Texas

[Dragonfly75]

I've never used DE before, but heck, I'd be willing to try anything once so long as this doesn't happen again.  Finding three otherwise healthy animals dead was a shock and I don't really feel like going through that again.  The poor things must have really suffered.  Ant bites are painful.  I got a couple just trying to dispose of them and my finger is swollen and itchy. 

Thanks for the advice!

Ugh! That is awful! I think the DE will work. You can just sprinkle it on the ground and if the animals eat it, it won't hurt them at all! It's pretty good stuff! Let me know how it works out for you!

 

[magpiesing]

Is anyone else having a problem with ants?

It rained here yesterday and this afternoon, I found one of my rabbits and two of my ducklings dead, covered in ants. The two ducklings were very heavy and healthy, plenty of weight on them. The rabbit was significantly bigger and he was also very healthy. I looked all over for potential causes of death but I can't think of anything else that could of killed them. They were fine this morning but this afternoon I found the rabbit dead. When I went to burn him, I was gone an hour. Came back to the grow out coop and found the two ducklings.

I just about cried. I hurried up and grabbed all the animals that were in there (another rabbit, a nearly full-grown mallard hen and the remaining muscovy duckling, two chicks,three quail, and a broody hen with her gosling) and put them in the larger pen.

I'm not entirely sure how to take care of this issue. I was thinking of just getting boiling water and scalding the ground of the coop. Then maybe laying out some poison for the ants, but in a manner that won't allow the chickens to get to it. I hadn't planned for this, but I guess that's how all of these problems arise.

Sorry for your loss...poor babies. That had to have been horrible. I've read where fire ants have killed calves and other big animals just because of the number of ants.

 

[magpiesing]

I wouldn't put poison down. I would be afraid the chicks and others may get into it. I use DE (diatomaceous earth). It will kill almost any insects. My cousin rented a house and ended up getting bed bugs. I gave her some DE and it killed them. She hasn't had any more problems with bed bugs. My mom gives it to her dogs in their food every day and she has no problems with fleas or ticks on them. I have heard that it will also kill prarsites when ingested in animals and humans. I also put it on my garden to keep the pests from eating my plants. I can buy it here in Amarillo pretty cheap. I got a 50 pound bag for like $25. Anywho that's my 2 cents!

I've read here that many use DE. Didn't know about feeding it to dogs though. It's available at my feed store. Sounds like a good thing to try, better than poison. Will it work to help keep mites away? I put wood ashes and sulfur in their dust bath. but maube the DE would be better.

 

[henless]

Is anyone else having a problem with ants?

It rained here yesterday and this afternoon, I found one of my rabbits and two of my ducklings dead, covered in ants.

So sorry this happened!! Fire ants are awful! I would love to stake the person/people responsible for bringing them here out in a fire ant mound!

Here is an interesting study on fire ants and de.

I wouldn't put poison down. I would be afraid the chicks and others may get into it. I use DE (diatomaceous earth). It will kill almost any insects. My cousin rented a house and ended up getting bed bugs. I gave her some DE and it killed them. She hasn't had any more problems with bed bugs. My mom gives it to her dogs in their food every day and she has no problems with fleas or ticks on them. I have heard that it will also kill prarsites when ingested in animals and humans. I also put it on my garden to keep the pests from eating my plants. I can buy it here in Amarillo pretty cheap. I got a 50 pound bag for like $25. Anywho that's my 2 cents!

I didn't know you could feed it to your dog for flea control! Fleas here are awful! Here are other ways to use DE for fleas.

I've read here that many use DE. Didn't know about feeding it to dogs though. It's available at my feed store. Sounds like a good thing to try, better than poison. Will it work to help keep mites away? I put wood ashes and sulfur in their dust bath. but maube the DE would be better.

A lot of people put DE in their chicken's dust bath, or sprinkle it on them when they have an infestation. If your doing deep litter in your coop, be careful using the de since it will kill all bugs, even the beneficial ones.

 

[Dragonfly75]

My neighbor's chickens had mites and they looked awful. I told her to put the DE on them and after about a week they were much better. You can also put the DE on your animals coat and it will kill fleas and ticks. There was a centipede in my sink the other day and I caught it in a jar and put some DE in the jar and the next day it was dead.

 

[Starfire669]

Is anyone else having a problem with ants? 

