WHY DON'T ANTS EAT CONVENTIONAL GRAINS?

[Lazy Farmer]

1. WHY DON'T ANTS EAT CONVENTIONAL GRAINS? And very few bugs and seldom flies. What is the secret ingredient added to the feeds that keeps pests (insects) from desiring conventional grains?
2. Are there residual traces left within the animal being fed? Also transferred to eggs as well? Meats?
   
3. Have there been any studies that could provide data proving the added chemical is totally harmless? When mother nature's most efficient scavengers won't mess with it. Ants will eat everything, except conventional grain.

Below are some of the Guaranteed analysis tags off of some of the brands we use. All brands/types share some of the same ingredients.
BUT which ingredient is the ANT REPEL-ER? Natural or man made.

 

[Chickassan]

Your ants are broken Farmer Connie, the ones here can't get enough grainy goodness.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Your ants are broken Farmer Connie, the ones here can't get enough grainy goodness.

Florida fire ants. We have mountains of mounds. They do not touch conventional grains. Barley yes, soy yes, veggies yes, food scraps oh yes, conventional grain- They stir clear. I had a bag that ripped open the other day. Ants won't touch the mess I missed. Split my coke at lunch today only 2 feet from it, came back with a towel 5 mins later and hundreds of ants were having a party. We have ants so bad that they attack our critters. We place cut in half 55 gallon drums over mounds to cover the amdro so the goats/chickens/duck/pigs don't get to the ant bait. Ants have never been seen in any feed bowl/pan/troft. Rats/mice oh yeah! Florida Fire Ants won't touch it.
I practically live outside caring for scores of critters. They eat on my critters, not their food (conventional foods).

 

[Chickassan]

Oh! Those crazy ants lol! That explains alot. Not an ant expert but are those meat eaters mostly or will they eat anything?

Florida fire ants. We have mountains of mounds. They do not touch conventional grains. Barley yes, soy yes, veggies yes, food scraps oh yes, conventional grain- They stir clear. I had a bag that ripped open the other day. Ants won't touch the mess I missed. Split my coke at lunch today only 2 feet from it, came back with a towel 5 mins later and hundreds of ants were having a party. We have ants so bad that they attack our critters. We place cut in half 55 gallon drums over mounds to cover the amdro so the goats/chickens/duck/pigs don't get to the ant bait. Ants have never been seen in any feed bowl/pan/troft. Rats/mice oh yeah! Florida Fire Ants won't touch it.
I practically live outside caring for scores of critters. They eat on my critters, not their food (conventional foods).

 

[Lazy Farmer]

I am doing research into it. I wrote a couple emails to inquire in a mild manor way. I'm curious why they ignore it (ANTS). I understand the dog food/ cat food reason because of being meat protein, and it gets infested with them- trust me, almost instantly. But when we hard boil whole soy beans, they will attack it. Not the soy in convent grain.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

There are ants congregating around the purina flock raiser that is dropped on the ground under my Ducks feed container. Ugh. I bought a new container so that it is not as messy!

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Florida ants are weird. I guess. lol. The only thing I remember about fire ants are they are horrible and need to die.

 

[Aerliss]

Whole grains? I'm not an expert but seeds aren't something ants tend to bring back as food. Most seeds have natural defenses against mould and predators. That's why we grind and cook them, it breaks down these chemical and physical defenses. The ground feed has had its nutrients released, so the ants can use them.

 

[rebrascora]

I have to say, I don't exactly understand what you mean by "conventional grain". You mention barley but they targeting that and to me barley, wheat and oats are conventional grains. Whole grains will be harder for them to process, so they will be more likely to go for crushed grains or micronized like in pellets or crumbles.

I'm a beekeeper and ants, like bees, need protein to feed their young and sugars to fuel themselves, plus a complex array of other trace elements and possibly microbes too. They will go for things that contain the easiest and most efficient sources of these nutrients and when they find something particularly good they will tell their sisters so that within a short space of time the area is swarming with them foraging that source. If they are not touching something it is because there are other things within range that provide better sources of what they need. Bees forage blossoms for nectar and often there can be several blossoms flowering at once and the bees are all over one type but completely ignore another..... it is because the percentage of sugar in one of the blossoms is higher and therefore more easily made into honey, so they direct their resources to gather that nectar because it is efficient to do so. Sometimes the flowers are not accessible to the bees..... the apple blossom is a prime example.... if the temperature is too cool and the flower doesn't open fully, the honey bees cannot reach the nectar, however bumble bees which have longer tongues, can still reach it.

I am no expert on ants but I think you are probably reading too much into their selective foraging. There are certainly documented examples of bees foraging on chicken feeders when no other source of protein is available or very limited and there is a high density of bees nearby like an overwinter commercial bee yard.