Dealing with an ant supercolony stinks...

[classicsredone]

I'm pretty sure we're on top of an ant super colony. There is a giant super colony running down most of California, and it is a PAIN to keep them in check. During the summer they are all over everything in the yard, and in the winter they swarm trying to get in the house. Now they're circling the chicken tractor, but don't seem to be going in. Are there any safe methods of controlling them around the chickens?

 

[bryan99705]

I don't know about anybody elses birds but my RIRs will throw down to get the big carpenter ants we have, they love em

 

[panner123]

Let the chickens out and you won't have an ant problem. Just have a camera handy. Sit back and watch the fun.

 

[Patricia Jane]

My girls can't be bothered with them. I wish they did, I have them everywhere. I'm in California too.

 

[cmom]

We have the fire ants. My birds don't touch them. I have to be careful where I walk (I live in my sandals and never wear shoes) and those darn ants attack my feet.

 

[leonphelps]

try a product called terra. works great. borax/sugar mix. ants love it all the way back to the nest then terminate.

 

[ScouterJoe]

If it's got 6 or 8 legs my girls will pounce. Then they'll keep scratching looking for more. I live to far north for fire ants. Thanks goodness

 

[la dee da]

Have you tried gunieas? Our nieghbor had them and they kept our 2 acres + our neighbors virtually free of ticks and other insect pests (they started with three, then got several more). They ate an entire colony of termites in our woods, too.

 

[Love my Critters!]

I too am interested. My good-for-nothin' chickens don't eat ants either. They will sit there while ants carry off their food! I don't know what kind I have, but they are the really big ones that are black/marroon colored.

Wanted to add that I had guineas and they are LOUD! I also still had ants...

 

[Oregon Blues]

I mix boric acid and powdered sugar. About 2/3 sugar to 1/3 boric acid, which you can buy in any pharmacy.

I put a spoonful of that mixture at the mouth of the ant nest. If it is an area where my pets can access it, I put a little portable fence or a cage around it. It takes a week or two to wipe out the nest.

I haven't tried it on fire ants, don't know how it would work.