I had too many visitors (graphic pics)

[MissPrissy]

* shiver *

 

[chasot]

I think I saw a tv show years ago where they had a truck( like a roofer's tar truck)
that had a long hose and a big stainless probe that the operator pushed in the mound and steamed the daylights out of them.

I also think it was in TX.?

Chas

 

[kbarrett]

My in-laws used to winter in TX. Their favorite spot was Inks Lake State Park near Burnett. We used to visit quite a bit (I love that place! ) So my MIL claimed that the population of armadillos was dramatically decreased from when they lived on base in TX years before. She said the park rangers told her that fire ants were the culprits.

Ace, I'm sorry for your loss! I hope you're get rid of those nasty buggers!

 

[Miltonchix]

Fire ants are to ant species what killer bees are to bee species. They are voracious predators that attack in hoards when they feel at all threatened. Just being near them is enough for them to feel threatened. I always have a sting or two healing somewhere on my feet and ankles.
I've been lucky as far as my chickens go. Evidently the ants taste good because I've seen, on many occasions, where the chickens will intentionally stand in the ants and pick them off their feet and legs. I guess thats easier than chasing them.

It has been an exceptionally bad year for them. I put out some bait stations recently with limited success. All the old-timers from around here still swear by gasoline. Find a main colony and douse it with about $4.00 worth. (gallon

) Yes, it is illegal. No, I don't do it, YET. I have grandkids coming to stay and may have to.

 

[rebbetzin]

Have you tried Amdro??? It is a granual that you put around the ant hill and on the trails. The ants take it back to the hill, and it kills the queen. I use it for leaf cutter ants, but it says it kills fire ants.

 

[Miltonchix]

Quote:
You don't want to use AMDRO if you let your chickens forage. The granules look too much like food to chickens. If you have to use it you should lock 'em up for at least 7 to 10 days.
I use AMDRO in my front and it works great. I just don't want to have to lock up "the girls" for 2 weeks so........I have fire ants.

 

[Jenski]

OMG! I have never heard such a thing, Ace_king! What an awful way to start any day! I am so sorry. Although you surely have a longer row to hoe than I do with regard to ants, in Mid-TN I have had good luck controlling them around my pen with a solid perimeter ring of DE, as well as treating the dirt floor of the pen . . . and the coop shavings. I definitely noticed a difference last summer after I started doing this, as the ants had previously been attracted to the goodies I was leaving out for the girls (esp. the melon). Now I have hardly an ant around.

I know you will have to treat your area more intensively where the ants actually live, but the DE might help around the chix themselves. I have also had good luck in outer, non-chicken areas treating with a permethrin spray I got at the local co-op and mixed myself. It has a residual of about 3 weeks, shorter if we get lots of rain.

Best of luck, and again, sorry for an awful loss.


Jen in TN

 

[chickiepoo]

My sympathies as well. What an awful way for anything to die! I am apt to let ANYTHING live except a fireant. My favorite way to kill them is with DE. Number one it doesn't hurt the other critters and two)( very close to one) I get to watch the little buggers writhe and die when the DE hits 'em! I usually hit the mound with the weed-eater or stomp it with my foot and then let loose with the sifter all around and on top of the mound. They don't all die...I get to do it again where ever they move.

 

[lengel]

Quote:
You don't want to use AMDRO if you let your chickens forage. The granules look too much like food to chickens. If you have to use it you should lock 'em up for at least 7 to 10 days.
I use AMDRO in my front and it works great. I just don't want to have to lock up "the girls" for 2 weeks so........I have fire ants.

Amdro is the wonder poison. I would find the entrance to the mound and put the granules in a dish nearby before I went to bed at night. The next morning I would pick up the dish but invariably all of the Amdro would be gone. They take them like they're candy. The ants take it back to the colony and it kills everyone including the queens within days. You do have to be careful but I don't think any more so than other poisons. Just don't scatter the granules around and make sure all of your animals are locked up at night. It doesn't take much at all. I swear by this stuff and it's now available at Sam's Club (yay!).

 

[Ace_king_brahma]

I have the ant situation at the shop handled. I have been applying Ortho Max and the ants are under control. I'm clearing the ones in the yard that are in high "traffic" areas of the yard.