chicks and ants

[florida lee]

I still have a couple of things to do to the chicx tractor like cover the nest boxes until they are old enough to lay. the chix ( 6wks) are not in the tractor yet. But I notice there are lots of ants crawling all over inside and out of the tractor. will the chicks eat the ants or other way around. Don't know what kind of ants, could be red ants as we have lots of them here in Florida.
Oh yea, caught a cricket this am and tossed it into the brooder,,,,and then the fight was on. Cricket lost. Now they all want their own cricket.

 

[crossgirl]

Fire ants can and will overwhelm and kill small animals and birds that are weak or sickly. If yours are all pretty big and healthy then the only worry would be that your birds sharing a small space can't get away from them. You wouldn't want them building nests around your chickens. You don't to be very vigilant during the rainy season when the fire ants look for higher ground. If you have the big bull ants, they actually cut when they bite. Try moving your tractor and see if the ants disappear. You may have happened to have put it over a nest site. I get small ants hanging around looking for feed but they are transient and non threatening. My chickens, so far, don't eat ants. Of course mine don't eat worms or table scraps either. They're picky. Crickets they love!

 

[la-pro]

There's alot of fire ants around my yard. Have the chicks in a small tractor during the day and they suck them right up. There isn't a nest near them, but the ants come along to try and get to the feed. The chicks seem to think they're tasty. I hope they're not bad for them!

 

[Wimberleytexaschick]

My girls are about 3 months old, they free range and will find an ant nest, eat them and dig for more!

 

[earnhardtlvr]

Every time I let my barred rock, Sweet Pea, out to roam with me when I'm doing outside work she looks for ants to eat! Funny to watch! She dashed about 4 ft away and I thought something was wrong...but she was just chasing to get the ant!

 

[t_4_turtle]

I dig and play in my garden with my 5 week old chick. One day we found those "flying ants". My chick loved them , but i got worried when ants began to climb my chicks legs...my chick just stamped his/her feet and they mostly fell right off. To make sure I dipped the chicks feet in water..everything is still ok.

 

[BooBear]

Fun fact, ants will not cross a line of chalk. Weird but true.
DE food grade is powdery and chalk like. It dries up insects and works as a deterant against ants n such.
You can dust the tractor with food grade DE to deter the ants from getting in.

Also, as another mentioned, make sure your tractor is not on or to close to an ant nest.

 

[crossgirl]

Quote:
I'm sure they're full of protein! I wish my chicks would eat them. I've battled fire ants for years and years. They just keep moving their mounds around the yard.

 

[Momagain1]

My chicks wont TOUCH an ant!! go figure...