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

[Sea Wolf]

You will find that diatomaceous earth is useless and does not work for most things that people recommend it for. It can even cause the death of your birds. What you need is permethrin powder/dust. Just look at the container and see what the ingredient is. It is sold as many things including poultry dust to put on the chickens and flea powder for your dog. Find it and powder the mound and the area around it in a circle. Would work best if you could temporarily circle the area off with some wire to keep the birds from scratching it all up. The Fire And Dust might be a stronger concentration of it but I almost doubt it. Any farm/feed store should have containers of the poultry dust. Dust your chickens completely with it. Make sure you work it all through the feathers to the skin don't just shake it on them. Also dump a bunch of it into where the birds take a dust bath. This will kill off any ants that crawl on the birds to sting them as well as get rid of/prevent any lice, mites or any other bug from attacking them. Powder any other mounds around the yard to get rid of those too. It is harmless to the chickens and other animals. Cats can be sensitive to concentrations of it though.

 

[Myheartsezyes]

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 have the same issue I was told to use grits but that was for around my house I don’t know if it is ok for chickens

 

[RebelMoose]

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!!

Fire ants are protein feeders. I've seen people say they pour boiling water down the holes, and some people make a living by pouring liquid aluminum in them, let it cool, and pull it out to make fantastic sculptures that sell for some pretty big $$$s. We chemically control them, but you wouldn't want that stuff anywhere near your flocks or your food.

 

[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

 

[Cluckminster Fuller]

After using diatomaceous earth, I scrape the top layers of the mound off and do another treatment, hoping to gradually get closer to the queen. I have wondered about mixing it with sugar to make it more appealing to the workers to carry in to the queen, but I haven't tried that or heard anyone else who has.

 

[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]

Hope this was helpful.

Yes it was very helpful, thank you. People spend BIG money on those stupid traps from the store, that sometimes are nothing more than sugar water and a tap of yeast etc. This shows folks they can make their own, they are re usable, over and over again, and cost a tiny fraction of the garbage you get in the stores.

Aaron

 

[lavacaw]

A mix of Dawn dishwashing detergent, orange oil and water poured on the mounds works for fireants and is totally safe! Pour it on the mounds. Something in the orange oil stops up their breathing and the dawn acts as a sticking agent. Use it on and around plants all the time. Kills the mounds not just moves them.

 

[CluckerFamily]

I just heard that salt water will kill ants because it dries out their exoskeleton. Boil water, add table salt until it all dissolved, pour into a squirt bottle.

 

[CannedMonster]

Once you get the fire ants under control you could look into First Saturday Lime as a repellent. It’s completely safe around pets, livestock and kids and I’ve used it to repel insects from areas I don’t want them and it works really good!