fire ants

[slystr]

what do you all who have fire ants do? I haven't put my chicks out yet but I do get fire ants in the lawn in a few places and I'm worried about the chicks. Those ants are nasty and I wno't want to use something like Round Up cause that would poison the chicks.

 

[Djmiller012]

They will probably eat the ants i would think, i mean mine eat anything that moves...and unless they get into a big pile of them i doubt that it will bother them much...but im not positive

 

[Citychick]

I thought I saw where someone said DE would work on em? And I heard of using grits but it might not be good for the chicks. Good Luck

 

[MTchick]

If the space that the chicks are going into is up on blocks, posts, etc, you can cover those footings with a product called "Tangle Foot." It is a nontoxic sticky material that prevents the foraging ants from entering a space. Look it up at
http://www.tanglefoot.com/ to get an idea of what I am talking about.

I know fire ants can kill small animals, so until the chicks are pretty big I agree it is a potential concern (well, for Southern states chickens, not for Montanans).

-MTchick

 

[Dustin Biery]

Just for clarity, are we talking about true fire ants or just red ants? There is a huge difference. If they are just red ants, I wouldn't worry too much, but if they are fire ants--absolutely not. True fire ants are vile little creatures that I wouldn't even submit a full grown dog to. In any case, to kill/get rid of any kind of ant you need some sort of bait. They will take the bait back to the mound and feed it to the larvae and themselves which should take care of the problem.

 

[65browneyes]

We have the fire ants here in Arizona. My girls won't eat them. In fact, the ants, stink bugs, and onion are the only things I've found they won't eat. Can't say as I blame them, but, they'll eat scorpions???

Anyway, we use a product called Amdro. Make a circle around the ant hill, they take it inside, give it to the queen, and within a day or two, the entire hill is dead. Works great, but I'm reluctant to use it near the coop/run because it is a corn product.

 

[slystr]

oh yes I'm talking true Southern Fire Ants. I'm concerned about Amdro. ic AI use it and let the chicks out won't they eat the Amdro?

 

[Llysse]

Okay... silly question here... how does a fire ant differ from a regular red ant? Growing up, all red ants were colloquially called fire ants.

 

[slystr]

http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~gilbert/research/fireants/faq.html
fire ants are the scourge from Hell! They swarm and hundreds will cover your feet in a second if you step on a hill . They are aggressive and mean and I hate them.

 

[Dustin Biery]

To try to explain the difference this is the best I can do... Red Ant is to Fire Ant as Honey Bee is to Killer Bee