Will fire ants attack baby chicks?

[Kakaruk]

Hi BYM friends,
re
I live in the south, specifically central Texas, sort of in the hill country. Anyway, we have quite a few fire ants in our yard and I regularly 'control' them but they always pop up on and off through the year. Anyway, I don't think I actually have some in our chicken run but we have some fairly close to the run.

I have 7 chicks that hatched in the incubator two weekends ago. They are 8-9 days old. Some of you may have seen my posts.

Anyway, I have a little coop that is wired all around and even on the bottom so nothing could get in. It's kind of like a rabbit hutch that you can sit on the ground and then the animals can go up a ramp to sleep 'upstairs' in a coop area. So, I am thinking about putting it inside my chicken run and putting the chicks in there.

But, here in Texas we've nearly lost all of our population of horned toads because their underbelly is soft and the fire ants attack them and kill them. I guess they eat them. A couple years ago my kids found a baby bird that could not fly and they made a little house for it but within hours the fire ants had over-run it and killed it.

Do/Would fire ants kill my baby chicks if I were put them in this coop that sits on the ground? Does anyone know for sure or have seen this happen?

Thanks for the info!

 

[igorsMistress]

Yes, the ants will eat the chicks alive. You can try permethrin to kill the ants, it's safe around your flock.

 

[Mamas_Looney_Farm]

Fire ants will absolutely attack your chicks, eggspecaly baby baby chicks. I had a couple of broody hens hatch some chicks on the ground, the ants were attracted by the smell of blood and chick goo, and within hours I lost every single one of the 6 chicks and the momma as well.

 

[Mamas_Looney_Farm]

I also live in Texas . Here’s one of my coops that looks like what you described. I put feed bags under it so I can just scoop them out and burn them. I haven’t had trouble with the ants and I have day old chicks in it right now.

 

[Kakaruk]

So, since the chicks have been hatched over a week they will not be wet or smell or have blood on them. It sounds like if I were to put bedding in the bottom and maybe use something else under that (like feed bags?) then they would be ok.

Yep, that's similar to the little coop I'm talking about.

 

[jolenesdad]

Do you have other adult chickens? Can you keep them locked in the run?

 

[Mamas_Looney_Farm]

Also make sure no extra feed can spill on the ground and attract them, I have their food bowl inside the little ramp/house thingy

 

[Kakaruk]

Yes, I can keep it in the run with the other chickens. I think Mamas doing that too. I could keep the food inside the little house ramp area.