Exterminator's a-comin

[poppycat]

We have a full scale carpenter ant invasion and I just must have an exterminator come out. They told me that the chemicals that they use are extremely harmful to birds and they should be out of the house for 24 hours. So what do I do with the 4 week old chicks that I've got in my garage??? And do you really think that 24 hours is enough?? Any advise is appreciated. My daughter would be devastated if anything happened to her peeps.

 

[justusnak]

Is it possible to take the to a nabor?? They can put them in thier garage...for a few days. If not...look into boarding them at the vet. They MIGHT be able to accomodate them for you. I would .. just to be safe...keep them out of there for 2 days. Good luck, hope you can find a foster parent for them!

 

[chickaddicted]

I hate using any kind of pesticides and use lots of boric acid around my critters, including birds and cats, which are both really sensitve to the nasty stuff. It works by drying up the bugs insides and works on roaches, ants, spiders, basically any bug that runs through it and cleans itself up. They sell it as Roach Powder at home improvement stores it runs about $2 per 1 lb. bottle.

I don't know that it will kill them all off quickly enough, but it might knock them back till the peeps are older if a friend or neighbor can't hold them a few days.

(BTW...to give you some perspective there are eye ointments that have boric acid in it and my grandaddy used it make up a solution to treat runny eyes in kittens.)

Good luck getting rid of those pests!

 

[ChrissyNC]

I use boric acid all the time for eye solutions and to kill insects around the base of my house. Highly recommend. My only problem with it is it's getting harder and harder to find.

 

[MarkR]

Try Borax (you know, 20 Mule Team. . ) available in almost any grocery store. Just don't use it in any place you want to grow any plants. It kills all the good stuff in your soil too.

 

[MTchick]

If you must have the exterminator come, I would try to get those chicks out of your place for a minimum of 3 days. Perhaps a friend can keep them if you promise to visit, clean them, etc while they are on "vacation."

Usually, stuff that is "very harmful to birds" is a vapor, dust, or gas. This is because birds have very delicate lungs. Because of this, you want to be sure that the garage is very, very well aired out before the chickies move back in. Fans, lots of open windows, etc for an hour or two at minimum- preferably all day before the chicks come back.

Best of luck. Carpenter ants are terrible!

-MTchick

 

[poppycat]

Well thanks for all of the advise. I found the nest of ants or at least one of them and I sprayed that with some stuff I got at the hardware store. And then I've been trying to fill in all of the cracks I can get to with borax. There are alot fewer ants in the house. So I'm going to see what happens. Hopefully I can hold off on the exterminator untill the chicks are out of the house. The weather is really starting to improve here so they are already spending more time outside.

 

[zimmy]

Question: Not meant to kill all the ants, but whenever I see a line going from a garbage can to the grass, I brake out the Windex and go spray-happy