[SOURIS]

Hello everyone,

We moved into our current home just over 6 months ago and got our 2 chickens about 4 months ago.

It seems this garden has a serious ant problem - they are crawling out of ant nests EVERYWHERE - the patio, all over the lawn, back and front gardens - it's horrible!! In fact we have even uncovered ant pupae! The ants are normal little black ones and also flying ants.

My question is - what ant killer can we use that will be chicken friendly? We really wanted to keep organic but I did use a chemical killer last week ... but it does say on it that it should be kept away from pets  ... and also I wasn't happy about using it so have not touched it again since that one application ... at any rate it hasn't got rid of the ants anyway!

A relative told me that boiling water can be used although that will only kill the ants it comes into immediate contact with.  

Any advice is greatly appreciated...

[WG.]

I posted this earlier (untried by me).  Your feedback would be appreciated.  http://www.chat.allotment-garden.org/viewtopic.php?p=65308#65308

Don't your chickens eat them then?

[Aunt Sally]

My hens don't bother to eat the small black ants. But they do eat the big black flying ones .

[SOURIS]

Well that's certainly very helpful, thank you very much - am definitely going to give it a go - although hope it works as well with beef or lamb grease as we don't eat bacon (being Muslim)! Next time we have a roast I am going to try and make the concoction you advise. Actually we are having lamb chops for tonight's dinner - they won't produce a lot of fat but hopefully enough for Stage One of the experiment to take place tomorrow!  I will have to concentrate on one part of the colony only...

My chickens turn their beaks up at ants for some reason ... however they went mad for the ant pupae and what I assumed were junior ants around the pupae (they were a paler, redder colour - although I suppose they may just have been red ants? - have never seen them above ground though).

[WG.]

Good. Let us all know please if it works with beef or lamb.

[meterman]

To stop ants going into house/anywhere use vinegar in weatherproof containers with holes to allow smell out. Fools ants into believing larger colony than theirs so keep away

[Aunt Sally]

Welcome meterman.  That's an interesting tip  :!:  

[SOURIS]

Well Whisky Golf I am afraid to report that our experiment with your recipe is over ... we bought all the ingredients and I mixed them up with the lamb fat today and then smeared it near the ants' nests... to my horror one hour later I looked out of the window and there was a hideous fox devouring it instead! So I am afraid that is the end of that potion whether it gets rid of ants or not! There are far too many foxes around here as it is and although the chickens are in a fox proof run I don't want to actively encourage them!!

But bizarrely the number of ants does seem to have reduced anyway - even when I went out to put the polenta/lamb fat bait out I noticed this ... perhaps it is a delayed response to the chemical killer which I used last week? Thanks for the advice anyway, much appreciated.