Fire ants invaded my coop!

[cmom]

Permethrin spray or spinosad can help treat fireants on your chickens now, and here is a good article on how to deal with them all the time:
http://extension.msstate.edu/publications/control-fire-ants-your-yard

I agree, it worked for me. It also worked on carpenter ants.

 

[LaFleche]

Luckily, I never had to deal with fire ants. I hope you can get rid of them without endangering your bantams.

 

[Georgia460]

Thank you for your information fellow Georgian. We have lots of fire ants here don´t we? I will move my chickens and try that. Would grapefruit or lemon essential oil work?

LOL - Yes, way too many, sure wish we could sell them! Them, and those nasty little chigger/redbugs in the summer - they love me!!
Grapefruit will be just as good as Orange (I'm just partial to Orange because I also diffuse it on those rainy days to uplift my spirits). Lemon doesn't have enough limonene so don't use that (around 68% vs. 91%-98% on the other 2).
Meant to say in my previous post that whatever container you use do not use it for anything else. And make sure you wash your hands after putting in container. Not that it's an insecticide, essential oils are extremely potent and you wouldn't want it in your eyes/mouth, etc. (like if you just by habit wiped your hand across your eyes or mouth).
Best of luck. It is an ongoing battle.

 

[cinnamoncockatiel]

LOL - Yes, way too many, sure wish we could sell them! Them, and those nasty little chigger/redbugs in the summer - they love me!!
Grapefruit will be just as good as Orange (I'm just partial to Orange because I also diffuse it on those rainy days to uplift my spirits). Lemon doesn't have enough limonene so don't use that (around 68% vs. 91%-98% on the other 2).
Meant to say in my previous post that whatever container you use do not use it for anything else. And make sure you wash your hands after putting in container. Not that it's an insecticide, essential oils are extremely potent and you wouldn't want it in your eyes/mouth, etc. (like if you just by habit wiped your hand across your eyes or mouth).
Best of luck. It is an ongoing battle.

Thank you! I have grapefruit but no orange.

 

[cinnamoncockatiel]

Luckily, I never had to deal with fire ants. I hope you can get rid of them without endangering your bantams.

Thank you!

 

[cinnamoncockatiel]

I agree, it worked for me. It also worked on carpenter ants.

I will try that if boiling water does not work. Thank you!

 

[cinnamoncockatiel]

Boiled 3 large pots of water. Poured on every ant covered surface. Lots of dead ants! I will do more boiled water the spray the bodies out with the hose. Then do a few large pots of warm water with soap. Thanks y´all!

 

[Kiki]

I use ant poison on ant hills.

 

[cinnamoncockatiel]

Ants are gone and chickens have moved back in to the coop. Boiling water and grapefruit soap is all I needed. Thank you!