Virginia

[MistyMountain]

Are you sure they were fire ants? I lived in Vidalia, Georgia in the 1980s and we had lots of fire ants there. From what I understood then is that fire ants had not migrated into Virgina or North Carolina because the winters were too cold for them. Since it has been more than a few years since the 1980s, your post sparked my curiosity. Fire ants are brutal and can be very dangerous. They will pour out of a nest and crawl onto an interloper and all begin to sting at once. From what I understand, the toxin in the fire ant sting is similar to the brown recluse spider in that it kills flesh on contact.

We have many ant varieties in Virginia but as I noted above, I have never heard of fire ants in Virginia. BTW, I live all the way in the top of Virginia where Maryland & West Virginia come together with Virginia and there are absolutely no fire ants up here.

Got curious---- http://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/plant&pest/fireant.shtml

 

[Spazzy]

Found this listed on craigslist.

CHICKEN SWAP SUNDAY JULY 6TH 10 AM TO 3 PM COME JOIN SESROH TACK SHOPPE AT 1408 SOUTH CHURCH STREET IN SMITHFIELD THE FIRST SUNDAY OF EVERY MONTH. VENDORS WELCOME (NO SIGN UP NEEDED) WE ASK AS ALWAYS THAT YOU BRING SHADE AND WATER FOR YOUR STOCK. SET UP BEGINS AT 9 A.M..

 

[Spazzy]

Found this as well from the 20th

Free Chickens (va beach) condition: new Hello, I have some nice chickens that i need to get rid of. good birds and lots of em. got american game bantams, rhode island reds , and some hamburgs. available most times call when ever, hard of hearing might need to call a few times or text names Montell 757- 633-4962

 

[Spazzy]

Yeah we've had fire ants here ever since I was transferred here in 1990...

 

[ki4got]

speaking of ants, the only ones I have issues with are the big black carpenter ants... they don't bother the chickens or chicks, but do nest in anything even remotely wood-related.

found a bunch yesterday, called the turkeys over and they made short work of the ant grubs. similar situation on the popup camper. set it up last night, there's a huge nest of them under one of the mattresses. fortunately they don't harm anything, just between the 2 layers. going to use a small shop-vac on them and then dump it in the yard for the chickens to clean up.

 

[vahomesteaders]

I dont know if they are fire ants or not but we have seen several very large mounds of huge red ants both here and Wv. And the Shenandoah national park says they have themwhich is in my backyard. The mounds are about 2 feet around and a foot high. And those jokers are mean.

 

[suyoder]

So what can be used to kill a colony? Does gasoline poured over the nest take care of them?

 

[suyoder]

edit

 

[ki4got]

So what can be used to kill a colony? Does gasoline poured over the nest take care of them?

any kind of ant bait will work.

 

[ridinshotgun]

So what can be used to kill a colony? Does gasoline poured over the nest take care of them?

If it is a true fire ant colony you are never going to kill the entire colony. You are only going to be able to control them.

Boiling water works much better than gasoline when applied directly to the nest.

Texas A&M has done a lot of research on IFA control:

http://fireant.tamu.edu/controlmethods/

Here is an extension page on IFA control:

http://www.extension.org/pages/1434...step-method-and-other-approaches#.U62u4bGsIqI