fire ants

[sbennett]

i know de will help with the hill thats come up (i'm still waiting on mine to arrive) will fire ants hurt my husbands birds in the mean time or will they eat them like they do regular ants?

if we need to move where they free range i will - just wanted to check before we put them out today

 

[Domestic_goddess]

I have some around and they haven't bothered my chickens yet, but my chicken's haven't eaten them either. I've been taking care of the mound hills as they come, cause I have little kids running around as well.

 

[sbennett]

we have stuff to put down but it would kill the birds - so i want to wait and use the de. i'm very allergic to fire ants, so when i saw them i made sure my husband knew.

does it not hurt the birds if the ants bite them?

 

[Domestic_goddess]

It hurts a human when bitten, so I would assume that it hurts a chicken as well. I would take care of any found, asap!

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I've seen my birds jump when they accidently step in the fire ants, but it doesn't seem to have a long-lasting detrimental affect on them. The ants will swarm over a dead or dying bird, and can sometimes bother the broody hens while they set.

I've offered every type of bird I've kept a handsome cash bonus plus central AC installed in their coops, IF ONLY they would eat up the fire ants. So far the chickens, guineas, ducks & geese have refused. I hope to adopt a giant South American anteater some day.

I use 5% Sevin Dust on & around the fire ant mounds, I also sprinkle it around the nest sites of broody hens. It's much less expensive than the DE and I think it's more effective in killing the fire ants. And it also doesn't hurt the birds.

 

[wionna1202]

Hi from EAST Naples. We have TONS OF FIRE ANTS! I need help. We have always used the stuff from home depot, but I was thinking I can't put it down any longer due to the chickens. We are very new to chickens, and ours were out for the first time yesterday. Free rangeing for the first time.

Anyway. I didn't know what to use on the Fire Ants they seem to be popping up more now that I have cleared the ground and planted grass around the Coop. It was all woods. I keep reading DE. What is this? Is seven dust safe!

Oh I was hoping they would think the Fire ants were a HUGE treat!

 

[sbarab]

My kids & I were watching our RIR girls snatching them up as quickly as the ants exited from their underground lair. It was pretty awesome as I hate those nasty ants.

 

[enola]

Wal~Mart has a brand of bug killers called BENGAL. I use the BENGAL KiITCHEN & BATHROOM spray on the hills in my yard. I take a sturdy stick and knock off part of the top of the hill, then I spray the ants as they come scurrying out to protect the mound.

It might take two attacks on the hill, but it kills all the worker/protector ants and then the queen starves to death.

All of the powder types that I used would work for a while, then 2 or 3 feet away, another hill would pop up. Last year, I probably had 30 or so mounds in my yard. This year so far, only two mounds have attempted to establish themselves in my yard !

 

[PeeperKeeper]

We bought DE to kill Colorado Potato Beetles. It hasn't helped much so we didn't use any on the fire ant hills. Used to pour boiling hot water down into the hill. It took several times of doing this to have any effect.
My sister told me a really interesting thing she saw on the nature channel.. "BEER" poured in 4 seperate areas around the outside of the mound, stir ant hill vigurously and RUN LIKE..... H%$#! She said that the ants discover the beer deposits and send out the workers to gather it. But what happens is the different sets of ants sent out start to fight each other for the other ones beer deposit.
She said they were literally ripping each others heads off! Then she made a remark about men that I won't repeat here as I'm sure the really are some sensible guys alive...somewhere.

I haven't tried it myself but am willing to try anything that would help halt the progression of infestation across this farm.