I had too many visitors (graphic pics)

[PurpleChicken]

Not a fun day for you. Like many others I'm surprised the fire ants attacked
chickens. We dealt with them when we lived in Georgia but those Texan
Fire Ants must be really tough.

Best of luck with your battle.

 

[Ace_king_brahma]

Quote:
I'm going to try and put some poison down along the walls in that room too. I was just worried about spraying in there and also calling in a exterminator since most of the chemicals will probably effect my mealworms and crickets.

Quote:
Thanks for the well wishes everyone. I am really getting tired of these fire ants. I found a mound which they were coming from the outside to the inide and sprayed that down. I have yet to see any activity from the mound anymore but I still have ants coming in from somewhere else.

But for the time being I'm no longer losing chicks or ducklings to them.

 

[playingchicken]

We have a ton of fire ants on our new property (and I have 3 small children) so I have been researching methods to eradicate them.

The most-often cited way is called, appropriately enough, The Texas-Two Step.
http://fireant.tamu.edu/management/twostep.cfm

Good luck.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

That's aweful, Ace. I'm sorry to hear that. Of all predators, ants. I would prefer my stuff taken by anything and everything else. What an aweful way to die. We have so many darn things we have to protect our birds from, how in the world are we suppose to protect them from ants?

Beautiful snake, sorry it got a hold of your quail.

You've just been getting hit from all sides in the last week haven't you? First your broad-breasted female and now all this. When it rains, it pours. It's okay, you'll be back in business before you know it.

-Kim

 

[chickens4jojo]

What a day~~I didn't know ants would do that to a live bird.

I am so sorry for all the losses you had.

 

[greeneggsandham]

So sorry for the loss of your babies. Hugs.

 

[Acre of Blessings]

SO Sory About Your Hen

 

[Ace_king_brahma]

Thanks everyone. I wound up having to respray as I missed a few spots and I have ants still hanging around under the cage I plan to put my turkey poults in. I managed to save the mealworms and crickets. I moved them to the room that I had sprayed the day before and forgot them in there overnight. The invading ants must have crawled out to make their way back to the nest and got poisoned along the way.

And yeah Kim it really has rained this week on me. I had a rabbit that escaped my hutch. I think the "little neighbors" behind me came over and played with them and left the latch open. The little dutch cross got out though her mother and sister just sat looking horrified at the open door and the world beyond the threshhold. They were still sitting still and staring at the door when i got home. I closed it and put a lock on my cages now. I thought the little bun was gone for sure. This morning after working on spraying I came home and she was sitting right in front of the goat pen eating grass. I scooped her up with a net and she is safely home again. My first streak of good luck this week!

 

[aerontg]

For anyone that has never been stung by a fire ant, here's my experience. You'll never think of them as 'just ants' again.

When my brother and I were 6 and 4 years old (I was the oldest) we were kidnapped from the state of Kentucky and taken to our biological father's family in Florida. We were found and brought home by the FBI after over a month of absence. That was in 1978, I think. Anyway....

One day my brother and I were trying to catch lizards on a tree, both of us were standing around the base of the tree. I don't remember the attack, but I remember family members coming out, throwing me to the ground and stripping all my clothes off. What had happened was that I was STANDING IN A FIRE ANT COLONY HILL.

Of course my father had to be careful in identifying who I was to the emergency room personnel. I can remember at least a month of constant pain around both ankles. I remember having to walk on the heels of my feet because I couldn't bend them. I had literally had both feet stung into oblivion. They had my feet up in the air when sleeping at night. Night after night I would cry because of the pain.

That's my story of fire ants, and I hope no one else has to go through that.

 

[Ace_king_brahma]

Yup, horrible little things! I've been poisoning mounds lately. We finally got rain these past few weeks and now the ants are everywhere! I have stepped on a few hidden mounds and/or lifted some debris to find them swarming my hands it is very painful indeed!