How do I kill ants in and around chicken coop?

[Bryce Thomas]

So outside of the coop ants have bored through plastic and getting into massive 50lbs feed bags and inside the coop have made mounds so big it makes olympus mons look like a joke and they get into both my treadle feeders and my chickens wont do anything about them.

I have done everything the elder chicken owners say, drown em with water they come back with even bigger mounds

I walk over them with shoes that just aggravates them and after doing that I have over 20 painful sores over my feet and legs

Im thinking about ant poison (for ants outside the coop and run) but I don't want them taking the poison and walking into the run or coop then one of my chickens ingest the poison. What should I do?

Also, yes I have used the 1:1 water and white vinegar stuff but that only kills aphids and other pest which is good but it doesn't kill all the ants and they rebuild so its a big problem for me

 

[cmom]

I spray permethrin. It is an insecticide that is safe for use on poultry and it has worked for me.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Aardvark

 

[gila_dog]

When I was a kid we had a patio area made of big flat flag stones. Some red harvester ants (not the same as fire ants) moved in under one of the stones, set up a happy colony, and would attack anybody who tried to sit around on the patio. I wiped them out by dribbling a basketball on their rock. They swarmed out from under the rock and tried attacking the ball and they got smashed by the hundreds. I did that several times, and in a week or so I had wiped them all out. We sure knew how to have fun back in those days!

 

[SandyRiverChick]

DE. Kills ants and other stuff, Chicken and Aardvark safe..........

 

[Eggs_Over_EZ]

I too am in Florida and we have multiple types of ants. With the heat and humidity spiking the week the ants are coming out from the woodwork. I have found that FIS grade DE helps. It does not kill them but is will move them elsewhere. Except for using poison you do not kill the colonies altogether you just make is unpleasant to stay so they will move to another area if your yard. It works for me. Also we had fire ants in SC when we raised chickens previously and we saw our chickens eating them ao they are a deterrent themselves . As far as feed, you must put them it in a container. We prefer metal as we found the rodent will it chew through like with plastic and did not have bug issues either as we used bungee cords to keep them sealed. I expect it will work in Florida as well.

 

[Penpal]

Cornmeal and sugar in equal amounts. Just enough water to moisten. They love the sugar, but the corn kills them. They will bring it back to the nest so everyone can enjoy it.

 

[Eggs_Over_EZ]

I have never used DE as a barrier. I place directly on the hills and as long as it does not rain immediately afterwards I have found the ants move away. They like to hang by my stepping stones so I use it there and around my raised beds.

 

[Nym]

I've not had ants in the coop, so I can't say this is chicken safe, but I use baby powder on my front steps and dry garden areas where ants have been a bother for years! I had to run from the mailbox at one stage, so each day I took the powder with me and covered the ground. I haven't had ants there for years now.

 

[Eggs_Over_EZ]

Active ingredients for Andro is hydramethylnon used as an insecticide for control of ants and cockroaches.