How to prevent mice and ants in chickens in south Texas

[Krissypa]

Hi! We plan to move here in a few years and my plan is to prep for homesteading in South Texas. My mom moved here and the cut ants killed her garden and all her chickens were infested with ants and mice and hawks took them all. How do people homestead out here! I have 1.5-2 years to learn.... help please!!

 

[cmom]

Predator proof. Research. I had some issues with fire ants. I put permethrin dust on the hills. I don't know if it killed the ants or if they moved on, but they are gone. For my birds, I have treated their coop and the birds with permethrin. It works. I use the concentrate and mix it with water. I use the poultry dust in the nest boxes. The bonus is there is no egg withdrawal period. Good luck...

 

[Alaskan]

Hi! We plan to move here in a few years and my plan is to prep for homesteading in South Texas. My mom moved here and the cut ants killed her garden and all her chickens were infested with ants and mice and hawks took them all. How do people homestead out here! I have 1.5-2 years to learn.... help please!!

Well. Wow.

I grew up in Texas, but never had trouble with cutter ants. Had to look them up.

https://citybugs.tamu.edu/factsheets/landscape/ants/ent-1002/

The above is a good article. The upshot I got is with cutter ants you are screwed (regular chemicals aren't that effective and need to be used lots to get any effect, and the only truly effective chemical is super nasty and should not be used close to crops or any edible stuff) ... but there is no reason they would touch or bother your chickens.

Fire ants will mess with chickens.. but those do respond to permethrin, or just a pot of boiling water on their mound every day.

Hawks require a roofed and/or netted run.

Mice... if you use sturdy and small hole hardware cloth, you can fence them out of the pen.

Also, in south Texas, I would make a huge wire, roofed, predator proof run. Skip the coop.

A couple of of walls or shutters that you can pop in for 3 sides around the perches for when a hurricane blows the wind sideways would be good for occasional use.

But in your case, a breeze over the perches is a very good thing.

Also, the mediterranen breeds with the huge combs will handle the heat the best. Lucky for you, those tend to be fantastic egg layers.