Fire Ants in Chicken Pen

[Lady J]

Does anybody else have a problem with fire ants in the chicken yard?
My yard is a pretty good size, but I counted at least 12 fire ant mounds!
They are attracted to the chicken feed the chickens spill on the ground.
You can see a steady stream of fire ants carrying tiny bits of chicken feed
back to the mound for the queen. My ankles are covered in fire ant stings.
They are vicious and venomous! I need to find a way to eradicate them in
a way that is not harmful to my chickies. Any advice out there?

 

[Jrasche]

I would start by removing their food source. Google no waste feeders, kid you not, they have cut my feed costs down by 2/3rds and my coop isnt half as messy.
I have removed them in the past by having a small bonfire on the mound. I little rubbing alcohol, a few pieces of charcoal and then cover it with the grill lid so it burns nice and slow. (Also works great for removing stumps) The alcohol burns clean and between the heat and the smoke, I have yet to have a mound come back

 

[50-45-1]

I just watched a YouTube video where a guy mixes 1/4 cup of orange oil with 1/4 cup molasses in a gaRden sprayer with one gallon of water. He sprays a perimeter around the mound then disturbs the nest with a shovel so the ants are exposed then sprays the liquid on them. The next day ants aRe gone . You do this early morning or late evening so most of the ants are home.
Worth a try.
Good luck!

 

[paneubert]

Burning and oil sounds good. But boiling water down the hole is also supposed to work as well. Especially if you can pour slow and have a large pot.

 

[paneubert]

If you want to make art, liquid aluminum down the hole will make an amazing lightning bolt pattern when you dig it up........

People on Etsy sell them for $300. You have 12 right? Just sayin.... $$$$

 

[Mimi13]

Outside my chicken yard I use Ortho Fire Ant Killer. It does not kill on contact, instead lets the worker ants carry it to the Queen then it kills the whole nest. In the chicken yard I use Garden and Poultry Dust.

It is completely safe for the chickens and will kill the ants within minutes. I constantly use this in and around my coop and run. BTW this is also what I’ll use if and when my birds get lice or mites.

I know all too well about fire ants and their LOVE for dry chicken feed. So much so that I spent $200 on a treadle feeder, which is supposed to keep pests out. Well, it probably keeps every pest out except the pest that I have...fire ants. In my research, no where could I find anyone talking about ants being a problem for them. Lucky them.

Anyway, I have a brand new Grandpa’s Feeder in its box and an army of ants marching around trying to get into my chicken run to get feed.

Here is how I have successfully combated the ants around my chickens. First off, I sprinkle the poultry dust anywhere around where their food may be. All my dry pellet feeders are hanging so I sprinkle underneath them. I even sprinkle it in the coop (I use sand in the coop) and around the perimeter of the run. Lastly, I bought a trough feeder and began feeding fermented feed; however, it didn’t take me long to realize the ants were not attracted to the wet feed. Humm, who knew? That fact, in and of itself, was a HUGE find. Anyway, I stopped with the actual fermenting and just began giving them a wet mash. Win, win, win.

At my house, any type of feed that is in a container that has contact with the ground will be contaminated with ants and inedible in a matter of minutes. This is no joke! My dog food bowls are hung outside and the bags of horse feed are kept sitting in a large wheelbarrow that has the poultry dust sprinkled around in it. The ants die almost immediately after coming in contact with the dust, way before they have time to climb the bag. This stuff has been a godsend for me. However, I still have an ant problem around my house and pastures. It is a daily chore and constant battle fighting fire ants.

 

[Fluffy&Cutie]

Does anybody else have a problem with fire ants in the chicken yard?
My yard is a pretty good size, but I counted at least 12 fire ant mounds!
They are attracted to the chicken feed the chickens spill on the ground.
You can see a steady stream of fire ants carrying tiny bits of chicken feed
back to the mound for the queen. My ankles are covered in fire ant stings.
They are vicious and venomous! I need to find a way to eradicate them in
a way that is not harmful to my chickies. Any advice out there?

If you want to make art, liquid aluminum down the hole will make an amazing lightning bolt pattern when you dig it up........

People on Etsy sell them for $300. You have 12 right? Just sayin.... $$$$

wow!!!!! do that! i m amazed!

all the above ideas sound good. for a quick fix, i use cinnamon. it does something to the ants gps system and they die. it also erases their "tracks". i hate red ants. i feel you pain.

 

[Mimi13]

I forgot to mention that I just purchased an all natural product called Wondercide on Amazon.

It’s main ingredient is cedar oil. It repels and kills several types of pests; mosquitoes, ants, spiders and snakes, yes, snakes, while not harming other beneficial insects. I read about this in a thread here and had never heard of it. Now I know chickens and cedar don’t mix, but after spraying it on my house, deck, flower beds and yard, there was only a faint cedar smell and the chickens aren’t “cooped” up with the smell. Pun intended. Even if you don’t plan on purchasing any, it is worth looking it up and reading how it affects the pests. It is amazing.

BTW, the aluminum art is amazingly stunning. May be because I despise ants so much. I saw a video of a man doing that several years ago. The only problem is not many people have the ability to melt the aluminum.

 

[paneubert]

The only problem is not many people have the ability to melt the aluminum.

Sounds like a good excuse to make yourself a backyard forge! Big clay flowerpot, some sand, a hairdryer, etc...

 

[BlueBaby]

wow!!!!! do that! i m amazed!

all the above ideas sound good. for a quick fix, i use cinnamon. it does something to the ants gps system and they die. it also erases their "tracks". i hate red ants. i feel you pain.

Ant's breathe through their feet, and the powder of the ground cinnamon sticks to their feet. They die because they can't breathe.