Fire Ants

[nnheacox]

From the USDA:​

Home Remedies 101​

Home remedies are commonly suggested as a way to control in place of many fire ant control products on the market. Home remedies are not necessarily safer choices than pesticide products. Gasoline, diesel oil, chlorine bleach, ammonia, drain cleaners and acids are dangerous to anyone who may come in contact with them AND illegal to use. Runoffs from these products can contaminate water sources that are near your home, children, pets and livestock.


Myth: Club soda will control fire ants.
Fact: Fire ant control using club soda was recently tested and found to be ineffective.
The club soda remedy is appealing because of its availability and environmental safety, but it has been disproven in many university trials. Carbon dioxide is known to be lethal to many organisms, but the quantity of carbon dioxide generated by a bottle of club soda is not enough to fill a colony that may extend 12 feet under ground.


Myth: Pouring uncooked grits on fire ant mounds will kill them.
Fact: Grits are proven to have no effect.
Research has indicated that using dried grits does not control fire ants. In theory, the ants will eat grits, which will swell in their stomachs and cause them to explode. However, fire ant workers cannot eat solid food! The only members of the fire ant family that digest solid food are the oldest larvae, who feed the rest of the colony in liquid form.


Half-myth: Pouring boiling water on fire ant mounds will kill the colony.
Fact: Pouring boiling water will kill the colony if the correct amount of water is used.
Pouring boiling water on a fire ant colony is an old home remedy that has some truth to it. Researchers estimate it is about 60 percent effective when approximately three gallons of water are used. Although there is truth to this home remedy, it is VERY dangerous to the applicator and will kill the surrounding vegetation.


Myth: If you mix fire ant colonies they will kill each other.
Fact: Workers may die, but not the entire colony.
Fire ant mixing is a common suggestion for killing fire ant colonies. When mixing colonies, there is potential for workers to be killed, but little chance that the queens will die. In order to kill a fire ant colony, the laying queens must be killed. Generally, disturbed colonies just move to a different location.


Myth: Baking soda, vinegar, molasses, plaster of Paris and aspartame will kill fire ant colonies.
Fact: These have all been tested and found ineffective.
All of these popular home remedies have been thoroughly tested and proven to have no effect on fire ant colonies.

I copied the above from the Ag Extension paper on Ant Pests.

I can honestly say that in 35 years on the same farm in South Louisiana, nothing works on my fire ants except poison. Many home methods can kill some, many management methods can keep them on the move but with multiple queens, tunnels that may go 10 feet deep and the ability to form "Super Colonies", it's just a constant fight. Regular mowing, bush hogging and disturbing nests does get them to relocate. I have to plan ahead and poke around the garden area I plan to work in, jab a stick in and dump some orthene on the nest and leave it alone for a few days.
Good luck andif you find a new solution, let me know!

Thank you! So far they have just moved to a new location.

 

[SourRoses]

Hi, if you plan on hatching chicks, you need to get rid of the ants. They will invade the nest on hatch night and eat your pipped chicks alive. Its very ugly and upsetting.

I was coming to say this too! We had two horrible incidents a few years back with loosing chicks to ants. The second they pip a hole the ants pour in and call their friends The second time we thought we had addressed it by using a nestbox up off the ground, but the ants found a way.
This year we decided to use broodies for the summer hatches again, and for the big brooder out there I was going to roll some extra sticky duct tape (Gorilla brand) into a double sided thing and make a barrier all around. My mom was worried we might forget to remove the tape before the chicks came out with their moms (not likely, but ok) so I found a different barrier method. I used silicone based (not very toxic) automotive brake grease that I had lying around and painted it on down low near the ground and all around all the openings, with enough space that the chicks hopefully wouldn't brush against it or be able to peck it. So far, so good! There are a lot of fire ants around but the hatch was unaffected (I checked a lot while they were hatching). No ants passed the barrier, I'm sure when they tried they kept slipping and couldn't climb past the grease. The area near the ground where the chicks might have been able to reach the grease I just placed a board in front of when the hatch was complete. It's been a week and everyone is happy

 

[WhiteCollarWeezy]

Try hanging some cattle ear tags with insecticide wherever the ants are ....around or in your coop as long as it is ventilated. I had trouble with ants in my well pump asked an old timer at the local cooperative and this was his suggestion. Worked great!!!

 

[skeeeter]

personally I use pyrethrum ant powder. bust open the mound and lay it on.