What do you use to kill "ants" that is safe for your chickens?

[JanetS]

We live in Florida so we have LOTS of ants. I have been using a mixture of dish soap, white vinegar and water in the run and coop. This does kill them on contact but when you come back 10 minutes later there are more ants. I have tried DE with not to much success. What do you use?


Thanks for you replies.

 

[Ddou102308]

Livestock and poultry dust. Stuff works miracles. Even safe to put in their dust bath for mites, etc. you can get it at feed and supply stores. Only thing I've found to work, and believe me, I've tried it all.

 

[WYNot]

Use the chickens. During the summer we get ants trying to build mounds/nests in the cracks in the driveway cement. The chickens LOVE them. They will tear the mounds apart and eat anything that comes out.

ETA - Just realized that OP said they were in the coop and run. And the chickens don't eat them? The cracks of the driveway are the only safe place around our hens. They can scatter the mound but can't get to the nest because it is down under the cement. Ant hills in the yard get the mound scattered. Then when nothing comes out of the nest, the hens start digging at the nest to get more ants to come out.

 

[WindyHillFarm]

Look to see where the ants are coming from and kill them with kindness. Pour an entire ring of grits or cornmeal around their mound. A lot of them will eat that and die when it expands inside them. Next step is to get one of the giant boxes of baking soda from Costco or Sam's and pour the entire thing onto their nest. That should take care of the rest of them. Note that you might have to repeat this a few times!
If you aren't into eradicating ants, you can try to keep them out by laying a heavy line of cayenne pepper around the perimeter of your coop / run. Reapply it after rain....
Same thing works for keeping ants off plants in the garden. Best of luck!

 

[AA Maple]

Household ammonia melts ants. A bottle of that from the cleaning supply section at the dollar store down an ant mound will square them away.

 

[Cacique500]

I've used SEVIN dust with moderate success...but I'm still looking for the chicken-safe nuclear option that I can apply to the entire house/yard/coop/run to get rid of the little buggers.