Texas

[galanie]

That inch of rain caused the fire ants to show me where they are. Funny, they only make obvious mounds after a rain. Probably the chickens kick them down and they only rebuild when the ground is wet BUT ANYWAY...

For some reason, this drought has seen more fire ants in my yard than I've ever seen before. But the worst was one mound that had a hole I swear a mouse could go down. When I treated it and they started coming out, I thought they were bees, they were so big!

I haven't seen ants that size since I visited a west Texas ranch as a kid! The poison I got was said to be enough to treat 30 some odd mounds, and I used it all up and need more. And that was just the back!

More rain for all of us!

 

[7L Farm]

Well ,quite a nice morning here at 7L. Got two tenths of the miracle grow you know the stuff that comes out of the sky.Sure, enough the hogs showed up & their tearing up the pastures like I need more stuff to do. Tonight will probably get into the high 40's here & will be gladly excepted. What a terrible year this has been for Texas. I'm trying to be positive & hoping for the best for the remaining few months of the year. Pray for rain!!

 

[7L Farm]

I put a thread on Random Rambling for people To pray for Texas> The Lone Star State has been devastated from the lack of rain. It has caused the farmers & the ranchers great devastation. The farmer has lost his crops that he needed to survive, the rancher has had to sell his cattle for they have nothing to eat. I can't even imagine the poor folks who lost their life time dream due to wildfires. I'm asking that we all add a prayer to our signature stating Pray for Rain in Texas. Thanks 7L

 

[Bearing1]

Quote:
Could be the larger than normal FireAnts are Carpenter ants they have one large entrance while the FireAnts have many (you could count the teeth the imported fire ants have more than the normal ants)

In west Tx years ago they did not have the Fire Ants that we have had here for decades I used to work with the USDA on the FireAnt project in the sixties and seventies we tried to erradicate them but the EPA sued us and that was the end of the program.
Be careful around your chicks when using any ant bait or poison some of them are just tasty enough little pellets for them to try out.

 

[vebyrd36]

How is my fellow Texans doing. Well this summer has been bad, we are just trying to keep the fruit trees alive, forget the yards. So we didi get some rain here in west Texas. My problem in the big big preditors coming in. The huge montain lions.

 

[galanie]

Quote:
Could be the larger than normal FireAnts are Carpenter ants they have one large entrance while the FireAnts have many (you could count the teeth the imported fire ants have more than the normal ants)

In west Tx years ago they did not have the Fire Ants that we have had here for decades I used to work with the USDA on the FireAnt project in the sixties and seventies we tried to erradicate them but the EPA sued us and that was the end of the program.
Be careful around your chicks when using any ant bait or poison some of them are just tasty enough little pellets for them to try out.

I used a liquid, the stuff came in a bottle you attach to the hose, and kept them away till I was done and the stuff was soaked in a while. The package had no warnings about keeping animals away or anything but it's poison, after all. It isn't the same chemical that is in the dry Amdro.

Anyway, Carpenter ants? I know what the ants we call Wood Ants or Tree ants look like and have those (and ignore them). These are much fatter and bigger than those. And I do remember seeing huge mounds of just the same ants in west Texas years ago. What do these things do? I've never seen them out until I started pouring diluted poison on their nest so I know nothing of their habits or how detrimental they might be.

 

[Bearing1]

galannie

I used to be a wealth of knowledge on fireants but I remember a little bit

Fire Ants emerge from the whole mound as it is perforated with exit holes where other ants usually pour out of a single and larger hole
Also the wonderful fire ant stings are more deadly than a rattle snake but luckily you get a very small dose so it only stings a bit a forms a nasty swelling.
They do on occasions kill small and even larger animals when they swarm on the new born or weak.
If you get lots of them on you at once it seems they all bite around the same time. A not very pleasant creature. The only enemy I have seen is the Armadillo and not very many of them around.
The reason for no real natural enemy is that they are not native to North America they were imported from South America years ago in shipments of plants and flowers into Louisana and have now spread out coast to coast. Each year they acclimate themselves to colder weather so slowly move north as well. Years back there used to be a bait called Mirex they targeted only Fireants it was so good that at one time we eliminated them from Miss,Ala and Fla but since the removal of Mirex from the market they have returned with a vengeance. Now you treat your yard and they move to your neighbors for a while.
A fire ant nest can extend for a 100' ft or more and connect mounds through a network of tunnels, also there used to be 1 queen per mound now there there is often more than 1 which means more rapid multiplication of their numbers. Kill the queens and the mounds die.
If I knew as much about chickens as I do about Fireants I would be OK

 

[galanie]

Quote:
Thank you for the fire ant info. You confirmed what I suspect about the little fire ants, especially about the nest extending so far. What I really wanted to know though was if you knew anything about those huge ants? The ones you call carpenter ants?

Yes, they have removed a lot of very good and effective things from the market since the DDT scare. I remember Mirex and a few other really good things that I only wish I'd hoarded or something lol. I'm a big believer in organics but I'm also realistic when it comes to certain things. There are things out there for which no good natural or organic solutions exist and sometimes I just have to bite it and use what's effective, like it or not. These fire ants are completely out of control and I have to do something. At this point I'd even consider a nuke!

ETA: The baits are completely useless. Including Amdro's bait. The high-smelling amdro powder? Might as well sprinkle it with Sevin for all the good that does. Only soaking the nest and whole area with something seems to do any good at all.

 

[galanie]

By the by, a BYC member here is hoping to get a Houston Texas chicken swap going: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=7518876#p7518876

 

[Bearing1]

Galanie
I was a Fireant specialist however the large ants I call Carpenter are very hard to kill I have tried lots of stuff and finally wound up burning them out. It still took a few attempts.
They are real hardy.