# Ant infestation after hay delivery.. what to do



## Palomine (Oct 30, 2010)

Take pictures and call them and tell them you want a new bale ASAP.

Hay should not have this, and while I understand with drought things are strange? Ants aren't part of it.

Call them, quickly.


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## eclipseranch (May 31, 2012)

you bet I would call them. sounds like you have a good relationship established already..I would think that they will work with you, a good customer! If not, I would find a new hay supplier..cuz that might cause a tough chain of events in your barn...thankfully in all the tons of hay I have bought over the years..that is a new one! I hope that they are typical ants & not termites or carpenter ants!


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## redwing57 (May 19, 2012)

are local feedstore gave us modly hay so we loaded it up showed them and refunded us/gave us better stuff so if i was you i would want a return/new clean hay.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Ewwww, I am getting itchy just thinking about those ants all over your arms!!!


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## LetAGrlShowU (Mar 25, 2009)

Ugh talk about a hassle! So the hay guy came and picked up the old hay and replaced it with fresh bales. There were ants everywhere. By the time we were done loading the truck with the old stuff i was too hott to tackle the ants. We stacked the new hay elsewhere and I waited for hubby to get home. I toss about a bale of hay that had been opened, but oh well... hubby got bit by 2 of the ants, so we suspect fire ants and I dont want to horses digesting that.

So... 30 minutes of cleaning the feed room top to bottom... ants everywhere hay touched. The feed room is looking rather good now though. I am keeping the hay in a trailer in the barn for right now until I can make sure it really was the hay and not another source. 

does anyone know of ants that bite that aren't fire ants?


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Regular ants bite, you betcha! I hate ants.


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## LetAGrlShowU (Mar 25, 2009)

Yea i was just learning that regular ants bite. I had no idea. Anybody have a natural deterrent for ants? Will sevin dust help?


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

I keep a can of Wasp Killer at the barn and that works well for small ant infestations.

If you think you're dealing with a big amount, I would talk to a pest control company and let them know the treatment would be in/around the horses. Sometimes they are willing to work around that and sometimes they're not.

The bad thing with an ant colony is that, if you don't kill everyone on the first zap, the surviving worker ants will pack up the eggs & queen and move a short distance "up the road". That could interpret to nothing more than the other end of your barn:-( 

They want to stay close to a water source and having feed close by is another plus for them.

Can you move your feed (in a lid tight container) to another area or even a spare bedroom for now? 

This is a really bad year for ants and yes, they ALL sting/bite, no matter what ant species or how small they are:-(


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