How the heck do I get rid of fire ants inside the chicken run?? 😱😱😱

[Brooks_]

Just get some dust and sprinkle it on every mound you find. Do you know what they look like? We’re on 2 acres in NC so fire ants are part of life. The chickens seem to naturally avoid the mounds (so do my dogs) but we don’t want them around. I take the dust with me when I mow the lawn and when I come across a mound I sprinkle it. Very easy and def doesn’t cost a small fortune!

I know what they look like. I've used pounds and pounds of Amdro (pre chickens) and still have them. The best I can do is keep them at bay. My chicks have been seen walking on mounds. Maybe immune like possums are to snake venom? Small fortune to eradicate where I live.

 

[Jld13]

Are you in the US? I believe my husband gets this at either WalMart or Lowes

Yes thank you!! I will go today!

 

[Jld13]

DE (diatomaceous earth) it's great for chickens--you put some in the dust bath and a bit in their food--it kills ALL shell-bearing bugs--including ants (specifically, intestinal worms, mites, ticks, fleas, etc). DE literally slices their shells in half. and, it's totally safe. Other than, you want to keep the dust at bay or let it settle--that it generates when distributing it--because the dust can seriously aggravate the chicken's eyeballs. But, I've never had a problem with it and it's worked great for ridding of ants and other beetle bugs.

Thank you for the suggestion. I’ve tried DE without success. The fire ants just don’t care

 

[2theranch]

I’ve been battling against all different kinds of ants and I’m losing the fight, especially the fire ants!! I shovel the feed that falls almost daily and have recently changed to a pellet feed/new feeder which does help some. I see them all over the ground and don’t want my feather babies compromised. It’s so hot here in the desert that I do mist the run several times a day, so that gives them (ants) water I only gives treats now by hand and pick up any that they didn’t eat. What the heck can I do? I see the fire ant mounds starting inside the run versus outside. I’ve done gallons of vinegar and used diatomaceous earth without success. Any help is greatly appreciated!!

I’ve been battling against all different kinds of ants and I’m losing the fight, especially the fire ants!! I shovel the feed that falls almost daily and have recently changed to a pellet feed/new feeder which does help some. I see them all over the ground and don’t want my feather babies compromised. It’s so hot here in the desert that I do mist the run several times a day, so that gives them (ants) water I only gives treats now by hand and pick up any that they didn’t eat. What the heck can I do? I see the fire ant mounds starting inside the run versus outside. I’ve done gallons of vinegar and used diatomaceous earth without success. Any help is greatly appreciated!!

We use orange oil to pour on mounds. It is safe and effective. Must be diluted and large mounds will need treating more than once as there are several queens in one mound. South TX is overrun with them and you can never eradicate them as they are no longer invasive but considered established. Only good thing about them is they eat ticks.

 

[Ascholten]

Some carefully heated DiHydrogenMonoxide will get rid of them pretty well, but you have to be VERY careful, as that can kill your birds AND YOU !! It evaporates pretty quick, but can cause issues if you let it pool and don't control it. Chickens, well what can I say, they will try to drink it on you if you are not careful. They don't know what's good / bad / too much, so have to make sure they don't get into it too much.

Everyone is an expert at what will work and what wont work with plenty of testimony on the fact. You have been given a lot of ideas here, try them and see what works for you. What may work in my setup, may not do well in yours.

Good luck.
Aaron

 

[steveonCapeCod]

I’ve been battling against all different kinds of ants and I’m losing the fight, especially the fire ants!! I shovel the feed that falls almost daily and have recently changed to a pellet feed/new feeder which does help some. I see them all over the ground and don’t want my feather babies compromised. It’s so hot here in the desert that I do mist the run several times a day, so that gives them (ants) water I only gives treats now by hand and pick up any that they didn’t eat. What the heck can I do? I see the fire ant mounds starting inside the run versus outside. I’ve done gallons of vinegar and used diatomaceous earth without success. Any help is greatly appreciated!!

I make my own "ant trap" and it seems to work for every kind of ant. I start by taking a margarine tub (cleaned and washed). I melt a few holes on each side about an inch up from the bottom. I do this by heating up a nail and it will melt about 4 or 5 holes before it needs to be reheated.
I make a mixture of 1/2 cup of sugar, 1+1/2 Tablespoons of Borax, 1+1/2 cups of warm water. I use an old plastic soda bottle for this. Shake the mixture till the sugar and borax are dissolved.
Put cotton balls in the bottom of the margarine tub and pour in the mixture to a little bit below the lowest hole.
Put the tub near the ants. Ants should be totally gone in a couple of days.
I don't know if the mixture is harmful to chicken, so I would keep them out of run while the trap is there.
I use this technique for ants on my driveway and walkway. Nothing seems to bother the traps. But I have never had the problem near the coop. - Better safe than sorry.
Hope this was helpful.

 

[Ascholten]

A friend sprinkled that stuff on an anthill. he used the ortho brand, probably the same thing, yes it smells like straight up ass. Followed directions, and one of his girls, seen the dead ants in the hill we guess, and feasted, you could see where she dug a bit, and died two days later. He said he could tell she was poisoned a few hours after she got caught on the mound, but there was nothing he could do.

I use the ortho in the front yard, it works wonders on the little sob's, but in the back yard where the girls can get to it, I cover the area I sprinkled with a burlap sack and put a cinder block on top of that to keep them absolutely OUT of it, after seeing what happened to Mikes chicken.

Make several steps to ensure they can NOT get into it, dig in it,eat anything around it etc etc.

Also, just a heads up. The nature of fire ants, their mounds can be HUGE, you may only see a bit on top but it can have 40k bastards down in it and another 40k eggs spreading a few feet !! So if you think you can just tappy tap a tinkle sprinkle from a tiny baby teaspoon on them,... think again.

Typically when you poison them, you'll kill about 80 percent, they will split up and tend to form smaller mounds 5 to 10 feet out from the original one, so you may need to watch very carefully for this, and hit it again, sometimes 3 to 4 times to finally be rid of that mound entirely,.

Also, some info that may nor may not be useful. Their bites last year were very potent, this year they don't seem too bad (or maybe me having bees now and being stung some times made me a bit immune to it, dunno) .. either way it is NOT a joke, while you may survive the blister, pus pimples etc, if that is on a foot etc it CAN infect, and you get a staph set in there, NOW you have a problem.

Aaron

 

[Ascholten]

First i heard of tumeric.

I got a few hills out front.
I am going to try one with some tumeric see what it does and another with de.

does the tumeric kill or just drive them away? need a kill shot here, not just a goto the neighbors yard.

Aaron

 

[Brooks_]

pet safe fire ant dust.

Does that exist?

 

[Jld13]

You have to find the mound and kill it with pet safe fire ant dust.

What kind is pet safe?!