Michigan

[teeville5]

HH- wow. Glad your girl was able to get away!

I had a chicken go bazonkers today, too. Only it was Gomer the roo. I thought I heard a chicken just squawking away from the mudroom. They tend to follow the cats in through their door so I looked in and there he was staring down the three cats that were snuggling in the cat bed. Silly little guy.

 

[sarah92480]

 

[Opa]

I was going to offer words of greeting and encouragement on this fine Sunday morning. Then I realized what time it is. I'm going back to bed

 

[Mom 2em All]

Good Morning, second -time around, Sam!

I am up, have been up. I have to go to a meeting at work from 8-12.
Thank you Sam for reminding me that it is Palm Sunday. That sure wasnt very nice of my company to make Palm Sunday a mandatory meeting day.

My dogs and the neighbors dogs have been barking all morning. Dont know what is out there making its rounds- but I sure hope I find everyone ok once the sun comes up. Right now I can hear a dog out front that I dont recognize- perhaps a stray is who everyone has been barking at.

I need help. Ants have taken over my house. Never ever have we ever had this bad of an ant problem. I bought ant traps/bait stuff but they havent touched them, or else they dont work. I fed my cats and dogs this morning- and everyone was ready to eat..but when I put down their bowls nobody would eat. So, I examined closer- ants. ALL over the food. (hows THAT for teasing my animals!) They have invaded my kitchen counter, my bathroom counter, the top of my washer, and dryer. Even my computer desk.

I live on a slab house with a crawlspace and there is a ton of dirt under the house. Cant get under the house. They made the crawlspace for very tiny munchin humans. The back of my house- half way is covered by a deck that you can not get under either- its blocked off by lattice. So, I cant really spray the perimeter of my house. Because we apparently live on top of an ant hill that is unreachable. I also have wood floors in three-quarters of the house. Not real wood floors. Wood floors meaning the carpet was thirtyfive years old, so I ripped it out. Have never gotten new because of dogs/kids/etc. I want to put in hardwood floors or the fake hardwood flooring, but havent been able to afford it. So, you can get splinters in your feet from my house.

Knowing these facts, what would you suggest I do to get rid of these ants? They are taking over everything.

 

[Opa]

When trying to get rid of ants you don't want to kill them. You want them to kill their buddies and then commit suicide. This is accomplished by feeding them a poison the they carry back to their nests. One commercial product that I have used with success if AMDRO Ant Block. I recently used some on some slab ant and was surprised at how quickly I saw results.

Homemade solutions can work as well. One is the use of Nutri-Sweet (aspartame) Empty a packet where the ants travel. It is a neuro-toxin and sweet loving ants love it.

Borax mixed 3:1 with sugar and a little water is an excellent homemade bait/poison. Use small plastic lidded containers with holes drilled in the sides to hold the bait and keep your pets and free ranging birds out of it.

Since some ants love sugars and some ants prefer proteins, you might want to mix borax with peanut butter to make sure you have something for each type.

 

[M.sue]

Good Morning Everybody........Let the day begin!

I have so much that I want to accomplish today. Yesterday was a ho-hum day, got very little done. Why is it that it always seems just as soon as you get one thing completed something else gets added to the list? Life.

When trying to get rid of ants you don't want to kill them. You want them to kill their buddies and then commit suicide. This is accomplished by feeding them a poison the they carry back to their nests. One commercial product that I have used with success if AMDRO Ant Block. I recently used some on some slab ant and was surprised at how quickly I saw results.

Homemade solutions can work as well. One is the use of Nutri-Sweet (aspartame) Empty a packet where the ants travel. It is a neuro-toxin and sweet loving ants love it.

Borax mixed 3:1 with sugar and a little water is an excellent homemade bait/poison. Use small plastic lidded containers with holes drilled in the sides to hold the bait and keep your pets and free ranging birds out of it.

Since some ants love sugars and some ants prefer proteins, you might want to mix borax with peanut butter to make sure you have something for each type.

When we had a case of ants a few years ago my DH used the Borax solution.....worked great! If you know where the nest is you can put the solution there too (minus the water added)....they drop dead almost instantly.

Hillbilly........what a lucky gal you have there!

Chickengrandma.....glad you found a nice loving home for your parakeets.

 

[taprock]

Morning. Haven't had my coffee yet so I feel asleep still.

Mom sorry about your chick,

HH - yea for your girl!

RIRJen - love your picture!

I also love the story teeville. I can see some of my roosters doing that!

Yesterday my little d'Uccle, Socks was harassing everyone so I decided to treat him like a baby and carried him around for a while. I wish I had been able to get a picture of some of the looks he gave me! I don't think it did any good. Anyone need a d'Uccle roo who is sweet but thinks he's a big boy going after the standard hens - who just don't give him any respect.

Off to the coffee!

 

[chicken grandma]

Good Morning Michigan!

Thanks everyone for the encouraging words about the parakeets. The adoptive family emailed me this morning and said that their tween age girls cannot stop smiling and the birds are peaceful.

Mom 2 - please let us know what works on the ants. And if I worked for your employer, I would refuse to go in. I would be very offended to be required to work on a Sunday morning unless I was in a position of service to others. A meeting does not seem appropriate for Sunday a.m. I could be o.k. with Sunday afternoon but Sunday a.m. seems very thoughtless.

Sarah - where did you get the photo of the broodie hen on the puppy? I would love to forward that to my daughter.

I am trying to write my first paper for my masters degree. I have that feeling again of trying to squeeze myself into a little box. I have pages of written notes and ideas for my paper but instead of handwriting or typing a paper like I did in college 30 years ago, I am sitting at the computer trying to fit my ideas into the APA format. Sigh.....I am not a researcher. I am a 'hands on' person. I tend to do things rather than write about them. Sigh....

 

[Opa]

please let us know what works on the ants.

Sarah - where did you get the photo of the broodie hen on the puppy? I would love to forward that to my daughter.

The methods I suggested are very effective, but expect some unhappy ants.


You only need right click on the picture and you will be able to save it to a file that you can copy into an email

 

[chicken grandma]

Thank you Opa!