Fire Ants

[Boo-Boo's Mama]

DH plans to build me a small chicken tractor this week while he is home. I hope to get my 4 wk old chicks out for the first time.

Has anyone had problems with fire ants and your chicks?

 

[chkinut]

i would like to hear some input on this....i found some fire ants yesterday, but i was afraid to let my chicks near it....afraid they would get bitten (they're 10 days old).

 

[whattheheck]

My hens were merrily munching on some red ants/ fire ants yeasterday. They don't seem to do so all the time but on occasion I see them picking through the ant piles. Not sure if it is good or bad for them but I figure they know more than me.

 

[churchx3]

I asked this same question a couple weeks back...you can sprinkle FOOD GRADE DE (diatomaceous earth) on the mound and it will kill the fire ants and many pests around the home. It is nontoxic to children, pets, poultry, livestock, etc. but does a good job of wiping out ants and other pests...it WILL kill honey bees though. This can also be used in small amounts in your pets,livestock, humans (yes humans) for parasites internally and externally...sprinkle it in the coop, run, etc as well to keep mites, lice, etc. at bay.

 

[Boo-Boo's Mama]

Quote:
There is a difference in Fire Ants and Red Ants; Fire Ants are not an ant.

I use DE on the beds I find but usually I don't even see them before I'm covered in them and being stung. With the chicks digging I am concerned they might dig into a bed of them and be covered. I have heard they have killed small animals; our small dog has problems with them when she is with me in the garden.

I just wondered if anyone who lives where Fire Ants are common had any experience with them and their chicks.

Peggy

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Fire ants are ants. They're not native to the U.S. but they're ants just the same.

I've never had a problem with them with my tractors. I wouldn't pull one over the top of a mound but other than that I've never had a problem with them that way. It's my fixed hen yard that I have problems with them in, especially once the rainy season starts.

Diatomaceous earth can work to a certain extent on fire ants, but only to an extent. After the first rain or even heavy dew it loses effectiveness. I've tried it for the ants many times. April and May are the dryest months in Florida and that's when it's at its most effective. Come June and the start of the rainy season it's worthless. I do like it though for my feed room where it stays dry. I powder the floor with it then put my feed cans in.

Here is some info on them: http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/urban/ants/red_imported_fire_ant.htm

.....Alan.

 

[fastpat]

Boo-Boo's Mama :

Quote:
There is a difference in Fire Ants and Red Ants; Fire Ants are not an ant.

I use DE on the beds I find but usually I don't even see them before I'm covered in them and being stung. With the chicks digging I am concerned they might dig into a bed of them and be covered. I have heard they have killed small animals; our small dog has problems with them when she is with me in the garden.

I just wondered if anyone who lives where Fire Ants are common had any experience with them and their chicks.

Peggy

Fire Ants are ants, but a unique variety, unfortunately we have then here. They don't bite, they actually sting. I suspect they're closely related to wasps. When they get on me or my wife, every sting develops a blister and the sting site stays red for at least 6 weeks. They can overwhelm small animals, I wouldn't take a chance that the chicks, or even full grown chickens, can eat them fast enough to win a contest with a full sized ant colony.​

 

[Boo-Boo's Mama]

Doggone, a very trusted friend told me they were a wasp.

My husband develops a white pustule where they bite him.

We are very dry here on the western edge of West Texas so we do not have the mounds you see where there is more rain. That is why it is difficult to tell there is a colony of them...too many times I will be working in the garden and suddenly my foot is burning and realize I have disturbed a bed of them.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Here's an info source from TAMU that you might find useful: http://fireant.tamu.edu/

.....Alan.

 

[patnjess]

Boo-Boo's Mama :

Doggone, a very trusted friend told me they were a wasp.

My husband develops a white pustule where they bite him.

We are very dry here on the western edge of West Texas so we do not have the mounds you see where there is more rain. That is why it is difficult to tell there is a colony of them...too many times I will be working in the garden and suddenly my foot is burning and realize I have disturbed a bed of them.

yeah the pustules are classic of them, i've tried everything!!! WE are over run, and those little suckers hurt so freaking bad its unreal!​