Pest of the Month: Little black ants...

[Lunachick]

Does anyone know how to get rid of these little guys? I CAN'T USE POISON! My brooder is close by. The ants are crawling all over my counter and sink area up the walls and around my kitchen window. I tried sprinkling cinnamon around and I have 3 of those ant traps that have the borax in them, but it's been over a week now and they keep coming back! Anyone got other ideas?

BTW my kitchen is REALLY CLEAN. My daughter has OCD and she's the cleaner!

 

[The Chicken Lady]

Do you know where they're coming into the house? That would be my first item of business. You may need to do some caulking or redo some weatherstripping somewhere.

 

[Chickenteacher]

My sister told me once to wipe all my cabinets with vinegar....

 

[Lunachick]

No Chicken Lady I can't seem to find anything outside, no trail. And they're not under my sink, I can't figure it out!

Maybe I'll try the vinegar! Thanks....Chickenteacher.

 

[77horses]

My dad has a surface cleaner with bleach in it and that's what he uses to help keep ants away. Every year, A LOT of those tiny black ones start coming right when it begins to warm up.

Bleach is supposed to get rid of any smell from food that the ants can pick up. And my dad said that ants leave a scent trail so that others can follow it to a certain place where there's food. So the bleach is supposed to ruin that trail, too.
I've heard that vinegar works well, too.

 

[ghillie]

Get some Boric acid powder from the pharmacy, it should be with the antacids and such. Mix some with powdered sugar (teaspoon of each) and add water to make a paste. Put it where they can get to it. They will eat it and carry it back to the nest. Takes a few days but should clear up the problem......

http://alsnetbiz.com/homeimprovement/boricdirections.html

 

[Southernbelle]

I use 1 tsp of Borox in about a cup of jelly and it kills them - Borax is the same as the active ingrediant in most ant poisons. I usually tuck a plate of this under the furniture, inside a cabinet or on the counter - it keeps it away from my other pets and the ants find it and signal to the others where it is and they all go have some and take it back to the queen - within 24 hours you'll see a drastic reduction in ants and within 72 hours you won't see any.

 

[Chicken Fruit]

BugStop, or a seven spray. both are non-toxic (theyre an irrtant while wet, but will not kill you) bug stop leaves an invisible residue that is non-toxic that bugs wont walk over.

I use bug stop and never have to deal with ants. Just scoot or cover the brooder while you spray a line around the doors and windows and up the walls where they like to crawl.

 

[key west chick]

We have them too, always called them piss ants. They are all over my kitchen . I think I will try the vinegar stuff.

 

[scarter]

We've used baby powder before. Just lay it across their paths for a while. We put it on our thresholds inside and out and then a bunch from where we had them coming in. We've been lucky in this country house. No ants but we have box elder bugs.