Fire ants and poisons

[RJKnott]

So I was trying to finish my duck pen before the weather got bad again... a weekend project has become 3 weekends thanks to weather. And I had dug a foot- 1 1/2 foot deep, depending on tree roots in my way, trench around the pen to bury mesh to keep things from digging in. Went to fill it in after putting in the mesh and as I stick the shovel into one of the mounds of dirt it explodes with fire ants. Apparently overnight From digging the trench to filling it in, they decided to make a nest out of a section of my dirt pile.

so I have some fire ant poison but this dirt is going back around the pen... is that going to be dangerous to the ducks at all once they get in there? How long should I wait after poisoning the mound before moving the ducks in?

 

[DuckyDonna]

Is the trench on the inside of the run or outside? If outside I'd say it will be fine unless the ducks can stick their heads out the fence.

Isn't it amazing how fast those horrid things can build a nest! They especially like to do it right after a rain.

We recently found that an armadillo has built a home in our barn and now I'm seeing evidence of his digging the fire ant hills so Porky can stay around as long as he likes!

 

[RJKnott]

It’s on the outside and they wont be able to stuck their heads through

man they built it so fast! I dug the trench the evening before. Put the mesh in and started filling it in at noon the next day. Less than 24 hours there were thousands of them.

 

[DuckyDonna]

It’s on the outside and they wont be able to stuck their heads through

man they built it so fast! I dug the trench the evening before. Put the mesh in and started filling it in at noon the next day. Less than 24 hours there were thousands of them.

I know right! They are amazing builders and are horrid little things. I just love it when you're standing on a nest in flip flops and suddenly you feel the burn. It makes you dance!

 

[Ratchnick]

Maybe You can do something else to kill the ants. Diatamaceous earth plays hell with bugs. Also my dad used to pour boiling water on ant hills to kill them.