It rained here yesterday and this afternoon, I found one of my rabbits and two of my ducklings dead, covered in ants.  The two ducklings were very heavy and healthy, plenty of weight on them.  The rabbit was significantly bigger and he was also very healthy.  I looked all over for potential causes of death but I can't think of anything else that could of killed them.  They were fine this morning but this afternoon I found the rabbit dead.  When I went to burn him, I was gone an hour.  Came back to the grow out coop and found the two ducklings.

I just about cried.  I hurried up and grabbed all the animals that were in there (another rabbit, a nearly full-grown mallard hen and the remaining muscovy duckling, two chicks,three quail, and a broody hen with her gosling) and put them in the larger pen. 

I'm not entirely sure how to take care of this issue.  I was thinking of just getting boiling water and scalding the ground of the coop.  Then maybe laying out some poison for the ants, but in a manner that won't allow the chickens to get to it.  I hadn't planned for this, but I guess that's how all of these problems arise. 

The boiling water would be the safest way to kill the ants. I have also read that used coffee grounds and live mint plants repell ants, something about the oils keep ants away. My flower garden is completely ant free and I poured my coffee grounds and planted mint there, not sure if one of both is why. But I am taking cuttings of my mint to replant around my coops as ant repellant. Fire ants will attack and kill animals, even a tied dog can be killed by fire ants. I'd recommended boiling the ants multiple times, fire ants colonies can have more than one queen and you have to kill the queens to kill the colony. Then I'd plant mint around the coops, pour down used coffee too if you drink it (it's a good fertilizer and the chickens, ducks and geese don't care for the taste). Other people probably have other advice but that's how I would take care of the situation without risking my flock to poison.

 

[Starfire669]

I wouldn't put poison down. I would be afraid the chicks and others may get into it. I use DE (diatomaceous earth). It will kill almost any insects. My cousin rented a house and ended up getting bed bugs. I gave her some DE and it killed them. She hasn't had any more problems with bed bugs. My mom gives it to her dogs in their food every day and she has no problems with fleas or ticks on them. I have heard that it will also kill prarsites when ingested in animals and humans. I also put it on my garden to keep the pests from eating my plants. I can buy it here in Amarillo pretty cheap. I got a 50 pound bag for like $25. Anywho that's my 2 cents!

I put DE in my coop and my chickens dust bath for insect control. For a while, because of all the rains, my coops were fly central. I put the DE down, and fly problem gone, I add more DE weekly.

But DE must remain dry for it to work best. DE would not kill all the ants, and the queens don't leave the colony. The workers bring her food, she stays in a chamber down deep inside the colony. As long as the queen is laying eggs the colony will keep coming back. The queens must die to remove the colony. Putting DE down around a mound would kill many workers, and probably make the colony move. But they might move to somewhere just as bad or worse. It's best to aim to kill the queens and destroy the entire colony.

Feeding DE to dogs is a great way to de-worm them, but I don't think it does anything to fleas and ticks when administered orally. The DE does not absorb into the blood stream, it travels down the dogs stomach and Intestines killing all internal parasites, before being pooped out again. DE is all natural silica (glass) from sea creatures, it works because when an insect walks or crawls over it, the DE slices their bodies up. This leads to fluid loss, basically the insect bleeds to death. The more dry or concentrated the DE the better it works. I think your mom has just gotten lucky with the fleas and ticks, if she is just feeding DE to her dogs. Now if she dusts the dogs in DE, like a chicken taking a dust bath, yes that would kill the buggers.

And when using DE, even food grade DE you must wear a mask. The same properties that make DE an excellent insect control also make it dangerous to breathe or get in your eyes. It will slice our lungs and eyes just as easily as an insect body.

 

[Starfire669]

Wanted to share these pics. My dogs are loving this weather.

 

[Starfire669]

Also having a good time are my Cayuga ducklings. So big now!

 

[MingusChicks]

I've never used DE before, but heck, I'd be willing to try anything once so long as this doesn't happen again.  Finding three otherwise healthy animals dead was a shock and I don't really feel like going through that again.  The poor things must have really suffered.  Ant bites are painful.  I got a couple just trying to dispose of them and my finger is swollen and itchy. 

Thanks for the advice!

The DE is the one of the greatest thing that I have ever purchased from my local feed store. We have been using it on our property as well as our animals for almost 4 yrs now. It really helps keep the Mosquitos down as well after all the rain that we have had. I found out last year that putting 2 tsp in whatever your are drinking twice a day helps with arthritis and allergies.