[otis pony]

I have a problem with red ants in parts of my vegetable patch. Every year I dig their nests out and put them in the garden bin for the council to deal with, or pour boiling water on them but they always recover. 

My question is:  would it be fair to put the hens out to sort them out, or would they get bitten like the rest of us?

[viettaclark]

I know mine like a tasty meal of black ants but as I've got no red ones I can't say.
You would think it wouldn't affect them....think anteater....

[Pol]

Chickens generally eat anything moving on the ground so I think they would eat them and I think the Chicken could be bitten just look us

[Helenaj]

Dig the ground over regularly to expose the ant eggs - your hens will love those and it kills off any future generations. Hens are pretty hardy - they come across ant nests when free ranging, so must be able to deal with them. Just keep an eye on them initially to make sure that the red ants are no more of a nuisance to your hens than the black ant.

[evie2]

Don't know if this would be any help, however it works a treat with black ants.

If you put pure essential oil of Peppermint into any holes you see, the ants evacuate the nest, daughter no3 did it one evening, unbeknown to us, before we went out for a meal.

Came back and the inside of the hall and living room was covered in the b****rs, walking, flying, carrying grubs, makes me itch just thinking about it.

Anyway you could maybe sprinkle some on the dug over nest, but remember don't get it on your hands and keep your chickens off it if you do

[ehs284]

Ours won't touch ants.