Boric acid ant bait v. chickens

caroler · Joined: 13 Jun 2003 Posts: 10 Location: Longview,TX

We made an ant bait feeder--a pill bottle containing a cotton ball soaked with sugar water with a little boric acid--which eliminated ants which were coming into the house. They supposedly drink a little and take it to their nest.

But now we have five pullets which enjoy scratching under the porch and wonder if they eat ants and whether the boric acid would be harmful to them.

Our chicken tractor is under construction and should keep the chickens a safe distance from the house and flower beds. Any suggestions for ant control in the meantime, or should we be concerned?

Tony M · Joined: 31 Mar 2003 Posts: 1086 Location: McKinney,TEXAS

If you use the fire ant drench there is no impact to the chickens because it's in the ground. I also use Spinosad, organic biological bait for ants. Problem is, the chickens eat it. The company says it will not harm them but that's an expensive appetizer.
Tony M

Eden's Garden · Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 10:54 am Post subject: Expensive appitizer no doubt

I have chickens and fire ants, too. I have found that if I sprinkle the bait early eve. and put some kind of a cover over the mount that doesn't disturb it, such as a milk crate, by morning, the ants have taken in a large majority of the bait while the chickens are busy sleeping. Often, they don't look under or through the crate and it stays undisturbed long enough to kill out the mound. Upside down 55 gal drums work well, too for the larger mounds. Found that the Greenlight product with Spinosad works very well and with the rain we just got - those little mounds will be popping up everywhere so its a great time to get this product out. :)