do the trick without having to resort to poisons. We would also use DE (Diatomaceous Earth), not the food grade kind, the garden kind. But you'd want to keep that away from right where the chickens are.

 

[welovechickens]

A paste of baking soda and water kills the fire and superficial reaction after the ants sting you. I use it often, here. *sigh*

 

[tvolsfan4life]

Hey,
I am in Eastover, NC. I have 7 chickens, 15 weeks old this Thursday. I have them in a run in the back yard but we let them out every morning to free range around in the 30x30 fenced in part of the yard. I noticed that since they have been back there, no ants. Not fire ants, not sugar ants, actually not anything that crawls, flys, hops, or jumps. A while back my wife found a big rock with a huge load of fire ant larvae on the bottom and of course lots of adults to go along with them. She dumped them in the back yard before I could stop her. The chickens waded right in, started eating the larvae. Then I noticed they started hoping around and pecking at their legs once the ants started biting. Didn't seem to hurt them though and they kept going back for more. At first we had flies around due to the manure and feed, but the flies don't even hang around any longer. So, I am not sure what kind of chickens you have, but my easter eggers, and sex-linked chickens love to eat ants and their insect relatives.


My biggest pest so far is all the extra squirrels that come around for the corn in the feed.

tvolsfan4life

 

[SmackyMouth]

We've found that poisons are really the only eradicator. I don't want to use those around my chickens either so we just do what we can to chase the survivors off the property and keep them there. At home we battle with our neighbors - the more viligant neighbor has the least mounds!

 

[Ricky Crawford]

Last summer I used a product called Over and Out. It was broadcast like fertilizer all over the yard. Used to, you couldn't walk in the yard without being bitten. This is the second summer with no fireants at all around the house. We couldn't leave dog food out for a minute without it being covered with ants. Now, no problem. Anything that works that well, they probably quit making it. I don't remember the company that made it, but I will check and see if I can find it again.

 

[Sillystunt]

GRITS! my dad uses them, works!! A little 89 year old southern lady told him she'd been using it since she was little. Swells the belly and bursts the fire ant~

 

[wgcrochet]

i tried grits on my ants
i did not notice anything at first but a few days later i did notice the pile was gone

last time i tried seven dust saw nothing at first but next day pile was dead

best i've used yet was gas but it will kill all grass around pile also

boiling water works well also