Found Dead Duckling Covered in Fire Ants

[MapleKehDucks]

This morning the kids went to let the ducks out of the coop and all but one came out. They peeked inside and found one of our 2 week old ducklings dead lying on the floor with fire ants covering its head and neck. This is NOT a small duckling anymore. It was about 16in long stretched from beak to toe. It's neck was pretty beat up and it's eyes were already gone. It was quite disturbing. The only ducks in the coop was Mama duck and her babies, and Mama is acting normally with the 3 remaining kids. Is the mother duck responsible for this or something else? I also found a wasp nest in there which I'm taking care of today... just trying to figure out how this happened. Please note I'm located in South Texas so "cold night temperatures" is not an issue here. Also, my coop has a dirt floor but I could not find an ant mound (so they were coming from outside the coop). Any thoughts? My kids buried "Junior" and covered its grave with wildflowers. They're breaking my heart

 

[Miss Lydia]

If mama is acting normal its just hard to know what could have happened. But aren't fire ants killers I mean if an animal gets stung many times can't it kill them? I believe I'd try an locate that mound and get rid of those ants.

 

[sunshine ducky]

Hello, I am terribly sorry for your unfortunate incident with your duckling. I've researched this species of ant and they are known to take shelter near structures like chicken coops. I would start looking for a mound (the ant hill they reside) in places such as tree stumps or rotting logs. Fire ants and known to create long complex tunnels underground (5-6 feet) so one of the tunnels may be lead into the duck coop you have. An judging by the scene you described the duckling that perished from the attack disturbed a mound this causes a swarm of fire ants to attack it.

My overall recommendation is to first inspect areas outside of the coop. Like I mentioned earlier rotting logs and tree stumps may be where an ant mound is near by. Once you found the mound I would get an ant killer product and sprinkle it around the mound. Try to be as sneaky as possible because you can disturb and trigger the fire ant colony to attack. This is the only method I know to control ant infestations maybe someone else will chime in and add their experience. Oh and lastly and most importantly, inspect the area again where you found the dead duckling there might be a clue of the ant mound or tunnel. I hope everything works out okay.

 

[sunshine ducky]

http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/fire-ant-bites

This article may be useful for your situation.