I need some advice about ants...and how to get rid of them in our coop!
We have TONS of tiny ants that bite like crazy all around and inside our coop. We have put diatomaceous earth around the outside of the coop to control them, and it seems to work temporarily. But they continue to find their way to the chickens and are all over the ground - biting the birds feet and keeping me from being able to go inside for any period of time.
My question is whether we can put the D.E. inside the coop? I'm assuming it's poisonous to the chickens, so I've kept it away. But don't know for sure. Or, is there anything else that will work better?
Thanks.
Replies
Hi Laura,
We've had a similar experience with ants this summer, too. They've been terrible. Ants are all around the coop and make it very difficult and unpleasant to be inside for any period of time. Just going in to change the water or give them some food scraps ends up with me jumping like a crazy person to get out there before swarms of ants bite me. We've used food-grade DE for a long time inside the coop with no problems for the chickens. Over the summer, I have applied it more frequently, over a greater area, and in greater amounts. As you said, it seems to work temporarily. The main problem is that with our misting system, the DE loses all of its effectiveness when wet.
Good luck with the ant situation.
I'm another Laura with the same problem! My ants are coming across the property line from a neighbor's yard, and I have been battling them all summer. Big ones, small ones, red ones, black ones. (Did Dr. Suess ever consider a story about ants?) Chickens won't eat ants because they are high in formic acid.
I'm new to all this, but from what I have read, if you are going the DE route, you need to get food-grade DE, which is safe to put in feed, around the coop, on the birds, in their dust baths... It's different from regular DE, and, I've noticed, harder to find. I have a bag on order at a local feed store, since no one around me seemes to keep it in stock. Hope it does the trick when it arrives, but I'd sure like to hear some other non-toxic suggestions.
Here's what I've found:
Food-grade DE is considered organic, is made from silica (mostly) with some clay minerals and iron oxide. Internally, for livestock and humans, it is used as a de-wormer. Externally, it is an insecticide that works by absorbing lipids from the exoskeleton and causing dehydration. In grain storage, it is used as an anti-caking agent and insecticide. It is also used in gardening and hydroponics.
There are a few DE concerns: since it is dehydrating, gloves should be worn when handling; since silica is an abraisive, inhalation should be prevented as much as possible-- wear a dust mask. I've also read that it can be a carcinogen, but I think that's regular DE, not food-grade.
Good luck!
DE is non toxic. In fact you can dust the chickens themselves to control mites. The only thing you don't want to do is breathe it in, but the amount you will need won't be a problem. I buy it by the pound at the feed store. It helps with flies too.
It will never get rid of the ants completely. If you want to do that you will need to find a Borax based ant food that will kill slowly enough to get to the queen. I am a fan of the Terro products. The ones with Borax are the least toxic of the standard poisons available at the hardware store.
Terro Ant bait and DE together should calm them down a bit in the area, but you will probably always have them if you don't use pesticides. Not to get all Joni Mitchell on ya, but pesticides are probably worse in the long-run. I do use them sparingly under certain conditions for certain reasons.
This has been a nasty, nasty year for ants at our place. We have the little sweet ants that love to get the sweets from the aphids that they're raising on our garden, and we have the fire ants that give an evil bite! There are mid-sized ants that run around the concrete and up into trees.
We've started using DE as well. The ants seemed to avoid it at first, but eventually start tip-toeing over it. Hopefully it's doing damage in their nest.
DE is fossilized algae and it's used a lot for pool filters, as a growing medium for aquaponics, to dust livestock, dogs, cats, etc. for parasites, and to feed to livestock for worms. Some even eat it as a natural remedy for whatever ails them. From what I can gather, food grade is more pure than pool grade. The stuff sold at Lowes and Home Depot is close to that, but may have impurities, so I wouldn't eat it. That's what we're using for ants, and the chickens haven't shown any interest in it or ill effects. But if you have concerns or you're going to eat it or feed it to your animals, use food grade. A&P nursery sells food-grade.
Terro, which Zachary mentioned, is great for the sweet ants. It has borax in it. A homemade version is a mixture of borax or boric acid and corn syrup. I read one person mixes a base (corn syrup for sugar ants or grease for grease ants.) with both borax and DE. The fire ants like grease a lot. I'm going to try that tomorrow & will report back.